Water Bus & Asakusa

On Saturday, we went to Hamarikyu Gardens, the family garden of Tokugawa Shogun, and caught a water bus up the Sumida River to Asakusa, which used to be the entertainment district of Tokyo. The water bus was a great way to see the skyline of Tokyo and all the great bridges.  The babies loved the boat and being on the water -- they were having fun counting all the other boats and waving to everyone.  Once in Asakusa, we walked through the markets and saw the famous Sensoo-ji Buddhist temple. After the boat, they got a little hungry and restless; so, we bought them some authentic Japanese KFC (i.e., hitotsu chikken nugetto) and an emergency cheap Thomas the Train set, which did the trick.  I hadn't been to Asakusa since my first trip in 1999 -- very cool area.  The boys especially loved climbing all the steps of the temple.  

Max is not happy with all the ancient trees.

Cap'n Max

Cap'n Zac

View of Skytree and famous Golden Turd

Asakusa Market Area

Japanese Oktoberfest in May

Friday night we all went to an Oktoberfest in Hibiya Park -- it was pretty funny -- Japanese servers in lederhosen, German beer stands, and a band.  We sat at a long table and had drinks with a few Japanese dentists -- according to them, being a dentist is not as prestigious as it is in the U.S. -- it's 6 years of schooling (including undergrad) and apparently there are a ton of them.  There's your random Japanese funfact of the day!

Sunshine City Aquarium

Boys had a blast at the Sunshine City Aquarium today in Ikebukuro.  Sunshine City is a huge mall (we went out there because it has a Toys R Us).  I had some awesome video of them, but realized that my old iPhone 4 doesn't record with sound now.  Awesome.  I need a new phone!  But, we got some good pics.  Max just kept saying, "Whoa! Whoa! Whooooooaaaa!"

Tokyo Tawaa

Last weekend, we walked over to Tokyo Tower (http://www.tokyotower.co.jp/eng/secret/) a 333 meter tower in downtown Tokyo.  It's like a red Eiffel Tower, just not as romantic or special.  The boys were NOT in a good mood -- so it was a short trip, but always cool and great views nonetheless.  Greg and I had been there before, so that was okay.  The boys DID enjoy the monkey performing on stilts just right outside the tower (sorry, no pic).  Who wouldn't enjoy that really?  They DID NOT enjoy the long, pink phallic tower cartoon character trying to hug them...so, that's good at least.  There IS a pic of that of course.

Um, no thanks.

RUN.  FAST.

My Life at a Park

Obviously, with two little boys we are at the park...a lot.  Like multiple times a day.  Tokyo parks are interesting -- it seems like every major neighborhood has one big-ish park, but when you walk around enough, you'll start finding these little neighborhood urban "parks" or simply fenced-in play areas for kids.  Usually these play areas have at least a slide and a few swings, maybe a small jungle gym of some sort.  Many of them also have "sand" boxes, except for the "sand" is really just this dark brownish/gray dirt, which as you can imagine just makes a huge mess and sticks to the boys' skin.  And, naturally, the boys love them.  Most of the time, I don't care -- I just let them get dirty.  Again, I'm pretty much always going to give in if they are not whining.  :-)  

Also, at a few of the parks, they have these cool slides that are on rollers -- they should have more of them in the U.S. -- they're great for young kids who don't really know how to slide fast yet.  There is one that goes all the way down this small hill at a park in Roppongi, called "Robot Park" for all the robot-themed equipment.  That's a favorite of the boys of course.  They can go down that slide about 30 times in a row and not get sick of it.  Every time they go down it, they have to huff it up that hill again, which is funny to watch, but they do it nonetheless!

Zac - Roller Slide at Robot Park

Max -- Roller Slide at Robot Park

Ridin' Robots

Robot Park Slides

Our "everyday" park in Akasaka -- Hinokicho Park

Small Neighborhood Park in Akasaka

A typical "dirt" box