1 May 2015, Home.
Despite all our good intentions, we didn’t manage to write a
single blog during this trip. Why? We were simply having way too much FUN!
With the exception of two specific ‘kid attractions’ and a
visit to Mt Fuji, this trip was largely one of revisiting places we had been
to before. The FUN element was totally down to our granddaughter, Abby. From the
moment she jumped into her seat on the plane, to our early morning return, she
was full-on.
Visits to Tokyo DisneySea and Kidzania were, of course, her
favourites, but she was more than happy to explore the city, the trains, shrines and
temples as well.
We wish we had been able to capture her expression when we
arrived at Shinagawa station at around 10:00pm on the first night of our trip.
Sheer terror would probably sum it up. The station was extremely crowded with
streams of dark-suited business people rushing in all directions. Her next shock
was the size of our apartment which was just a 2 minute walk from the station. She had
been warned that it was small, but the fact that Paul could almost touch both
walls with his out stretched arms, left her gasping.
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| Coolangatta Airport |
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| 'Joycity Apartment 704' Shinagawa |
By the next morning we had settled in well, managing not to
step on each other during the night.
We had pre-paid our tickets to DisneySea which meant we
were in no rush, which was a good thing because we had to negotiate several line changes
to get there. Abby adjusted quickly to the train system, even dealing with the
incredible push of people in the stations. By the time we got to the Disney
Resort she was jumping about like her little brother, 'jumping' Jack. Very ‘un-cool!’
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| Pluto and Friends |
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| Two 'Incredibles' |
Rides and attractions were very crowded, with over an hour’s
wait being common. However, there was plenty to do in between rides with shops galore
and characters, both the Disney ones and the Japanese visitors, roaming about.
Japanese of all ages love to dress up and a visit to Disneyland seems to
provide the ideal opportunity to go all out! Groups of friends and families don
often bizarre outfits and run about giggling like 6 year olds. The worst of all
are 20 something girls!
Abby finished the day with her own special Disney outfit!
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| Mini Abby |
Our plans for the next four days revolved around the JR
Kanto Pass. This three day pass allowed us to travel throughout the central
Honshu area on the JR East network. At $83 for adults and $42 for children, the
Kanto Pass was fantastic value. One day trip to Nikko on the shinkansen would
have cost us $120 return each, half price for Abby.
We split our time between two days in Tokyo and two day
trips, one to Mt Fuji and one to the temples of Nikko, using one of our three
Kanto Pass days for free travel around Tokyo on JR lines. For the metro trains
we used the Suica pre-paid card.
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| Abby & Mama, Tori Gate, Meiji Shrine |
On our Tokyo days we hit the usual tourist sites, Asakusa ,
Harijuku, the Ginza (by night), Akihabara, the Imperial Palace, the Museum of
Technology and Innovation and our personal favourite, The Big Poo, which is
actually the company logo of the Asahi Brewing Company.
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| Akihabara |
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Ginza by night
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Mt Fuji
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| Abby & Grandpa waiting for a train (again!) |
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| The keen photographer |
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| Eating out, Shinagawa |
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| Handstand at the Imperial Palace |
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| Abby driving the Swan paddle boat |
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| Abby & Mama, Nikko |
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| Shinkansen Fan |
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| Stone lanterns, Nikko |
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| Abby and the Big Poo, Asakusa |
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| Abby, the seasoned commuter |
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| Temple, Nikko |
On our last day we visited Kidzania, an attraction that Abby
had found on the internet. Kidzania is a kid sized city where children sign up
for jobs that they would like to try out. They earn money which can later be
spent at the Kidzania Store. The day we visited was supposed to be a day when
activities were provided in English. As it turned out, most of the activities
Abby had chosen weren’t in English. She adjusted quickly and managed to experience
work in a hospital, a veterinary surgery, a photo studio and a TV studio.
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| Photographer, Kidzania |
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| Making an advertisement, Kidzania |
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| Nursery Nurse, Kidzania |
This is the first time we have travelled with children since
we took our own kids around Europe in a campervan in 1987-88. Like her father,
uncle and aunt, Abby was a great travelling companion. We had a great time and
we know she did!
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| The 'frequent flyer' |
