Rainy Day in Tokyo

On Friday morning, November 23, we woke up to a rainy day in Tokyo. We were a little tired from all of the traveling the day before, so we decided to take it easy. Turns out there is a Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku close to the hotel, so we bought an umbrella from the underground mall, made a stop at Starbucks and headed to Tokyu Hands.

MJ insisted on holding the umbrella in the rain.

Maki and I love Tokyu Hands. I call it the Target of Japan but that's not quite right. At Tokyu Hands, you can get souvenirs, clothing, stationery and pens, electronics, small appliances, tools, toys, etc.

Tokyu Hands had a section for toys. MJ found some Thomas items and CJ got some Pokemon cards.

After a couple of hours of shopping, we decided to head for lunch. We found a Korean restaurant right in the building that looks great. It was called Garlic something and hoo boy, there was a lot of garlic in everything we ordered!

Here's MJ playing with one of his new toys.

We squeezed into a tiny booth.

Here's my hot pot bibimbap. It was delicious. Note the raw egg that gets mixed into the dish.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. MJ ended up napping right in his stroller but he wouldn't let go of the umbrella. Here he is clutching the umbrella while in the underground mall leading to our hotel.

Taking the Shinkansen Back to Tokyo

After visiting Kurashiki, our bus made its way back to Okayama, where we had time to get washed up and get food for the train. There was a really nice food court at the station, including numerous food stalls and a grocery store. The food court was amazing, as usual. You could buy different kinds of sushi bentos, rice balls, rice bowls with different kinds of meat, fresh fruit, different kinds of sweets, and on and on. I wanted something simple so I went to the grocery store for some yogurt, fruit and a tuna roll.

We caught a 4:30 train back to Tokyo and arrived at Tokyo Station a little before 9:00pm. We then caught another train to Shinjuku to check into our next hotel, the Shinjuku Washington Hotel. After a quick cab ride from the station, we were able to check in to the Shinjuku hotel, take showers and go to bed. It was a long, tiring but really fun day.

Here's one of the little stores in the food court. Notice how everything is wrapped so nicely. These aer either boxes of items meant to be gifts or they are bento boxes wrapped beautifully.

Here's CJ in the hallway of the food court. It was pretty busy that day.

Here's CJ looking mighty satisfied over his big bowl of chirashi sushi.

Here's a close-up of CJ's dinner. Does this look amazing or what?

Here's MJ playing on the footrest. He had his own seat but he liked to play on the footrest, probably because it was just his size. We were also traveling at night, so there wasn't much to see outside. Note how he's carrying BA, his stuffed ladybug. BA went on this trip and was sticky and stinky by the time we got home.

The Land of Vending Machines

Japan is full of vending machines. You can get all sorts of things from vending machines: water, soda, hot coffee, cold coffee, coffee with cream and sugar, beer, sake, hot green tea, cold green tea, soup, electronics, etc.

I don't know why this business of vast vending machines has not taken hold in other countries because it's fabulous to get all kinds of food and beverages from vending machines. What you will notice, however, is that you don't see a lot of candy vending machines. To get candy, you need to go to a convenience store or a grocery store. Fascinating!

Check out the collection of vending machines at the Seto Bridge rest stop where we had lunch after crossing the bridge! How many varieties of coffee and green tea could one possibly want? Evidently, many, many varieties are available and in demand.

I think this one is vending coffee.

This machine also has different types of coffee.

This one is selling green tea, lemon water and Pepsi. I think Pepsi Next is the fat blocking Pepsi.

More varieties of coffee and green tea.

In this one, you can buy Coke, water, juice, coffee, green tea.

Aha, American fast food has finally come to Japan. Here, you can buy chicken tenders, french fries, hot dogs, etc.

This machine has different flavors of instant noodles.

This machine has a variety of food I don't recognize, but I spotted ice cream and coup.

The Tiny Town of Kurashiki

As part of our bus tour to see the Seto Bridge, we visited the town of Kurashiki. We had absolutely no expectations about this town. Nobody in Maki's family had ever visited before and all we knew was it was famous for textiles and pottery.

Boy were we surprised when we stopped at the Visitor's Center and started walking along the main street, which runs along a charming canal. Kurashiki has buildings that date back to the Tokugawa period during the 1600s. There are weeping willows that gracefully frame the canal, lots of little shops, and a couple of museums devoted to Kurashiki pottery and toys.

I bought some gorgeous cotton handkerchiefs and ogled the pottery, which was beautiful but no cheap. If there had been tiles, I would have been lugging tiles back to the US for my kitchen!

I found an article in the New York Times that dates back to 1985 where the travel writer remarks that Kurashiki is 4 1/2 hours and a few hundreds years away from Tokyo. Apparently, you come here if you want to see old Japan, slow Japan, more peaceful Japan.

Here's a photo of a few shops in Kurashiki. Note the textiles being displayed.

We turned a corner and was rewarded with this beautiful street, which is graced by weeping willows and runs along a little canal.

There was a couple in traditional Japanese dress getting married or at least taking pictures by the canal.

Here's a cute photo of Maki.

I think everyone is actually smiling in this photo. We're standing on a little bridge that crosses the canal.

Visiting the Great Seto Bridge

The last man made wonder in our book was the Seto-Ohashi Bridge, or the Great Seto Bridge as the Japanese call it.

The Seto-Ohashi Bridge is a collective term for the six bridges that connect Kojima in Okayama Prefecture on Honshu and Sakaide of Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku, spanning five islands, namely Hitsuishi-jima Island, Iwaguro-jima Island, Wasa-jima Island, Yo-shima Island, and Mitsugo-jima Island in the Seto Inland Sea.

It took over 40 years to build this bridge. It's really pretty, a real architectural marvel. No wonder it made the list of man made wonders!

God bless Maki's dad who did some research and found a bus tour that leaves Okayama and visits the Seto Bridge and town of Kurashiki (more on that later). He said Okayama was on the way back to Tokyo from Hiroshima so it was going to be convenient to see the bridge! I had no idea where this bridge was nor how difficult it was going to be to see it, but Alex and I were determined to check that bridge off our list!

So on Thursday morning, we met in the lobby of the Hotel Granvia at 7am. Alex took the boys to Cafe Danmark for coffee and pastries, while Maki and I had a Japanese breakfast at the train station. We had this yummy dish that had rice, ground chicken, seaweed sprinkles and a raw egg. Delicious!

At 8:00am, we took a shinkansen to Okayama, just over an hour away. We arrived around 9:15am, with plenty of time to make a bathroom stop, pick up some food (we were always eating on this trip) and board the bus. Turns out we were the only passengers on that bus tour so we had plenty of room to spread out. It took less than an hour to reach the Seto Bridge.

The Seto Bridge is quite impressive. Each section has a different design and riding across the bridge, you see lots of little islands, which reminds you that Japan is an archipelago and bridges are really important!

Check out the little islands off the bridge!

This photo gives you a nice shot of several spans of the bride. Notice how the style of the bridge changes as you keep going.

This photo was taken while standing at the front of the bus, next to the driver.

It took more than 10 minutes to cross the bridge, after which we turned around and came back. We stopped at a local rest stop for some yummy soba noodles and tempura and then were off to Kurashiki.

Here's my udon with shrimp and sweet potato tempura lunch.

Visiting Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island

While reading about Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island in the Man Made Wonders book, I fretted that it would be difficult to visit the shriine. Turns out it was super easy to get to the island. After lunch, we took a 20-minute subway ride to the ferry terminal, then took a 20-minute ferry ride to Miyajima Island.

We timed our visit to coincide with high tide because the O-Torii Gate (Grand Gate) is apparently much prettier when it's floating in the water. A torii is a traditional Japanese gate typically found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. The O-Torii gate at the entrance of Miyajima Jinja (shrine) is famous because it's in the water and so darn beautiful! The gate has apparently been rebuilt over the years but the current gate dates back to 1875 and stands 16 meters high.

There are 2 ferries you can take to get to Miyajima. The JR ferry gets you closer to the gate so it's by far more popular. It's a really pretty ferry ride to Miyajima. You get a sense of Japan's island nature and mountainous terrain.

Here's the ferry terminal.

 

Here's a view from the ferry as we left the mainland.

Alex, Christine and CJ enjoying the ride.

 CJ is just like me, he loves the water!

 

O-Torii Gate at a distance, from the ferry

 Just like at Nara Park, there were deer everywhere, but these deer didn't seem quite as friendly and they weren't nearly as fat and happy.

 Walking along the seawall toward Itsukushima Jinja.

 

Here's our group walking toward the shrine, right in front of another big gate.

 

While we were there, there was some type of dance performance going on.

 Rare photo of mommy with her boys.

 The whole family in front of the O-Torii Gate. It was such a beautiful day!

I can't believe I snapped this photo of the gate! 

At the top of the hill, there's an unfinished temple that is used by monks to pray for the war dead.

Great photo of MJ and Maki from the temple with a ginko tree in the background.

Despite its unfinished status, the temple was beautiful. It didn't seem unfinished to us!

 Next to the temple was a large pagoda.

Many of Maki's family members were jealous that we got to see Itsukushima Jinja. I think Miyajima is one of those famous places that most Japanese are familiar with but most never visit. There were certainly enough people visiting during our trip. Maki's mom says November is the best time to visit this party of Japan because of the cool temperatures and the changing of the colors.

Turns out it wasn't hard to get here and it was absolutely worth the trip!

Yummy Lunch in at the JR Station in Hiroshima

After visiting the Peace Park, we were ready for lunch. We caught the bus back to the JR station and decided to explore other food options right at the station. We lucked out and discovered the Panoramic Food Court which featured lots of food stalls and gorgeous panoramic views of Hiroshima!

 Here's a view from one of the windows at the food court. It was stunning!

 Here's the food vendor I got CJ's chirashi sushi from.

 Yup, there was a McDonald's, but we stayed away. I had ramen with roast pork!

Here's a photo of my ramen with roast pork lunch!

Here's a photo of CJ's chirashi sushi bowl with salmon and tuna

 Here's the group eating lunch. MJ is enjoying some mochi with Uncle Alex for dessert.

 

 CJ's chopstick skills leveled up during this trip!

 

On the ground floor of the station, there was this really pretty display of souvenirs and different kinds of mochi for sale.