Trip motivation
Tokyo has been on our bucket list for awhile. We wanted to meet up and travel with my mom (coming from Hawaii). At the time of this trip, Carter was 2 years and 3 months. This post focuses on our daily adventures. To see more about how we got there, where we stayed and other logistics, read more here.
Day 1: Arrival
We arrived at Haneda at 3:30pm. We took public transportation to an airbnb near Tsukiji and met up with my mom.
In the evening, we walked to a ramen shop near the AirBnb. The place was yummy but not worth making a special trip to. They had a little vending machine to get a ticket and we gave that to the waitress. Afterwards, we picked up some juices and snacks from a convenience store and spent time at the apartment.
Day 2: Tsukiji, Highlights Tour
Morning: Jetlag was rough and Carter woke up at 5am so we took a quick train to a sushi breakfast. We got a sampler plate and egg and crab for Carter. So good. Walking around the market, we got some other snacky things. After breakfast, we walked along the river back to our apartment and took naps. 🙂
Afternoon: We took a four hour organized tour around Tokyo. The Trade center, Imperial Palace and Asakusa were the highlights. There was a good amount of time at each place for a quick look around and pictures. Carter loved the melon ice cream
Evening: The tour ended at Tokyo station so we ate dinner there. We stopped at Hitachino brewery for a happy hour and food hall for some Tonkotsu. Yum! Also, we found a cute shop that had lots of Kit Kat flavors. Lol
Day 3: DisneySea
We started the day early again and picked up some yummy convenience store sushi before catching the train to Disney! There are two parks but the first one is pretty similar to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. We went to the second park called Disneysea. I did a lot of research on the height requirements, wait times, best rides, etc. There’s a lot of Japanese tourists and not a lot of the employees spoke English.
There are areas themed after Venice, Maine, Nemo, Aladdin, Little Mermaid and 20,000 leagues. Carter is tall for an Asian kid so he got to ride a ton of rides that said 4-year-olds or 90 cm. It was nice to have my mom to watch Carter while we did a couple of rides but mostly we all did things together. Carter was super excited for a Nemo filled with popcorn and we hung out in the Nemo section of the park for awhile. Mid-day, Carter napped while the grown ups drank at the American Teddy Roosevelt themed bar.
Day 4: Meiji, Harajuku, Ginza
Morning: We took a train to the Meiji and Harajuku district. Here, we walked around the shrine areas. Then, we went to the Takeshita shopping area. A bunch of middle school kids were doing a school project to talk to visitors and practice their English. Super adorable.
Afternoon: We ate at a conveyor belt sushi place and had too much. We ate over 20 plates of 50 cent sushi. We went back to the apartment for naps and then walked around the Ginza area in the evening.
Day 5: Ikebukuro
Morning/Afternoon: We purposefully split the city into areas so that we wouldn’t exhaust ourselves going back and forth across town. This area of town was a little far and not really one we would probably do again. It was still fun. We went to the aquarium and shopping mall nearby. This area was a little less japan-centric touristy and more typical city living. The mall had a Pokemon store that was cool. We picked up some presents for people at home. Carter took a nap at the mall.
Evening: We went to a yummy restaurant near our apartment that literally only served eel and rice. It was fantastic but Ben was sad (he doesn’t like eel) There was also a cute playground nearby. Sometimes a neighborhood playground is better than all the planned things.
Day 6: Odaiba
Morning/Afternoon: This area was another area marketed towards kids. Legoland had a cool miniature skyline of Tokyo and a lot of really cool activities. The area felt less crowded than the main city areas and we enjoyed the park nearby. It was too cold for the beach but perfect weather for ramen. (Always perfect weather for ramen)
Evening: My mom left back to Hawaii and left us on our own without our translator 🙂 We went with her to the Tokyo Station so she could catch a train to the airport and ate dinner there. Tokyo station has floors and floors of choices and sometimes I had decision paralysis.
Day 7: Hakone
All day: We took a day trip to Hakone. Followed the recommendations of blogs to do a DIY train/boat/ropeway path. This was really cool and I loved that we were able to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji.
Day 8: Ueno
We checked out first thing and brought our suitcases to the main Tokyo station to store all day while we did some last-minute sightseeing. The Ueno area was great and somewhere I would have liked to spend more time in. The zoo had a lot of animals not usually seen in American zoos. After that we took a train to the airport and flew back to start planning our next trip!
