Japan 2024 Part 2: Adventures Abound Alongside Childhood Memories

The Next Few Days

Tuesday

Disney day! We got up early, took breakfast with us, and headed for Tokyo Disneyland, arriving before the park opened its gates in order to maximize our time there. Totally worth it, and so much fun. We even planned ahead and managed to pull together casual cosplay for the day!

This was one of the colder days of the trip, so we stayed bundled up most of the time, but mid-afternoon wasn’t too bad, so we took some time out of waiting in line for rides to take pictures with the castle—both in character and out! It’s been years since I’ve been to Magic Kingdom, and this day brought back so many memories for me. Since I used to live in California, one of the big things I remember doing as a family treat was going to Disneyland California. Since Tokyo Disney was modeled after Disney California, the nostalgia hit hard in the best way. Especially at the entrance—Main Street looked exactly like what I remembered, with the addition of a Minnie Mouse bow photo spot.

Not everything was the same though! Many of the rides, though similar in appearance from the outside, were slightly different in going through them, and there were definitely other differences I greatly enjoyed. For one, the popcorn vendors scattered throughout the park sell a variety of different flavors of popcorn—from your classic butter to matcha to curry and beyond. We got some cookies & cream popcorn late in the day (aka for dinner), and it was delicious!

Some familiar rides we managed to get onto were Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, and It’s a Small World. Although the facades and most of the decorations in line seemed the same from the Disney I knew, the rides themselves differed in small ways, which made it all the more fun. For instance, It’s a Small World didn’t feature near as many languages as I remember from Disney CA, but included far more Disney characters within the different world-culture sections (and I think I only missed getting a picture of one! Not all of them are pictured here, for brevity’s sake). Then there was the Monster’s Inc. ride, which was new to me but so fun! Another family memory for me, as well, from going to see the movie when I was younger. (Too long to relay here, but perhaps some other time. 😁)

We also visited the interior of the castle—a first for me. When we went as a family to Disney CA, the lines were always too long for us to feel visiting Cinderella’s castle was worth it, but the line at Tokyo wasn’t super long, and totally worth it. The murals on the walls while waiting in line were gorgeous and reminded me more of the way Sleeping Beauty is told (in the movie) than Cinderella, but it was definitely Cinderella’s story. Inside they featured different scenes from the film with different mediums—one made entirely of paper, another of metal, and another ?????. In the throne room, I got pictures sitting on the throne, but honestly the best part for me was seeing all of the kids excited for their chance to sit in the chair, some of them dressed in their prince/princess best. So many smiles!

We ate at the Queen of Hearts cafe, and guys, the food! 😍 Absolutely delicious, and we even found a Mickey hidden within the hedges near our table (pic included)! I’d definitely eat there again—it was amazing, even if it was a long wait. At the end of the day, we did most of our souvenir shopping, then sat and watched the Main Street Electrical Parade. It’s definitely something to hear beloved Disney characters speaking in a completely different language than you’re used to, but also entertaining in a fun way. (Also something that’s super cool for the kids, and their reactions definitely heightened the experience for me.)

I had an amazing time, even if we ended up missing one of the most anticipated rides—Beauty and the Beast. I’d definitely go back, and I’m super curious about Tokyo Disney Sea as well (plus, I have more copper press coins to collect… 😆). Needless to say, my Japan must-see/do list expanded.

Wednesday

We tried to keep most of our big days spaced out so we didn’t wear ourselves out before the end of the trip, so Wednesday was a bit more of a filler day, just sightseeing a few things but keeping it lowkey. This was also a national holiday, so schools and many workplaces were closed, and lots of people were using the public transit.

First we headed over to Yoyogi Park, a large green space near Harajuku. We saw some murals painted there, then headed over to Harajuku, a cute area with lots of little shops. There were tons of people here, but the shops were fun to explore.

Next we headed to Shibuya, where we saw the famous crosswalk, Shibuya Scramble, and the famous dog statue of Hachiko, a Japanese Akita dog loyal to his owner long after his owner’s death. It’s such a sweet story, and the loyalty makes my heart melt.

That evening, we headed to the nearby Nintendo Store and goodness, it was huge! So many game franchises pooled into one store. Even though I didn’t know many of them from playing the games, I did recognize most of them. And then I discovered the large Pokemon Center store next door and I spent quite a lot of time in there. 😂

After we got our fill of hanging out in the stores (and buying waaay too many souvenirs…. oops), we headed to Ikebukuro to the Pokemon Sweets Cafe and to explore a large capsule machine store. I ended up getting a Pikachu latte, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. Pokemon was such a huge part of my childhood because it was one of the shows I enjoyed watching and, as I grew up, I played the games as I had time and the console (didn’t always happen). Even now, I enjoy sitting down to play new Pokemon games, mostly for the adventure of discovering new Pokemon and trying to puzzle out the stories. (Fun fact for readers, one of the Pokemon games inspired a story and world I’ve been working on for quite a while. So if you’re a Pokemon fan, you’ll see some of the inspiration for the world and story once I have it ready to release… though that will probably be a while—sorry! Building a world and getting the characters’ story right is sometimes a very long, arduous journey.)

I had no idea how much fun it would be to explore the capsule store, though. So much hunting for specific franchises in anime and games I greatly enjoyed, only to find very, very few of my favorites (probably because they’ve been out for so long, but they are popular classics, so I was a little surprised). I did manage to find something from Cardcaptor Sakura though, which was a nice surprise and totally worth the hunt. I also got a few other small goodies—a Sprigatito (which I found everywhere while exploring Tokyo), a cat wearing a frog hat (SO cute), a squid, and a Luca magnet (as a gift from one of the girls). It’s definitely something I’d like to go back and do again.

Thursday

Thursday was another laid-back day, but it’s honestly one of my favorites. (Okay, they’re all my favorite, but I have some very clear, crisp memories from this day.) We first went to the Imperial Gardens, and even though spring hadn’t set in yet, they were beautiful. So much history housed in one spot, plus beautiful walking trails and great places for gorgeous photos. We walked through about half of the Gardens before we had to head out for lunch, and to ensure we had plenty of time to get to Odaiba.

We ate at a McDonald’s. Yeah, I know, it’s a staple in the US, so why would we go to a fast food place instead of something more authentic? But it was totally worth it to see the differences in McDonald’s from the US to Japan. There are still hamburgers, of course, but they’re not dressed in the same way US ones are—these had soy sauce, terriyaki, or other sauces you’re more likely to find in Japan. One of the side options was corn and edamame (this is what I got—delicious), and another was a side salad (something I haven’t seen at a US McDonald’s in many, many years). They also had drink options for hot tea or iced earl gray tea. I tried the tea, and it was delicious. I’ve now found a way to enjoy my favorite teas this summer without sweating 😂 (since I’m not a fan of American iced tea). I also got one of their matcha mochi hand pies—absolutely worth getting and delicious.

Then we headed over to Odaiba, where we would tour TeamLab Planets later in the day. We found the area TeamLab was in, and happened upon a food vendor nearby who had dango! I’d definitely wanted to try that while in Japan, and I got my chance. Totally worth it and delicious. I might need to see if I can find a recipe to make my own, because I want to eat them often. 😆 It was a gloriously warm, though windy, day, so we spent most of the afternoon until our TeamLab reservation exploring the area—walking down to Tokyo Bay and then across to Odaiba, where we hit the beach path. Guys, the seagulls sounded weird. Not like you’d expect. Though, as expected, every time I tried to video them to catch their sound, they stopped squawking. 🤣 I still got some great pictures, and we even saw moon jellyfish (pic included)!

We walked along the beach and found out we’d traveled back to the US, specifically New York, when the Statue of Liberty rose before us. So of course we had to get pictures with it. 😂 It’s honestly a beautiful area, and I expect it’s very popular in the summer when the waters are warm. We did a lot of walking to get to different places, but I don’t remember it wearing me out at all. We took our time, just enjoying the good weather and beautiful views. We also went over to see the enormous, famous gundam. We weren’t able to stick around to see it move, because we had to head back to TeamLab, but it was still super impressive. We also happened to show up as a group finished up a small concert nearby and got to enjoy the finale.

When we made it back to TeamLab Planets, we headed inside and let me tell you, I was not prepared for what we experienced—but it was awesome. I would totally do it again—and it would be a completely different experience, even if all of the rooms and things were the same. The specialty of TeamLabs is that they create experiences with natural elements, but also often with lights and sounds and technology that interacts with the people there. It’s not pre-recorded or played on a loop—it’s completely interactive. One of my favorite areas was definitely the koi fish and sakura blossoms, though I thoroughly enjoyed every room we visited, and the experience was so worth it. The only room I didn’t get pictures of was the first one, where the walls and floor were essentially made up of black beanbags—it reminded me of moving across my parents’ old waterbed when I was a kid.

At the end of the night, we were pleasantly worn out, but it was such a great day, added to by the absolutely beautiful weather.