Day Tripper

 We took several day tours from Tokyo -- and missed out on many others. Thanks to the JR rail pass and the well-connected rail network, taking day trips while spending nights in Tokyo (or nearby suburbs, as we did) seemed the logical thing to do. 

Nikko

Located about 124 km from Tokyo, it's a relatively straightforward journey to Nikko. We set off bright and early (is there any other time that the Arunkumar family sets off?) to the pretty little town of Nikko, nestled in the Tochigi Prefecture. 

The day was freezing, starting with sub-zero temperatures, but we got the Nikko travel pass, which allowed us to take the heritage bus route to various spots around town. 

Just one the things we spotted around Nikko

Street lamps wit character

Shinkyo of the twin snakes

Our first stop was the Shinkyo bridge - a small bridge across the Daiya, which is considered the entrance to Nikko's shrines. 

It has an interesting legend attached to it. One that involves red and blue snakes. The current wooden bridge was built in the 1600s and looks pretty enough. 

From here, we headed to the most famous shrine in Nikko, the Toshugu Shrine and Taiyuin, which is the mausoleum. They are both fantastic examples of Buddhist and Shinto architecture, along with the Rinnoji temple. 

A lovely little thing near the Toshugu shrine

The roof detail at Taiyuin

Much like a lot of Hindus, the Japanese visit temples in the new year to seek the blessings of the Buddha. The queues for the blessing scrolls were inordinately long. (Much like a lot of Hindu temples, here too, we spotted blessing scrolls for good health, good wealth, and, of course,  'good studies'.) We skipped these, paid our obeisance and went on to enjoy the shrine and mausoleum in relative peace and quiet. 

The three monkeys that see no evil, speak no evil and hear no evil

The Sozonozo Elephants were carved by sculptors who had never seen elephants

Nemuri Neko or the sleeping cat, carved by sculptor Hidari Jingorō during the Edo period

More of the detailed roof and Taiyuin

Each one was unique

Fuji Q Highland

This was the day that I wasn't looking forward to- and the day that child 2 and the baa-lamb we most looking forward to. The visit to the famous Fuji Q theme park. Famous for several reasons:

- It's a theme park with a spectacular view of Mount Fuji (yay!)

- The reason child 2's eyes lit up- it is home to some of the most extreme roller coasters in the world. (barf! No, actually, barf! My motion sickness acts up at the most inconvenient times, and I really didn't want to end up throwing up all over myself - or random strangers.)

We did get to see some pretty spectacular views along the way

The Kanadorii Torii- the entrance to the realm of  Mt Fuji

Even the drains covers were pretty! 

We took the Shinkansen and then a picturesque local train to Fuji Q. Along the way, we stopped at Fujiyoshida city to click pictures of the iconic Kanadorii and Mt. Fuji before heading over to Fuji Q Highland. We were greeted at the station, which seemed to be right out of Child 1's childhood fantasy. 

Oh, how this took me back to the time when child 1 knee-high and knee-deep in trains

The rollercoaster had really long queues, but OMG were they eyewateringly good. Yes, eye-wateringly. Because at that speed, the eye does water. I wisely skipped the rides that go round and round rather than up and down - those are complete vomit-comets for me. Naturally, child 2 and the baa-lamb (honestly, sometimes, the biggest of babies) had to be dragged out of there, and we nearly missed the last train back. I had to practically hold the station master ransom while these two sprinted across the barrier. 

Aizu-Wakamatsu

Aizuwakamatsu station

Akabeko - the papier mache cow

Aizu Wakamatsu was a beautiful traditional town, and we took the one-day pass to do the loop from Aizu Wakamatsu station to the major tourist attractions,

The town bus that does the loop from the station. 

which included a Samurai castle, a temple where a bunch of teenage samurai committed ritual suicide, and some charming village scenes. 

The famous Taroan "Tenjin of Aizu" sweet shop

Houses and street signs full of character.

The beautiful mountainscapes surrounding Aizu

We then decided to take the Tadami line, which crosses the Tadami River bridge and offers spectacular views of the surrounding scenery. 

The snowscape that is the Tadami line

The line overlooks these beautiful
backyards. Made us almost want to stop and 
wander into the houses. 

This station has cat stationmasters. Yup. The current stainmaster, I think, is Sakura

However, clearly we misread the signs and we climbed aboard the wrong train and we ended up in the middle of nowhere. That didn't stop us from really enjoying the snowy countryside, and we were completely confident that the goodness of the Japanese folk would eventually land us back in Tokyo. And they didn't disappoint. We did make our way safely back to Tokyo, all ready to head over to the airport the following day. 

Perfect snowflakes on my glove

We spent two weeks in Japan, and I still think it wasn't enough. We had such a wonderful time, and I most definitely need to go back and revisit the places that we regretfully decided to skip. Maybe in autumn, or spring, when I'm sure there will be a totally different side of Japan that we will witness. But until next time, mata ne, Nippon. 

Our last few memories of this beautiful country

Beautiful. Peaceful.

Full of myths and legends. And the warmest people with the biggest heart. 

Tokyo Walkies

 We arrived in Tokyo by midday, so we decided to visit the Imperial Palace after checking into our hotel. Alas, it was shut for the New Year. Bummer. However, this meant we could wholeheartedly devote our entire Tokyo leg to window shopping and atmosphere-soaking. 

We tootled off to Asakusa and the Sensoji Temple.

The massive paper lantern at Sensoji

The beautiful Dempoin temple gardens, right next to Sensoji, which no one seems to talk about, but is SO much prettier and SO much more tranquil

 The Asakusa area is the very heart of the tourist population, and it comes a very close second to Dadar station at peak hours. The temple itself was beautiful, and we tried to catch a glimpse of the main hall and the Pagoda. This being one of the oldest and the most significant in Tokyo, we knew that it would be near-impossible to get in after the New Year. The Baa-lamb, of course, had had its fill of temples; however, the lure of the best matcha ice cream in Tokyo close to the temple was enough temptation for him to tag along. 

Guess what- that was closed too (Matela ice cream), but we didn't realise that until after the Sensoji visit, so while that put a damper on the Baa-Lamb's spirit, we were absolutely fine with it. Towards evening, we headed out to Akihabara - the electronic beat of Tokyo. 

The army of stormtroopers with Vader

Godzilla!

While this held little appeal for me, I can understand why Manga and Anime fans could go into sensory overload here. Turns out child 2 wasn't immune to its charms either and ended up picking up a Pokémon plushie for an arm and a leg. We headed back to our hotel for a much-deserved R&R to recharge our batteries for Day 2.  

The last day of 2024. Not that it slowed us down. The intrepid Arunkumar family. We were up bright and early to head over to Team Labs Tokyo for an unforgettable experience. I must say, it did not disappoint. 

the light exhibit

This was one of my favourite exhibits 
in the water section

The garden exhibit

The exhibits were divided into the outdoors, garden and water sections, and my favourite by far was the water section. I could easily see myself spending the entire day here, and only the temptation of a hot bowl of Ramen lured me out of there. Next on the agenda - Takeshita street, which is full of: 1. Tourists 2.Pet cafes 3. Street Fashion 4. Thrift Shops in that order. 

Crowded, but totally fun!

The many pet cafes along the street with the cutest little piggies!

On the way there, was the entire row of designer labels at Omotesandō Dori - fabulous window display and even more fabulous prices. We then headed back to our hotel, all shopped out (at the thrift stores, people, not at the designer stores), just so we could rest up for the night's revelries. 

The Louis Vuitton x Murakami Cafe

I absolutely loved the bit of greenery atop the Dior showroom - and to those of my architecture friends who have in the past accused me of bias against glass facades- this  I love! 

In our wisdom, we decided to bring in the New Year at the most crowded place we could think of- Shibuya Crossing. This, despite newspapers and social media repeatedly informing us that there would be no activities there, except for the police directing traffic. Still, when has the Arunkumar clan done anything that sounds remotely logical on holiday? Optimistically, we arrive at Shibuya crossing at half nine. While we were wondering how we were going to spend 3-odd hours in the biting cold wandering the streets of Shibuya, we spotted a Nightcub still allowing last-minute entries and which looked halfway decent, as far as nightclubs go. Its biggest selling point was the fact that it was out of the cold. Plus, it seemed to have a large-ish dance floor and some fairly decent music. 

A very disciplined Shibuya crossing- before New Year's

Child 2's first night club experience

And thus it was, that child 2 had her first taste of a night club - with her mum and dad in tow! The Baa-Lamb and I were by far the oldest folks here by a mile. Not that that stopped us from embarrassing our offspring by taking to the dancefloor with gay abandon. It was close to midnight when we decided to make our way to Shibuya Crossing in the hopes of encountering a raging street party. We didn't account for the fact that we were in Japan. There wasn't. What we got instead was a group of cops determinedly managing the foot and vehicular traffic with enviable efficiency. 

A bunch of random strangers wishing you a Happy New Year

The countdown happened sagely along the sidelines and all we got was a Mexican Wave of cheer that ran down the crowds. And an arduous struggle to get back home through closures, crazy crowds, sudden detours and more chilling examples of Japanese efficiency by the cops. We finally got back at half-two, exhausted, but satisfied that we'd had the whole New-Year-in-a-big-city experience. Do I want to do it again? Not in a million years. thanks. 

A series of suggestions left by other
tourists on places to visit

This simple painting of melons...

... and the poem it's based on. 

locations for smoking and toilets

I'm going to skip straight to the third day of the New Year, where both Child 2 and I decided to stay back in Tokyo while the spouse decided to make a trip to snowier climes by rail. We started our day with a leisurely trip to the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Centre -it affords a great view of the surrounding areas from the observation deck. I loved the exhibition space, which had Child 2 at her goofiest best.

The still-crowded streets leading to Sensoji

 

Met a few strange characters on the street

You've got to love the signange

The Asahi flame and Tokyo Skytree. The Asahi flame also goes by another name. Can you guess what it is? 

How about now? Yeah, that's the famous ' Golden turd'

We always approve of anime pennants

Child 2 wanted to check which palm print 
fit her best. I think she found one. 

Sumida river promenade

The very cool graphics on this vending machine.

We then walked all around Shibuya, window shopping to our hearts' content (without the impatient tsk-tsking of the baa-lamb) with some amazing street food options. We also happened to meet some of the friendliest folks on the streets who were willing to drop everything they were doing to help us with everything from helpful directions to measuring how tall child 2 has grown in the 3 days since the new year began. We walked slowly along the banks of the

This really friendly gent, who was returning from
a marathon but stopped to help measure child2
and give us helpful directions.

Sumida River (it was a pretty sunny day) for views of the Asahi Flame and the Tokyo Skytree. 

We ended the day with a trip to our local Shawarma shop that was manned by a desi, where we caught up with Baa Lamb (who was caught in a snowstorm and had to cut his trip short).

Somehow, Tokyo felt like a city where you'd never have enough days, and you would always discover something new with each trip.