Upon our arrival we went to the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park to see the Japanese artefacts which Tim and I enjoyed but the children had little interest. They wanted to go back outside to the market in the park where they saw masks of some of their favourite Japanese T.V. characters. As we couldn’t arrive at our accommodation until around seven we went through the museum park, purchasing two masks along the way. We saw a shrine and ended up at a big city intersection with megatrons and bright signs everywhere. The kids were in awe looking at the giant T.V.s advertising all kinds of products. This was the first place we saw homeless folks sitting on tarps at the edge of the park where they reside in makeshift tents. We passed them by as many do and walked across the street with thousands of others wandering along until we found an ‘Izekaya’, a restaurant that suited all our food desires. The kids were happy to eat fries and pizza for a change. Tim ordered a shrimp dish for all and weren’t we surprised when deep fried shrimp heads arrived at our table. Eleanor said she would try one and claimed they were good. Lucas was not so brave.
We caught a local train and arrived at a colleague of Tim’s house which was a ten minute walk away from Disneyland. She had a guest room with futons and a little ensuite bathroom with a shower stall and sink to freshen up.
Monday morning we arrived at Disneyland early to see a huge line up already in place. Eventually we were let in and we walked into a Christmas wonderland with a giant, decorated tree in the center of the world bazaar. Next we saw Cinderella’s castle where Eleanor gasped ‘it’s so beautiful’. We followed crowds to Fantasyland and headed straight for ‘Winnie the Pooh’s Hunney Hunt’. This is the only one in the world and it is famous because the honey pots you ride in are robots. They don’t run on any sort of track but move freestyle and harmoniously with each other. It was amazing to experience them manoeuvre through the Hundred Acre wood and then through a trippy dream where Pooh finally awakes to find himself in a tree full of honey. The kids loved it so we rode it again the second day.
By the end of the second day we went on almost all the rides available except Space Mountain. We all loved “It’s a Small World” which performed Christmas songs in all the languages while representing countries of the world. The children loved “Peter Pans’ Flight”, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” racing cars, and flying in the space ships. Tim took the children on “Alice in Wonderlands’ Spinning Tea Cups” twice.
My favourite rides were the two interactive ones. Monsters Inc. had a great ride where you and your partner had flashlights to shine on the M signs to make monsters pop out of their hiding spots. We also loved Buzz Lightyears’ Astro Blasters where you have to shoot your laser at Zorg’s Z’s to gain points. I am reluctant to share that I got the highest score in my family.
Tim left at one point to give a guest lecture at our host’s university so I took the kids into Toontown. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased that the children entertained themselves for an hour playing on a trolleycar and a tooncar put there for effect. As I sipped my coffee I was reminded that we don’t need places like Disneyland to entertain children. We need to give them a few props and let them be. I guess we were all glad to have a break from the rides.
Disneyland hosts parades four times a day. I got quite a kick out of how many people the park employs just to organize the crowds for each parade. And they take their work seriously, ensuring people sit in the right areas, that picnic sheets are not taking up too much space and that everyone participates in getting pumped up for the coming show. The parades reminded me of a mix of Gay Pride in Toronto, Vegas shows and Mardi Gras with Disney characters present just to keep it on theme. The costumes and dancing girls were impressive. The music was very dramatic and at one point they got the crowds to yell ‘let it snow’ over and over until fake snow came blasting out of the Christmas themed floats. Each of the parades has a corporate sponsor whose logo is brightly displayed for the captive audience.
The children were able to stay up to see the fireworks the first night. We took them back to Norie’s house, got them ready for bed and watched the amazing display of lights through the window in the warmth of her home.
Tim and I had a great time in the evenings visiting with Norie and in the mornings she made breakfast and coffee for us before we would head out for the day. It was so kind of her and her hospitality saved us a bundle.
At the end of the day I can say I am happy to have gone but I am not a fan of Disneyland. Even Eleanor and Lucas are not hooked. It is such an artificial place which leaves nothing to the imagination and I think is lacking in the magic it claims to provide. Watching the Japanese in all their enthusiasm did up the entertainment value though.
We found the magic at the Ghibli Museum. On our fourth day we went to this museum created by the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki to educate visitors on how hand drawn anime films are made. Our family is a big fan of several of his movies especially Our Neighbour Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service and Howl’s Moving Castle. They are great stories with strong female characters and the movies deal with working through emotions.
The museum is in the west of Tokyo and it is a beautiful, four story house that he designed with rooftop gardens and round, curving walls sitting on a large, treed property. We noticed a Totoro (tree spirit) hiding in the bushes on the way in and a robot from one of his films standing among the plants on the roof. Inside is natural by design with archways of all sizes for any age to duck under, and doors that don’t lead anywhere. We saw drawings upon drawings of our favourite characters, Lucas found items in a treasure chest, we flipped papers to make our own little moving pictures and we watched a short film.
The children really enjoyed playing in the giant, stuffed “Neko Bus”, a cat from Totoro, and climbing the caged-in spiral staircases. They also found an old tap in one of the gardens where they loved pumping water into a bucket and finding faces in the ground. It was all very hands-on and was able to hold the children’s attention for hours. The food at their organic café was superb and left us feeling very impressed with the whole experience.
On our trip back across the city we were not impressed with being crammed onto the train like sardines in a can. We were in rush hour in the largest city in the world, what were we thinking? I was afraid for the children when we were shoved closer and tighter together as more and more people got on. I can’t believe there is no limit to how many people can safely ride those trains. I was so glad to get off that train and find our comfortable seats on the ‘Shinkansen’ that I celebrated with a beer. Tim had a can of whiskey and water. ‘Kanpai’ to our Tokyo adventures!
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