Trip To Tokyo

Expensive icecream on a hot Tokyo day!

From the top of the Mori building, central Tokyo.

Ariel's Undersea Kingdom isn't just for girls!

Japanese Power Rangers spotted in the Tokyo subway!

The Spencer family braved the mega-metropolis of Tokyo over Labor Day weekend. We took the Shinkansen (bullet train) which ended up being a mini-adventure in itself. I'll leave it up to you to fill in the blanks with your own imagination, but here's the picture: 4.5 hour train ride, 2 train seats, family of 5, rush hour for all the Japanese commuters, luggage, stroller, sippy cups, snack bags, and one flailing little baby octopus (Corban) who would simply not take a nap. No matter how events turn out, we chalk everything we do up to a "cultural experience." It was certainly that, but much better, I must say, than the alternative which was a 12 hour car ride.

Fortunately the US Military has a couple recreational facilities in the heart of Tokyo which makes a very cost effective lodging option in an otherwise very expensive city. Navigating Tokyo's myriad of subways and trains proved to be very easy due to a very well organized system. We saw a number of interesting sites around the city, including some that we stumbled upon that Grandma Spencer had visited during her visit earlier this summer. At times Josiah would say, "Hey, I've been here before," only to realize that he hadn't, he had only seen it before in Grandma's pictures.

We were also able to visit Naira for a day, after over a decade of not seeing her since the Spencer family hosted her for a year as a high school student in Valley Falls. We also visited Tokyo Disney Sea, our first ever trip to any Disney theme park. I can only imagine that Disney parks in the states must look very similar to this one. It was somewhat surreal since it essentially had no Japanese influence at all. It was a fun day of boat rides, submarine rides, and Josiah and Levi rode their first real roller coaster!