Trip Report: Tokyo and Yokohama, 8/7 – 8/15

First of all, the information I got from this sub, especially the guide, was incredibly helpful in our planning. We booked a couple of things in advance, and there were other things that I learned I should have tried to book much earlier than I did (Pokemon Cafe, Ghibli Museum), and will keep that in mind for posssible future visits.

The four of us (including our kids, 21 and 18) arrived in the afternoon at Haneda (direct flight from SEA on ANA) in the mid-afternoon. We had QR codes from filling out immigration/custom forms online, and getting through customs was less than 20 minutes. I’d found a travel company online that specializes in Japan and purchased SUICA cards from them. I was glad we had them, although maybe a SUICA app on our phones would have worked as well. We were told by a guide we had the first day that it wasn’t possible for people to purchase physical cards there, because of the computer chip shortage. In any case, our first stop was at the ATM to get yen out. There was some money already on the SUICA cards, but we added more because we knew we’d be using them a lot.

We took the express Monorail into the city (Hamamatsucho station). At that point we grabbed a taxi to the hotel, in the Roppongi area. We ended up using Google maps a lot to help navigate during our trip and it was great! Even explained what platform to be on to catch the right train. But we weren’t sure about navigating the system just yet and were just worn out from the flight.

For the first few days we stayed at the Ritz Carlton – we had a lot of points saved up from our credit card, so we used them on this trip to book hotels we normally wouldn’t have stayed at. Very spacious, and great view of the city. Also used the pool to cool off after hot days of walking around – it was a lovely pool and usually was empty.

We went to a small restaurant nearby (Gluten Free T’s Kitchen) and got ramen, which was very tasty.

Day 2: Booked a guide for 4 hours to give us a tour to Asakusa and Meiji Jingu. I thought it would good to have someone help us through the subway system that first day, and it was. She actually printed out a map for us of the subway, as well as wrote down instructions for how to get to the Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro, which we did later that afternoon.

We went to Senso-Ji, a Buddhist temple, and Asakusa Jinja, a Shinto shrine located next to it. It was interesting to hear about these two religions and how they coincide with each other in their culture. We also wandered around the shops. I bought some handmade paper for an art project.

It was extremely hot this day – full sun and high humidity, temps in the 90s – which we are not used to. We took a couple of breaks and ate lunch at Gonpachi, was was very tasty.

We then went to Meiji Jingu and our guide told us a bit about the history and left us there. There are a lot of grounds to explore, a garden as well as the shrine. We didn’t spend as much time here as I would’ve liked though because of the heat.

Next stop was the Pokemon Center in Ikebekuro, which is in the top floor of a mall. The kids wandered around and picked up a variety of Pokemon themed items for themselves and gifts for friends. It was a very busy area.

Went back to Roppongi, got dinner (tonkatsu with some shredded cabbage).

Day 3: Teamlab Planets – took the train there (at this point we were getting pretty good at navigating the stations). This was an interesting encompassing sort of art experience. It was really different from anything else we’ve done and I’m glad we went. We were there for about 90 minutes.

Next we went to Akihabara to shop for Cosplay items. First stop was Cospatio. This turned out to be the only store we found with costumes. My kid wanted to try something on because we were unsure of sizing, but were told you had to purchase an item before you tried it on. The item itself was pricy. We put it back and looked for other places. Checked out Animate, which has several floors dedicated to anime related items. Passed by an arcade, where kid #2 played some claw games and won a Pokemon plush.

Akihabara was more “gritty” feeling than other areas of Tokyo we’d been in so far. Tokyo, despite having very few public trash cans around, seems very clean and orderly. Anyway, after striking out on finding cosplay shops, we headed back to the Roppongi area for dinner, which was gyoza at Gyopao – quite good!

Day 4: Went to see Shibuya Scramble Crossing, then hopped over to Harajuku to shop on Takeshita St. The street was packed with people. Our teen found some cute things to try on and purchased an outfit.

This was our day to check out and travel to Yokohama, so we packed up and figured out our path. It took only one transfer and about an hour to get to the Minatomarai area to our next hotel – the Westin (again using points). It was not as comfortable or spacious as the Ritz, but still a westernized experience probably compared to other hotels we could have stayed at. We chose this one because our older kid had a spectator badge for the Pokemon World Tournament (he was hoping to qualify as a player but didn’t quite make it), which is the reason for the trip. The hotel was in easy walking distance of the convention center where the tournament was being held.

We were glad to get out of the heat by the time we got to the hotel, so we had some downtime, and picked up some carry-out from a local restaurant. We only learned a few phrases in Japanese, and there were fewer people in Yokohama who spoke any English. Google Translate was amazing for us here. It really helped in understanding menus, signs, etc., and helped us communicate in restaurants and stores.

Day 5: Husband wasn’t feeling great, so while my son checked in at the convention center, my teen and I wandered around the area. It was very busy with tons of people in town for the convention. There was a Pokemon pop-up (you had to have signed up beforehand though), lots of Pokemon displays around the city – large Pokemon card art, huge inflated Pikachus, one very large Pikachu card made out of flowers in one of the malls. Another very hot day – went back to the hotel for a swim and had dinner in.

Day 6: Travelled with a guide to Kamakura (just myself and my teen). We got a fairly early start, so the heat wasn’t too bad to begin with. It took about an hour to get there. We saw the large Buddha statue, the temple and grounds, the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine, and learned about the history of the shogun and the politics of that era. We also had some tasty street food (Dango), and sushi for lunch. It was another terribly hot day. Our guide had a towel around his neck for wiping off sweat – I’d packed a handkerchief which came in handy here.

Went to local laundromat to do laundry at this point (very much cheaper than having the hotel handle it). Because of the heat we found we were going through changes of clothes more than expected.
Picked up some carry out and relaxed back at the hotel.

Day 7: Went to Chinatown for breakfast. Wandered around the shops – it was another very busy area. The gates marking the entrances to the neighborhood were pretty cool.

We got out of the heat for a bit, then went back to the waterfront to see the amusement park. Rode the ferris wheel to take in the view. The ferris wheel was lighting up with Pikachu and Pokeball designs, and there was a drone show each night to celebrate the Pokemon tournament.

Day 8: Our younger kid was feeling left out of the Pokemon fun (we hardly saw the 21-year-old during this time as he was hanging out with friends when not at the tournament itself), so we went to the Pokemon Center in Yokohama. Unfortunately it turned out you had to have signed up in advance to go into the store. We could see a lot of what they had from the entrance though and determined there wasn’t anything we were looking for. We wandered around to other stores nearby and there was another arcade with a lot of claw machines. Kid found one with a Pokemon plush they were looking for for a friend and managed to win it after a few tries. So it all worked out.

Then we went to the Red Brick Warehouse to check out the artists’ shops and do a little souvenir hunting. I found a couple of pretty items (change purse, artist book) for gifts.

We also purchased a duffle bag on our way back to the hotel for the plushies and other items we’d be bringing back.

Day 9: Packed up, checked out of the hotel and headed back to Haneda.

Takeaways:

1) Will definitely consider weather when planning any future trips to Japan. We had to go at this time since we planned it around the Pokemon tournament, but the heat definitely impacted how much we were able to do.

2) Will do better research into any place or event we want to see to determine how to get reservations in advance. The kids would’ve liked going to a Pokemon Cafe, and we all would’ve enjoyed the Ghibli Museum.

3) We have T-mobile and an international plan – it worked great! I was really wondering whether we’d need to get a Sim card and some kind of local plan, but not needed at all for us.

3) Another trip to Japan will probably be at different, less westernized hotels.

4) We enjoyed exploring Tokyo and the sites we saw this trip, but would love to see Kyoto and other areas outside of the big cities.

All in all, it was an excellent first trip. We really enjoyed learning about the history and culture and meeting the people we did. And the food was awesome.

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