Easter and The Year of Wishes… food allergy princess goes to Tokyo Disney! -June 2016 TR

[MomoMama]

Finally we got to the Trick Art Museum. Here, you can enjoy taking photos with the 3D arts. I had a plan to go to another trick art museum in another city during this trip, but ended up not having enough time for it. So it was good that I got to go to one in Tokyo. What I liked about this one in Tokyo is many of the arts have old Japanese era settings, and Japanese monsters!

When DD did not want to stand close to some of the monsters, she offered to take my photos.

DD was too small to place herself in some of the art settings, but she did pretty good jobs in many of them.

We had lunch at Jonathan’s in the Decks. The cashier asked me if we had visited any of the attractions there, and I told her we went to the trick art museum and showed our tickets. We got 10% discount for the meal.

 

[wanderlust7]

How fun! Those are awesome pictures! You two have great acting skills.

 

[MomoMama]

How fun! Those are awesome pictures! You two have great acting skills.

Thanks! We like being silly.

 

[MomoMama]

Asakusa

DH joined us in the latter half of the trip. Since he had never been to Tokyo, I added another day of Tokyo exploration before our flight back to the U.S. And I thought we should go to one of the most popular areas to visit in Tokyo, Asakusa!

There is Nakamise shopping street in front of the famous Sensouji temple, but the shops do not stay open late. I knew this and wanted to get there earlier, but we got there in the evening, close to 6 pm. Some shops were starting to close, but we still got to see most of the food and souvenir shops. I bought a small key chain to give as a gift, then we were off to sample some sweet snacks!

 

[MomoMama]

Ningyouyaki is one of the most popular snacks there. It is a small cake filled with sweet red bean paste, and kinds of similar to taiyaki (fish shaped cake filled with sweet red beans), but the cake portion is fluffier and comes in many different shapes. Also the filling varies (this can be said for taiyaki too). I tried one, and was not impressed much. It tasted like a regular cake and red beans. Maybe I picked a wrong store, but I sure was not going to try each and every store. I looked for other snacks that DD could eat, found one store (Funawa) that was selling the sweet bean paste without the cake.

The sweet bean paste balls looked like jewels and came in various flavors, like green tea, white bean, strawberry, and orange. The strawberry got DD’s thumbs up!

But what DD loved more was their sweet potato youkan (Japanese style jelly with sweet paste). Youkan is usually very sweet, but this one had great flavor of sweet potato and the sweetness of sugar was not overwhelming. We loved it and tried to buy more to bring home, but the worker there warned me about the expiration date. It only lasts like 2 days because they don’t use preservatives. I thought it was very nice of them to let me know. Also they were very nice about checking the allergen ingredients for me.

We ate the sweet snacks right next to the store. This seems to be a new rule at Nakamise that you need to eat the food in front of the store you bought it. Since Nakamise can be very crowded, eating while walking can cause problems, like accidentally spilling the food over other people.
Most of the stores were closing by then, so we went to the temple.

Giant slipper!

We visited the temple, and took the different way out. Nakamise is filled with people, but there were other smaller streets you can take, and they are quieter.

There are many shops and restaurants in Asakusa. I saw some 24-hour open store and restaurants, as it’s a popular place for tourists. There is this one street that has Izakaya (bar/restaurant) only, and they have outdoor seating. I did not mean to go there, but we accidentally got there as we walked around. I felt so awkward being there with a child, we quickly walked passed through it.

 

[MomoMama]

Tsukiji Market

DH’s main interest in Japan was food. So we went to the famous fish market, Tsukiji Market on the last day in Japan.

We did not see the actual fish auctioning there. With the fish market moving to a new location this fall and the new market not allowing the general public to view the auctioning, I heard the visitor pass to the auctioning is very popular these days. I read that you would have to line up at 1 or 2 am to get the pass… no, we are not that crazy about the fish!

The general market in the current location will stay open, and they are actually building a new market building in Tsukiji now. It is scheduled to open this fall too, so we did not get to see that.

But we saw and enjoyed what they had. It’s a very crowded place and not very kid-friendly, but DD did not mind. She actually enjoyed seeing the live shrimp and octopus and such.

Most of the stores sell fish (of course), but there are also stores that sell other food items, fruits and vegetables, kitchen items and souvenirs. We picked up some dinner plates, and some sweet daifuku (mochi with sweet bean paste in it)!

One daifuku is 200yen, but it’s 1000yen if you buy 6… so of course we got 6. They had allergy information displayed, and we were glad to find something DD could eat. The ones with real strawberries unfortunately had eggs in them, so we did not try.

They had many flavors, including wasabi flavor! We tried it, and surprisingly it was not hot. You could actually taste wasabi, but it was still sweet. The daifuku was good, but tasted artificially flavored, and we thought the Japanese sweet store (Mochikichi) just outside of Tsukiji market had better food. Mochikichi’s green tea ice cream was delicious!

 

[MomoMama]

While there, we visited Namiyoke shrine. This shrine was at the end of the market and very convenient to visit.

They had this giant circle. There was a simple instruction telling you how to go in and around it to cleanse yourself.

You can write your wish on the negaigushi sticks and place it in the lion’s mouth (you actually have to go to the back of lion to do this, as placing through the front may damage his teeth and is prohibited). We had a specific wish, so let DD do it. There was no written instruction in English.

If you come to Tsukiji, you must have sushi breakfast… or rather in our case, early lunch. We wanted to eat lunch there before catching the train to the airport. We looked around, and of course everywhere you see they are offering sushi and kaisendon (sushi rice bowl with fish on top). Since DD would not eat raw fish, I needed to get some cucumber rolls for her, but I was not seeing it on the menu anywhere. I picked a larger restaurant rather than a street vendor-like establishment, as I expected it to be more flexible with the menu. And I asked the sushi chef if he could make some cucumber rolls. The friendly chef said of course!

So while DD had some special cucumber rolls and miso soup, DH and I enjoyed good kaisendon, which also came with chawanmushi (savory egg custard). I can’t find the receipt and can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but this one was located close to the shrine.

The food was good, but I could not eat all…I was not hungry enough. We stayed 1 night at Via Inn Higashi Ginza, as it was so close to the Tsukiji Market. They offered free breakfast, which consisted of some breads, salad, sausage, fruits, soup, and various onigiri (rice balls). I had to feed DD before going to the market, as I did not expect the market to have much for her to eat. I let her have onigiri and fruits, and they were better than expected, I had some too. So I was not hungry enough for the early lunch.

 

[MomoMama]

That is all for our Tokyo days. Other places we visited are in Kansai (west area).

Dotonbori/Shinsaibashi (Osaka Minami)

This area is known for food, food, and food! It can be very crowded especially on the weekends. I would not have gone there if it was just DD and myself, but this was one place DH really wanted to visit.

Dotonbori is known for those wacky restaurant signs. They were so fun to see!

Konamon (takoyaki and other flour-based street food) Museum

We went to this kushikatsu (fried kabab) restaurant. This angry man is saying “No double-dipping allowed!” and true, it is not allowed. They have a bowl of sauce on the counter table, and if anyone double-dips, they would have to replace it for the next guest. So the waiters stand behind you and watch you.

The fry meats, seafood, vegetables, and even mochi (rice cake). And fried mochi was actually my favorite.

We picked up some cucumber rolls in to-go box for DD from a sushi restaurant. There are some seats available on the street, so we sat one of them and let her eat. While most of the people are eating takoyaki (octopus balls) and other street food, eating cucumber rolls may have looked odd. Two elderly Japanese ladies looked at DD, and asked me if we were Japanese.

We also ate some grilled seafood from a street vendor.

Since it was flavored with only salt, DD could eat those. But she did not want to, saying the fish was too salty. She did eat the eyeball of the fish though.

We picked up those ice cream/sorbet bars she could eat. The strawberry one was better, the cheese flavored one looked better than tasted.

 

[MomoMama]

There is a shopping street called Douguyasuji, where all the stores are selling kitchen related items, like plates, cooking utensils, even commercial grade appliances. The biggest kitchen street is in Tokyo, but I did not have time to go there. So while walking around Osaka Minami area, I made sure to stop by!

A giant lucky cat!

There were several stores that were selling beautiful plates, glasses, tea cups and such. But I was very hesitant to go in those stores. Their walkways were narrow, and they stack up those plates so close to you. We were afraid of accidentally knocking them down! And of course, I would not want to go in with a 6-year-old.

But there was this fun place (Design Pocket) that was selling those imitation food. In Japan many restaurants have menu display cases in front of the store, and have those imitation food in them. They are very well-made, looking like real food!

They cost more than the real food...

They also come in hair accessories, key chains, magnets and such.

They also offer a class to make the imitation food. DD and I wanted to participate, but did not want to make DH wait. So we bought a kit to take home.

Will our dessert parfait look like this? We have not tried it yet, but we will see.

The store lady I talked to was very nice. She assured me we would be able to make the parfait without problems, even if we were not crafty. Also they allow taking photos in the store, while many stores on the same street do not. I saw at least another store selling the imitation food items, but they were not allowing photography and the workers were not friendly, sort of ignored us. DD and I were happy to shop at Design Pocket.

 

[MomoMama]

I also made sure to stop by Nambayasaka Shrine while we are in the area. It was 10 to 15 minutes away from the busy shopping area, but easily walk-able distance.

The reason I wanted to visit this shrine was…

This huge Lionhead!

DD pretending to brush his tooth...

The shrine was clean and quiet. There were not many people as it was a weekday afternoon, and there was no event or festival going on.

 

[MomoMama]

Himeji Castle

Japan’s national treasure, Himeji castle is also UNESCO World Heritage site. It may not impress everyone…it did not “wow” DD, as she much prefers Cinderella’s castle. But I think it’s a beautiful castle and amazed to see how they could built it over 400 years ago!

They had just finished the restoration and the place is very popular with tourists. I made sure to visit there on a weekday, and we were able to climb up all the way to the top without any waiting time.

You have to go up the slopes, and climb up the stairs on your own. There are no elevators! Also they ask you to remove shoes and carry them yourself once inside the castle. They do give you a plastic bag for your shoes. DD had no problems, but I made sure to hold her hands when going up and down those steep stairs, since socks on the wooden floor can be very slippery.

I don’t know what DH was thinking, but he told DD that we would see a princess at the castle… This isn’t a Disney castle, there is no princess! DD was excited and kept asking where the princess was while as we walked around. Then finally we saw a princess!

DD was not happy she was not real…

It seems they have volunteer tour guides for foreign tourists, and it’s free! There is also an app that would show videos and information for self-guided tours. I did not use them, and just walked around as we liked. But I will probably give one of them a try when DD is older and can understand better.

 

[MomoMama]

We left the castle and went to the Japanese garden, Koukoen, which is located right next to the castle.

It’s a beautiful Japanese garden and I am sure this place is packed in the spring (cherry blossom season) or fall (fall foliage season), but it was not busy at all when we visited. We got there late, and did not get to try the tea house or the restaurant, but we had enough time to walk around the garden.

I completely forgot about bringing a mosquito repellent. I got some mosquito bites as we walked around the garden in early evening, the time mosquitoes are more active. But DD and DH did not, as I was their human mosquito repellent, attracting the bugs to myself.

If you are visiting both the castle and the garden, you should get the paired ticket. It is 1040yen for an adult paired ticket, while castle-only costs 1000yen and the garden-only costs 300yen. I made a mistake of buying the castle-only tickets from the vending machine, but after realizing my mistake, I went to a ticket counter and they were nice enough to change the tickets for me.

 

[MomoMama]

There are some souvenir and snack shops in front of the castle (actually across the street), but they don’t stay open late. When we came out of the garden at the closing time, all the stores were already closed. I wanted to check out some stores, so that was disappointing.

There is a main street that takes you from the Himeji train station to the castle straight. It’s a nice street with shops and some art statures. But on the way back to the station, we took the shopping streets that runs next to the main street. We saw the Hello Kitty café there. I believe there is one in Tokyo too, but this one in Himeji should be the original one. The café was not busy but we did not go in, since they did not have anything DD could eat.

 

[BelleBway]

Wish I'd known about the Trick Art Museum when I was in Japan with my niece last year- that looks so fun! We visited Odaiba but I didn't know there was such a place. But we did eat at a "Cafe de Miki with Hello Kitty" restaurant in Diver City mall, which was really cute.

I'm going to Osaka for my first time this year so it was interesting to see that post as well. This will be my 6th trip to Japan and I always like to go somewhere new, even if I don't have a lot of time.

 

[Jade-Elise]

There are some souvenir and snack shops in front of the castle (actually across the street), but they don’t stay open late. When we came out of the garden at the closing time, all the stores were already closed. I wanted to check out some stores, so that was disappointing.

There is a main street that takes you from the Himeji train station to the castle straight. It’s a nice street with shops and some art statures. But on the way back to the station, we took the shopping streets that runs next to the main street. We saw the Hello Kitty café there. I believe there is one in Tokyo too, but this one in Himeji should be the original one. The café was not busy but we did not go in, since they did not have anything DD could eat.

AH Thank you!!!! I've put this on my list. The breakfast looks amazing, with some waffle sandwiches.

 

[MomoMama]

Wish I'd known about the Trick Art Museum when I was in Japan with my niece last year- that looks so fun! We visited Odaiba but I didn't know there was such a place. But we did eat at a "Cafe de Miki with Hello Kitty" restaurant in Diver City mall, which was really cute.

I'm going to Osaka for my first time this year so it was interesting to see that post as well. This will be my 6th trip to Japan and I always like to go somewhere new, even if I don't have a lot of time.

Yes, trick art was fun! Do stop by and checkout the retro shopping mall too, if you are going back to Odaiba!

I like to explorer new places too. And there are so many to do in Japan! I tend to go to kids-friendly places for now, but am looking forward to visiting various places in the future with DD.

Hope you will have a great time in Osaka. Osaka has a different feel from Tokyo!

 

[MomoMama]

AH Thank you!!!! I've put this on my list. The breakfast looks amazing, with some waffle sandwiches.

Did you checkout their website for menu? I think the pancakes and waffles are served all day. They have breakfast toast that has hello kitty printed on it.

 

[wanderlust7]

Osaka looks like a lot of fun! I'm plotting in my head a return trip to TDR plus Shanghai Disneyland in a couple years. Maybe we'll make Osaka our base for a few days and go to Nara and Arashiyama.

 

[MomoMama]

Osaka looks like a lot of fun! I'm plotting in my head a return trip to TDR plus Shanghai Disneyland in a couple years. Maybe we'll make Osaka our base for a few days and go to Nara and Arashiyama.

Sounds like a good plan! I have been avoiding Kyoto and Nara, but I'm thinking DD is ready to explorer those areas. Your kids will be too, in a few years!

 

[MomoMama]

Kobe Animal Kingdom

No, this place is not like Disney’s Animal Kingdom… There is no rides, unless you count the camel and pony rides. This place is like a large petting zoo, and you get to feed various animals.

The admission fee is not expensive (800yen for elementary school aged kids, 1500yen for older kids and adults). But you will end up spending a lot of money if your kid wants to feed animals after animals…

Also some interactions and photo with owl cost extra fees as well.