Mama and daddy just won’t stop talking about it. Months prior to the realization of the trip, all they talked about was Tokyo and how great it would be for us to go there and visit. So we did.
After a four and a half hour airplane ride, we landed at Haneda Airport coming from Manila. After getting our baggages and passing through immigration, daddy went to the tourist booth to get our 72-hour Tokyo Subway tickets for Y1500 each, about $15 per ticket. The tickets would allow us unlimited access of the Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway lines. This privilege is only available to tourists, and since we are going to be here for 7 days, dad got two passes for him and mom, I get to ride for free (0–6 years old ride for free).
Well since the subway tickets do not include the Keikyu Line, the one that would connect us to another train line, the JR Yamanote Line (also not included in the subway ticket), we had to load up our Pasmo cards to pay for our fares. So from the airport we headed to Shinagawa Station and took the JR train that would take us to Yoyogi.
It’s the month of May, the weather was just light-sweater cold and walking around does not require an umbrella or anything to protect you from the sun. It’s a kids dream come true, no sweaty shirts and stinky smell while playing and running around.
We stayed in an apartment daddy found in AirBnB. The apartment is located just 5 minutes walk from the Yoyogi JR station. It is surrounded by shops, convenience stores and tons of restaurants and most of all, a McDonald’s is nearby for my chicken nugget fix and did I mention Happy Meal. There’s also a Starbucks on the way to the subway whenever mama and daddy needed coffee. As you can see, the place looks very safe and is nice and clean.
Poor daddy had to pull two full size luggage bags and a small luggage bag, but he is superman. And since we were tired from air travel and the commute from airport to apartment, we opted to just walk around Yoyogi and stroll in nearby Harajuku to grab dinner.
Kid Tip: Hey kid, if you think you are capable of walking all day, then tell your mama to leave the stroller behind. Bringing it would mean longer walks and looking for elevators in subway stations.
The next day is when the adventure really started. After eating bread for breakfast, we head off to the Oedo Line — Yoyogi station heading to Shiodome. Picture of the train we rode is below.
It looked like we almost had it to ourselves, that’s just how early it was when we hopped on it.
Once in Shiodome station, daddy pulled out his phone to access Google maps and search for the best way to walk to Hamarikyu Gardens. It was a long walk, well — a stroller ride for me, about 10 minutes to get to the gardens. It was all worth it, the garden was bigger than my lola’s garden, way bigger. It has a man made lake with a small island in the center connected to the rest of the garden via a long footbridge. I cannot believe a park exists in the middle of a city full of skyscrapers and shopping centers. I cannot believe how clean this place is, I cannot believe how clean the whole city is.
Green, green, green — it’s green everywhere in this park. Mama enjoyed pushing my stroller all throughout the park. If you are wondering if I ran around the place, of course I did. I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity of running in an open space with clean air and luscious greens.
The main attraction of the garden remains to be the Sakura trees (Cherry Blossom Trees). They line up like Hollywood stars and people just flock on them to take pictures, I mean a lot of pictures, Mama is no exception.
All that walking and picture taking made us hungry. So we walked half a mile, about 14 minutes to Tsukiji Market so mama and daddy can try a couple slices of the world’s best tuna. Daddy had Otoro (fatty tuna) and we had our picture taken together with my new found friend — our sushi chef — Matsui san.
Kid Tip: They sell mostly seafood and fresh sushi in Tsukiji Market and might be hard to find something to chew on for a toddler like me. So tell your mama ahead of time to bring something for you to eat.
This is a hectic day, jam-packed with places to see. After getting our tummy’s full we hopped back to the subway to make it to Asakusa. Our next target is a short walk from the Asakusa station. This area is known for the Senso-ji temple, Tokyo’s oldest one. The temple was packed with people and souvenir shops. You have to bring your patience with you, because making it all the way to the temple itself requires a lot of slow walking amidst a throng of shoppers and temple goers. This is the perfect place to buy that souvenir that you are planning to bring back home. Same items may vary in price from shop to shop, so don’t hesitate to ask for the price and decide to buy later.
Well, the walking never ends, from the temple we crossed a bridge that led us to the serene Sumida Park. On the way there we got a great view of the Sumida River and the cruise boats passing by. Again, just like most places in Tokyo, the river is clean and the surroundings are litter free.
Within Sumida park is another temple, but this time with less visitors and a lot quieter than Senso-ji. You need to cleanse yourself with water before going in to offer a prayer. There’s a water well in front of temple gate where you can wash your hands and even your mouth.
Mama was lucky enough to spot a pop-up local craft market outside the temple gates. And even with the crowd just outside the temple, the place remained considerably quiet.
Did I say, the walking never stops, forward we go to the Tokyo Skytree. A good 15–20 minutes walk and we were at the bottom of the tower by Oshiage Station.
This is Japan’s tallest tower and it sure is tall and very majestic. I’ve been spotting it since we got to Asakusa, it is very hard to miss. It looks awesome during the day and even more awesome at night when its spine is lighted up.
The line for the tickets get really long, we fell in line for almost an hour and daddy paid Y2820 about $26–28 each for him and mama, I get to go in for free until I reach the age of 4, sweet. I suggest that you stick next to your folks as you could easily get lost in the ticket station floor.
See that view above, yep, “wow” is what came out of my mouth too. That is one terrific view, quite expensive but worth it. The tower offers a 360 degree view of Tokyo, a world full of lights, buildings, fast moving cars and about 14 million individuals.
The day has to come to an end, this whirlwind, million step first day adventure of Tokyo sure was full of fun and great sights. We headed back to the metro and made our way to Yoyogi station. Made our walk through our quiet neighborhood and called it a night.
Click here for part two of the series.