Tokyo Ryokan

Yayyy!  We slept in past 6!

This morning Jill gave Miwa her New Years gift from one of her uncles, it was 1000 yen (about $10) and Miwa said, “I love cash!”  I’m not quite sure what to make of that.  Clearly we have a young capitalist on our hands.

We packed up two days worth of supplies and set off for downtown Tokyo.  While we travel relatively light for having two kids, it still feels like a lot of stuff to lug around on the trains!  It took about two hours to get to our lovely traditional Japanese hotel (Ryokan).  We are staying at Homeikan Ryokan, not exactly centrally located, but a 2 minute walk to a metro station which puts us about 10-30 minutes from all the major sites that one would care to see.

Our friends Masumi and Nobu arrived and we went out for a walk.  We hopped the subway for Ginza, one of the main shopping districts and went to Laduree in Mitsukoshi, the French patisserie that originated the Macaron.  For what looked like 5 cookies, we spent 2,400 Yen.  They were, however, delicious.

At a stop for coffee, I was reminded that not everywhere in the world has banned smoking in restaurants, I had forgotten how gross that is.  We had our coffee and in the chaos of trying to get two tired, cranky kids out of there, I forgot the bag containing the Macarons.  When we noticed about 20 minutes later, Jill glared at me and said, “I am very upset right now.”  Fortunately we hadn’t gone far, and the bag was right where I had left it.

The girls were happiest when they were eating.

We wandered for a bit more then headed back for dinner.  A restaurant was out of the question due to the children’s mood, so we all went back to the ryokan, and Jill stayed with the kids while the rest of us back out to the Lawson (convenience store) for some dinner.  Oddly, one can dine quite well from a convenience store in Japan.  Darren, here’s some pictures of the onigiri, just for you.  They were delectable.

Jill and the girls went for a bath after dinner, then we sat around and finished off the beer while the kids went to sleep.  I wasn’t too far behind them, and I think I was out before Masumi and Nobu left.