I have always been an observer, noticing the small details in the world around me. Here in Tokyo, I have spent a good amount of time taking in the small details as we walk around this amazing city. This is my first experience with an Asian country and culture, and so many aspects have fascinated…
Author: Jill
Schools Around The World – Tokyo, Japan
The elementary school in our neighborhood in Tokyo is called Ryogoku Elementary School. It is about a 10 minute walk from our condo and we often see kids walking there in the mornings. It is typical for kids to go to their neighborhood school here, which I love. The school is similar in size to…
Water, Light, and Wonder: A Day at teamLab Planets
We had Field Trip Friday on Thursday this week and went to teamLab Planets. This is an immersive digital art museum and we had to get tickets in advance (they were sold out for Friday). This was a crazy sensory experience. It was weird, it was like nothing we had ever seen before, and it…
Capsule Hotel and Shibuya Karaoke
Last night we spent the night in a capsule hotel and went back to Shibuya crossing for karaoke. We enjoyed some conveyor belt sushi again and then sang at the top of our lungs to our favorite songs. The kids said it was the best night yet! Tiny Room, Big Experience, Little Sleep Capsule hotels…
Field Trip Friday – Fail Turned Fun
Today didn’t go quite as we planned. For field trip Friday today we intended on visiting the Imperial Palace. This is the primary residence of the Imperial Family, and before going we read about the role of the emperor in Japan. Prior to WWII the emperor held political power, but today his role is purely…
Nakamise Shopping Street and Senso-Ji Temple
Last night we went to the Nakamise Shopping Street, which was the local place Alexis picked for her school project. She did all the research about what to expect and successfully navigated getting us there on her own. The majority of the walk there was along the Sumida river and took us about 45 minutes….
Miraikan – Stepping Into The Future
Yesterday, we visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. This museum is also known as Miraikan, which in Japanese means ‘future museum’. At times it really did feel like stepping into the future. The museum is known for its cutting edge science where you can explore a variety of topics. There were exhibits…
Tokyo Skytree Up Close and Subway Amateurs
Something I love about Tokyo is that we can wake up and ask ourselves ‘What should we do today?’ – and there are what feels like endless options. We thought about going to the sumo museum to make up for yesterday. However, we discovered today that it’s closed the entire month of September for a…
KitKat Tasting and Pajama Friday
Last night we did a blind KitKat tasting competition. It was so much fun! KitKats are a big thing here in Japan and are seen as a good luck charm. KitKat sounds like Kitto Katsu – a phrase in Japan that means ‘surely you will win’. They are often given with a good luck message…
The Bad and Unexpected
Alexis reminded me today that when I started this blog I said I would share it all – the good, the bad and the unexpected. She pointed out that I haven’t shared much of the bad and unexpected. We all did some brainstorming of things that have been hard or did not go according to…