Week 31: Tokyo

We began our week in Tokyo by visiting the Tokyo National Museum. On our way, we took a small detour to the Disney Store and purchased our park tickets for later in the week! The Tokyo National Museum is a huge complex consisting of six major buildings, a garden and several smaller buildings such as tea houses. It houses over 117,000 artifacts including many national treasures and important cultural properties. We chose to focus on Japanese archeology, housed in the Heiseikan building. We learned more about the history of Japan through pottery, ceramic figures, metal work and coins. The girls enjoyed the tactile stations throughout the museum, but their favorite tactile stations allowed them to build a model of the ceramic dog found in a burial area and feel the weight of different coin types. After the museum, as we were walking to the subway, we ended up in a cherry blossom lined park. There was a giant festival happening to celebrate the blooming of the cherry blossoms, with groups of people having picnics and taking photos all around. It was truly picturesque. Audrey and Maurene decided they wanted to bring their mom back to the park over the weekend to see the cherry blossoms. 

My weekend was spent at Tokyo Disneyland Resort! Upon arrival, I noticed that while every metro station throughout Tokyo plays a short bit of music as the trains are about to depart, the metro station near Disney plays Disney songs. I thought the public transportation theming was a nice touch. This is my fourth Disney resort, leaving only two I have not visited yet! I spent Saturday at Tokyo Disneyland, and Sunday at Tokyo DisneySea. Tokyo Disneyland was the first international Disney Park, and helped keep the Walt Disney Company afloat during the 1970’s and 1980’s. The Walt Disney Company still has creative control, even though it is owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company. Tokyo Disneyland is a fascinating mash up between Disneyland and Disney World, but contains a few unique elements and attractions. 

I began my weekend by getting a coffee at Ikspiari, the Tokyo Disneyland mall version of Downtown Disney or Disney Springs. I then rode the monorail around to see the resort. The monorail is actually run by one of the public transportation systems in Tokyo, and you have to pay to use it. Luckily, Tokyo IC cards are accepted, so it was no big deal to tap on and off the monorail. After riding the monorail the first time, I was better able to visualize the layout of the parks and learned that you definitely do not have to take the monorail to get to the entrances. The parks are built right next to each other, but unlike at Disneyland, the entrances are not facing each other. This allows for the same fireworks show to be seen from both parks. Once entering Tokyo Disneyland park, I knew I wanted to begin with the attractions only found in Tokyo: Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek and Pooh’s Honey Hunt. I immediately got a fastpass for Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek since it is the first attraction to run out of fastpasses each day. I then went and got in line for Pooh’s Honey Hunt. Pooh’s Honey Hunt utilizes the same trackless technology as the Ratatouille ride in Disneyland Paris. The story you move through is similar to the story from Disneyland and Walt Disney World, but is more interactive because of the ability for the honey pot vehicle to move more throughout the attraction. Monster’s Inc. Ride and Go Seek reminded me of a child focused version of Universal’s Men in Black attraction. In the attraction, you ride through Monstropolis shining a flashlight on as many monsters as you can. They react when you shine the light on their helmets. It is very precious. I spent the rest of the day riding other attractions, watching the parades, eating SO much food, and enjoying the atmosphere. My favorite foods from the day were Mike shaped melon bread, green alien shaped mochi dumplings, and a Mickey glove shaped sweet and sour chicken sandwich. During the evening parade, it started to rain. It was an incredibly cold rain. I froze, but loved being in an essentially empty park. After the nighttime spectacular castle show and fireworks show presented between the two parks, I decided to start the hour trek back to the airbnb to warm up and dry my shoes in preparation for day two on Sunday! 

I spent Sunday at Tokyo DisneySea. I’ve always been told that Tokyo DisneySea is one of a kind, and it is claimed as favorite Disney park by many people. I totally get it now. Tokyo DisneySea really is incredible. The theming throughout the park is spectacular, and it contains a plethora of unique attractions as well as some fan favorites, like Tower of Terror and Toy Story Mania. It was packed while I was there and the lines reflected how busy it was. The line for Toy Story Mania was five hours long at one point during the day! There were many high school groups celebrating graduating. My favorite groups were the ones that were dressed in pink jumpsuits wearing Hamm hats (the pig from Toy Story). There were more of those groups than you would expect and they were all hilarious. My favorite foods from Tokyo DisneySea were the Mickey muffins and shell shaped ice cream.

I arrived in the park about 15 minutes after the gates opened. I walked over to Toy Story Mania to get a fastpass and discovered they were already out for the day! It worked out well though, because I was able to get a fastpass for one of the unique attractions at Tokyo DisneySea – Journey to the Center of the Earth. Journey to the Center of the Earth is the flagship attraction at Tokyo DisneySea. It is found in the volcano at the center of the park, which occasionally erupts fire out of the top. The attraction is slow moving at first, before speeding up and dropping on the way out of the volcano. It was a very short ride, but was still very fun. I also checked out a few more unique DisneySea rides – Nemo and Friends SeaRider, Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage, and 20,000 leagues Under the Sea. Nemo and Friends SeaRider feels similar to Star Tours, but is more family oriented. When you board the attraction, your SeaRider shrinks down to fish size to explore the ocean floor. While swimming around, the SeaRider comes across many characters from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. It is very cute, but can definitely cause motion sickness. I have no motion sickness issues in Star Tours, but this one got to me a little bit! Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage is a slow moving boat ride. I could not understand the words to the song throughout the attraction, but it was very catchy and the characters were adorable. The little tiger Chandu was definitely my favorite character. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a slow moving ride similar to the Finding Nemo Submarines in Disneyland, but is not actually underwater. There are sea creatures and treasure for you to see outside of your submarine window. I am glad I went on it because it is unique, but I probably would not go on it more than once. I also went on the attraction Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull a few times. It has the same track as Indiana Jones in Disneyland, but is themed differently. The best part of the Indiana Jones attraction at DisneySea is that it has a single rider line so I was in and out in no time! 

 Tokyo DisneySea has a plethora of stage shows throughout the park. The people visiting are not kidding about watching them. When I got to the park, there was already a line of people that brought little folding stools sitting outside one of the venues waiting for the show that would begin in three hours. At some point, when I have more time, I think it would be fun to go back and watch the shows that draw such a crowd. Since I only had one day, I decided not to watch the shows. I did make sure to watch the nighttime spectacular for DisneySea, Fantasmic. The plot is similar to Fantasmic at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, but the presentation is unique. I stayed after Fantasmic to watch the fireworks show presented between the two parks again, and then headed home to sleep and get ready for a full school week – including a trip to Disney with the girls! 

Some interesting tidbits about Tokyo Disneyland Resort:

• Disneyland Tokyo Resort does not sell a park hopper ticket. If you get tickets for more than three days in a row, you can enter both parks on the same day beginning on the third day. If you want to enter both on the same day before your third day, you have to buy and use two separate tickets. 
• Wait times at Tokyo Disneyland are no joke. The lines were very similar to and longer than peak season lines at Walt Disney World. On Sunday, the wait time for ToyStory Mania was five hours! 
• Non-ride entertainment at Tokyo Disneyland is hugely popular – so much so that a lottery is held for entrance to several stage shows in both parks and center seating for the nighttime spectacular in front of the castle.
• People start picking seats for the parades over an hour before parade start time. At one hour before, the announcement is made that plastic sitting sheets may be placed down. Immediately, all along the parade route, everyone pulls out these little plastic towel sized sheets and sits on them.
• There are two parades at Tokyo Disneyland – the daytime parade Dreaming Up! and the nighttime parade Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights. Both are wonderful, with incredibly intricate costumes. 
• Most of the guests follow every rule. Cast members did not even have to put ropes up to keep people out of the parade paths. They simply asked people to stay behind the dots on the ground where the rope poles would be, and everyone complied. I cannot imagine being a cast member in a park where everyone listens so well. 
• There is an actual rule book in Japanese and English that cast members can pull out to show guests the translation for rules. On a related note, you cannot use a credit card that is not signed on the back.
• The soap in the bathrooms comes out in a mickey shape.
• The food at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea is really good, and comes in so many fun shapes. 
• The Japanese people are not kidding about characters. I saw several characters out meeting guests that are less common in the United States parks, including Esméralda and Clarice – Chip and Dale’s love interest. 
• The big snack at Tokyo Disneyland Resort is popcorn. People wear themed refillable popcorn buckets. In addition to more “normal” popcorn flavors like butter, salt, caramel, and popcorn, many other flavors can be found. I saw popcorn with flavors like curry, honey, barbecue, garlic shrimp, strawberry and Chinese spice. The park map even contains a section for where to find each flavor of popcorn in the parks.
• There aren’t photopass cast members. All the guests set up their phones on timers to take photos for them. I asked someone if they wanted a photo taken and seemed shocked and very excited.

Even though we spent some time in Kyoto focusing on Samurai throughout Japanese history, we could not resist spending another day learning about the Samurai. We spent Monday afternoon at the Tokyo Samurai Museum. The museum entry comes with an English guided tour, which was wonderful. We saw samurai armor, helmets, and weapons. We also watched a demonstration showing different Samurai sword techniques. Maurene was chosen to go up to the front and practice some of the movements with a foam sword, which she adored. Audrey was chosen later to try on a replica helmet and face plate, which she adored as well. We also were all given the chance before leaving to try on kimonos. Audrey and Maurene were so excited to get me to dress up with them. Overall, the museum was both very fun and very educational and built on to our understanding of Japanese history well. 

After visiting Disneyland Paris, Audrey and Maurene requested that we spend a day visiting Tokyo Disneyland when in Japan. On Tuesday, we did just that. For our day in the park, we chose to visit the Tokyo Disneyland half of the resort. On our way to the park, we made a list of the attractions we definitely wanted to visit during the day. Our big goals for the day were Monsters Inc. Hide and Sneak, Pooh’s Honey Hunt, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House and Pirates of the Caribbean. We also wanted to see both parades, the castle nighttime spectacular and the fireworks. We did all of our big activities and more during the day, and loved every minute of it. Audrey and Maurene were each given the opportunity to buy one packable souvenir. Maurene bought a Buttercup the unicorn headband, and Audrey bought a Dumbo the elephant headband. By the end of the day, we were definitely cold even with hand warmers in our pockets. We all had a marvelous time, and each want to come back at some point. 

When visiting a technology hub like Tokyo, visiting a science and technology museum is a definite must do. We got out the door late on Wednesday due to our late night at Disney, but we still made time for a few hours at Miraikan – The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Miraikan is a huge museum, so we chose to focus mainly on the robots section of the museum. We learned more about the history of robot development, watched a demonstration from the robot ASIMO and interacted with a few robots. The ASIMO demonstration was very impressive. It kicked a ball, hopped on one foot across the room, and performed a song in Japanese Sign Language. Next, Audrey and Maurene loved getting to play with a therapy seal robot. This robot was designed to give comfort to people who cannot be around live animals. The seal responds to its name, moves when its whiskers are touched and reacts to different petting styles. Our next robot was the girl’s favorite because they each got to control it. Because we were in line to control the robot, the staff allowed us to stay a little after closing to have the experience, which we really appreciated. When we had our turn, one person sat on the couch and talked to the robot, while the other stepped into the control booth to control the robot’s movements and voice. It was hilarious to watch Audrey and Maurene talking to each other through a robot proxy. 

On Thursday, we packed up and moved on to our next location. Josh headed back to the United States for two weeks, while Kris, Audrey, Maurene and I flew on to South Korea.  

Things I’ve learned in Japan:

1. Japanese people are so incredibly kind. They are also serious rule followers, which I really enjoyed.
2. People in Japan drive on the left side of the road.
3. In Osaka, you walk on the right side of the sidewalk. In Tokyo, you walk on the left side of the sidewalk. In Kyoto, either side is fine.
4. On an escalator in Kyoto, you follow whoever is ahead of you in deciding which is the standing side and which is the walking side. If no one is ahead of you, you pick which side to stand on and everyone getting on after you follows your example until there is another gap.
5. Kyoto used to be the capital of Japan. When the capital was moved to Tokyo, the emperor apparently stated it would be “for a while.” Because of this, some people still think Kyoto will someday be capital again.
6. We did not find any advertisements for the Tokyo olympics in Kyoto. According to our tour guide, there aren’t any because of the rivalry between Kyoto and Tokyo.
7. At least one of the 2020 olympic venues is in a safe part of the Fukushima prefecture, which was devastated by an tsunami and nuclear disaster in 2011.
8. If it is a Temple, it is for Buddhism. If it is a Shrine, it is for Shintoism.
9. Japanese people are not kidding about how many people can fit into public transportation. Riding the busses in Kyoto and the trains in Tokyo were the most crammed I have ever been.
10. The Tokyo public transportation system is run by multiple companies, making the IC card the only practical ticket to buy if you’re staying outside of city center.
11. Because different trains going to the same final destination stop at different numbers of stops (local, limited express, express, etc.), the easiest way to get around is by having Michael Scott level faith in Google Maps.
12. The toilets are either extremely fancy with heated seats, a bidet, and all sorts of buttons, or eastern style squatting toilets. There weren’t really in between options.
13. The heated toilet seats felt super weird at first, but after getting used to them they were rather pleasant. (They’re super nice when it rains at Disneyland and you feel frozen!) 
14. Japanese shower rooms are awesome. There’s so much space to shower.
15. The Japanese School year runs from April to March, with four breaks during the year. When we were there, the local kids were between school years. Because of this schedule, the cherry blossoms bloom and signal new beginnings as a new school year is starting.
16. There are approximately 5 million vending machines in Japan. That’s approximately one vending machine for every 23 people.
17. Japanese dumplings, called gyoza, are fantastic.
18. Tokyo is the largest metropolitan area in the world by population.
19. Tokyo was renamed to Tokyo after becoming the capital. It used to be called Edo.
20. Cherry blossom season is called Hanami.
21. The Japanese Archipelago consists of 6,852 islands. 
22. The Japanese are serious about loving Kitkats. There are over 350 flavors of Kitkat in Japan.

Next stop: Seoul, South Korea!