Kidzania!

This weekend was absolutely a busy one. After our big day yesterday with Isaac at the Imperial Palace we had another day planned in Tokyo. This time it was to a place called Kidzania. Before we got to Japan our friend Brittany was invited by a Japanese coworker and she invited us along as well. I didn't really know what to expect but I was open to seeing what it was. They have two times you can go and we were signed up for the 9am time. It was in a mall a little more than an hour away and there is supposed to be a long line to get in so we headed to the train at a bright and early 6:25am. We missed our first train thanks to 3 kids and life at 6:30am but we got on not long after we thought. We ended up taking 3 trains to get there and it was a short walk from the train station. After what seemed like forever but only ended up being about an hour and a half or so we made it!

 

We stood in a long line that moved pretty quickly and walked in to a kids workplace wonderland. Long story short Kidzania is a kid city with everything from a bank, to a fire station to a frozen food processing plant, to a movie theatre to an interior design studio. The kids get a time card, they pick what they would like to be and go around to each "job" and work for kidzania money and can buy things at the end of the day with their earned money from the department store. Parents are not allowed to participate in any activities, actually parents aren't even allowed in any of the kid buildings. It's a completely run kid city with the Japanese trainers

 

 

 

When you check in they give each child 50 kidzania dollars and so the first place we were headed was the bank to deposit his money. When we arrived at the bank I checked the New Year gift they gave the children and it turns our it was an additional 10 dollars. Logan had a hard time having to do it all himself. He had never set up a bank account before haha so he kept leaving the counter and telling me to come help him or that he did it. Eventually he set up his account, got his "debit" card (yes they have an ATM for him to get his 60 dollars out of...so cute right?!) and ran out to show me

 

 

All Logan wanted to do was be a firefighter, I mean c'mon are we really surprised?, so that was our first stop. They trained with the Japanese firefighter leads and then went off to extinguish a fire in a nearby building in Kidzania. They even had a fire truck that drove through the building to the fire around the corner. Some activities were in English but since we didn't go on an English speaking day most were in Japanese and Logan got to learn a little in both languages.

 

 

After he extinguished the fire he was so proud of himself but he basically decided that he was done for the day and used the excuse that his dad wasn't there so he didn't want him to miss anything. I am not sure if that is really why but I went with it. I tried to get him to try more things and he would start them and then quit haha. The first thing we tried was EMT. That ended horribly since he had already decided he didn't want to do it and then the first training area was upstairs and the parent viewing area was downstairs. By the time he got downstairs to the parent viewing room to train he was hysterically crying. I gave him a pep talk and he decided he would train as long as he didn't have to wear the uniform so we tried that for a (very) short while and then he decided that we should go buy a camera he saw on the way in at the gift shop and just take pictures.

 

 

He needed a break so we spent our time taking selfies and meeting the characters

 

 

After a break we tried to do the hip hop dance class. That was hilarious to watch but also ended in him quitting. He was all for the class at first because it involved him dancing in front of the mirror but he refused to do the dance and instead wanted to kick and flip in the mirror. It was a very organized class so that didn't fly. We went and watched the kid band perform and watch the cars drive around instead.

 

 

 

 

Since Logan only did one full job he only earned 20 dollars  and spent 5 doing the hip hop class that he quit (and I'm not sure how he earned that much because he was only supposed to earn 10) but since he wanted a full shopping experience I took his other 60 our of the bank and sent him on his way to the store that once again I wasn't allowed in. He bought an overpriced pumpkin and was super excited (I didn't get a picture because he was very protective over it and insisted it was a secret)

 

 

and of course here is a picture of those cute miniature cameras

 

 

Kidzania was fun but I think I would recommend it for kids around 5 and up. Maybe we will try again when Isaac can go with us and see if that makes a difference. After our shift was up we headed to eat in the mall food court and then to let the kids run around and take some pictures while we relaxed with the amazing view

 

 

 

After half an hour or so we headed to the train to start the trek home. On the first train after trying to stay awake as long as he could he fell asleep 2 stops before we got off. That ended in me holding him for more than an hour off and on 3 more trains!

 

 

 He stayed asleep just about the entire way home. After 15 hours and 7 trains Isaac knew I was exhausted and asked me to let him know when we were outside and he would come out to get Logan. Of course now that I didn't have to carry him he woke up and walked himself inside (seriously?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?How do the dads always luck out?) It was a super fun day regardless and The train ride home left me with some pretty things to make holding a sleeping 40 pound 3 year old a little easier. I'll leave you with those as I finally decompress from this crazy first two weeks in Japan. Hope you all had as good of a weekend as I did!

 

 

 

 

Imperial Palace and the Emperor's New Year Greeting

Our first two weeks in Japan have been full of holidays, new friends, exploring Yokota and getting settled as much as we can in a hotel room. This week we were determined to get out and venture a little further away from base. The New Year greeting at the residence of the Emperor of Japan and his family was the perfect opportunity to not only explore but take part in a cultural tradition for many of the Japanese people. Each year thousands of people gather at the Imperial Palace to offer good wishes to the Emperor and Empress of Japan as they (and other members of the royal family) gather on the veranda to receive them. The Emperor also addresses the people at this time and offers a New Year's Greeting. The Palace is only open in this way twice a year (The Emperor's birthday on December 23 and New Year's Greeting January 2)

The royal family was only going to appear five times (10:10, 11, 11:50, 1:30 and 2:20) so we wanted to make sure we got there on time. We figured that the last two after lunch would be the most popular so we wanted to make sure we got there before the crowd was too crazy. After all more than 81,000 people attended last year! I'm not going to lie we were so nervous because when asking around people kept "warning" us not to go, it'll be too crowded, you won't get a seat on the train, it'll be way too crazy, we don't recommend going...then we remembered we were going to the most populated city in the world according to the UN so we snapped out of the negative funk and decided to go anyway. Everything we ever do in Tokyo will be crowded!!! Why should we let a little bit of a crowd and standing up on the train stop us from having once in a lifetime adventures?! Besides I don't come from a itty bitty town somewhere in Idaho (sorry if you do live in an itty bitty town in Idaho..don't mean to offend you! *hugs*) A crowd doesn't scare me!

We took the base shuttle from our building to the stop as close to the front gate as we could get and then walked to the train station, which is about 15 minutes. During the walk my wonderful husband so kindly pointed out that Logan was gloveless and it was a chilly morning (I mean Isaac even had a beanie on and he's pretty tough weather wise!)  basically meaning I, and apparently I alone, forgot his gloves haha Luckily there is a department store right next to our train station so we missed out first train option and headed to grab Logan some gloves. We made it out and to the platform just in time to catch the next train 

After an hour train ride we arrived at Tokyo Station and I was surprised at how big and beautiful it was. The station was opened in 1914 and renovated in 2012. It turned 100 years old in December and it is awesome (and busy)! 

 

 

After wandering around the station just taking it all in we ran into a wonderful family from Australia who was also headed to Imperial Palace and it was a nice reminder that we were actually there to see the Emperor and not to roam Tokyo Station haha We headed out of the station and followed the crowd to the palace. What we had assumed would be a chaotic and large crowd was actually a well controlled but still large crowd. The wait was minimal, we were constantly moving and got through pretty quickly. We cleared security and a bag check and it was up to the veranda area for us! The route up was a little steep since it was gravel and we couldn't push the stroller (and someone decided it was too crowded for him to walk) but I almost didn't even notice because the grounds of the palace are just amazing.

 

 

 We got to the top where the veranda is 5 minutes before the 11:50 appearance of the family (perfect timing!) We got a pretty good spot since we are both short and even though it was off to the side we were able to see the royal family perfectly. Before you get there they hand you small Japanese flag to wave when the family comes out. It was so cool to see everyone get excited and wave their flags and trying to get the family's attention. Even Logan got in on the flag waving action. They were only out for about 5 minutes and then headed back inside (I assume to eat lunch....I mean they had some time to kill and who isn't hungry at 12 lol)

 

 

After the steep walk back down we took a minute to hang around the grounds, take some pictures and just admire the amazing architecture of the temple and other buildings around. I can't imagine how long it took to get the buildings built. We were all in awe, even Logan.

 

 

I am so glad that we got the opportunity so early in our journey to visit the Imperial palace and see the royal family. It was amazing for both Isaac and I but a memory that Logan will hopefully have forever (and if not I took plenty of pictures). After leaving the palace we decided that it was best to head back home and grab something to eat that Isaac has been asking us for since we got off of the plane....CoCo's Japanese Curry!!! Isaac has actually eaten at CoCo's in 3 countries which I think is pretty cool. He ate there when he was stationed in Korea last year, we went to the Torrance, California location on midtour and now the Fussa Japan location.

 

 

 All the "walking" that Logan did made him tired and he asked to go home after eating so we walked the 15 minutes to the base and called it a day. All in all it was a great day and I'm so happy we didn't let other people's opinions ruin a great experience for us