Sky Tree and Kitchens

The jet lag has almost gone.  I woke up bright and raring to go at 1.16am but managed to get off again and then didn't wake up until 6.30 so a good night's sleep really.  Tom did quite well but was up at 7am which I think is too early considering his late bedtimes.

Today we had decided to head further into town to take in Akihabara, Asusaka and The Sky Tree.  We had a leisurely morning - Matt working, Tom and I in our bedroom reading / playing on the ipad (you can guess who was doing what).  I then started doing Tom's scrapbook with him - school want a scrapbook from Tom showing what he's been doing and learning etc (not exactly sure why as they are fining us - but his education means too much to me to not do it).

Anyhow we left the building around 10.30 and headed to Akihabara - mainly to visit Yodibashi Camera - one of Matt's favourite shops: 8 huge floors of electrical goodies.  We went straight to the camera section to look at camera bags for Matt.  The selection was enormous and got Matt really confused as to what he really wants.  I think he will return once he's alone to try them all out again before purchasing one.

We then headed to the main drag of Akihabara - believe it or not we found it quite hard to find, when we finally found it we were underwhelmed.  I was hoping to see lots of people dressed up in mad anime outfits etc, but apart from some maids dressed up in their netted skirts, we didn't see anything out of the ordinary.  It was extremely hot by now and we were all flagging so we decided to find some lunch.  We couldn't find much on the street we were on so ended up in Excelsior Cafe (a Japanese cafe chain) for a sandwich and drink before heading back out.

We headed for a shop we had seen on the corner advertising itself as for hobbies and models. When we got there we found that it had a floor dedicated to model railways - result. We had a good look around and found some great stuff, but it was all for N gauge (the next gauge down from Tom's), meaning it was all too small for his layout. Shame as it would have been good to buy something typically Japanese to add to his layout as a sort of red herring for people to spot.

Anyone for a cup and saucer set? 

Must be a street for chefs!

When we came out of the shop we found ourselves in front of a subway station so decided to take it to Tawaramachi where there is a shopping street: Kappabashi which is my idea of heaven - the two sides of the street are dedicated to kitchenware - for private use or trade use. I could have spent over a day there browsing all the shops and spending an insane amount of money on everything. I was quite restrained until I found a shop that specialises in cutters for biscuits and sugar paste and then I went a little mad. The cutters here are cheaper than in England and the range was amazing. I just wish I could see in to the future to know what I will need. Instead I made some guesses. There were also disposables shops (something I really struggle to find at home), food model shops, knife shops, machine shops and shops selling flags and other textiles all to do with the catering trade. True to form Tom piped up he was hungry and thirsty. There weren't any cafes here so we had to leave to find one, and then the only one we could find didn't really do snacks but it did do ice cream so Tom ordered some and true to form ate it all up - ice cream isn't really his thing so he must have needed it. We returned to the shopping street, we found some cool dipping plates (means we won't have to use ramekins anymore) and an oblong frying pan (for making tamagoyaki a sweet layered omelette that we all like) and then Tom piped up that he needed a wee - arggghhhhh, we happened to be in the only place in Japan with no loos! Matt took him for a walk and ended up asking a policeman where to take him whilst I was left to my own devices - dangerous stuff!

Boy and a tower

Quite tall then.

Although I could have spent hours and hours on that street (and millions of Yen), I figured that the boys had probably had enough so with one last look we headed back towards Asakusa. We then found a bus going to The Sky Tree so decided to head there as it was quite clear. The Sky Tree has only been open 2 years and is the tallest free standing tower in the world and second tallest structure in the world. It is quite an impressive site when you walk up to it. We asked Tom if he wanted to go up and he replied with an astounding YES! There was no queue which has great so we went straight up. The first level was 350m up and gave us a great view of the city. The city was hazy but then it is summer and this is the biggest city in the world so we couldn't see everything and Mt Fuji was hiding - think we need to come in winter to see that.

Happy boy

Lots of buildings

Having got so far we then decided to go to the top platform which is 450 meters up (the actual height of the tower is 634m). It was an even better view and now Tom was mega excited! I was sure I could feel the thing swaying but no-one else seemed too?

All made it on the glass floor

We then headed back down to the first platform and looked around again. This time we saw the the glass floor you can stand on. I was fine with this, Tom more hesitant, and Matt very hesitant! However, the boys got their courage up and both walked across and even paused to have their photo taken.

Two grinning charlies

Mai and Totoro

We headed back down into the shopping centre at the base where I happened to spot a Totoro, on closer inspection we found it was a Donguri Republic - a Studio Ghibli shop. It was beautiful - there was a massive Totoro, Cat Bus and Jiri to look at and a model of Mai asleep on Totoro in the tree which you could activate with a button. Everything was gorgeous, but we didn't open our wallets - the visit to the tower had been quite expensive and anyway we are going to the Ghibli museum next week.

We decided if we stayed near the Sky Tree for dinner we would get fleeced so we got the underground back to near Hamamatsu-cho and walked home. Tom saw a curry shop on the way and said he wanted curry, we didn't argue - it was nice to be able to sit down. We all devoured our curries and then headed back home, tired but happy. Another good day.