Ben & Alex: Spring Break Part 1

At a dinner in November or December, our friends the Richardsons mentioned that they were going skiing in Japan for spring break. We thought that sounded like a great idea, considering that Japan would welcome tourists again starting in December, and amazingly enough, it all worked out and the Van der Hoeven family joined as well! We even ended up on the same flight and one row ahead of Hedwige and Egon and their girls. They were so lucky I decided to bring my Jason Momoa blanket on the plane.

Ready to fly! All bright and cheery despite a 3:30am wake up. Matt was flying from Houston and met us in Japan.

We were really thankful that Mark and Alice had lived in Japan before and helped us navigate all the trains. They're very organized and incredibly efficient, once you know what you're doing. Unfortunately, the computer was down when we arrived and it took some time to get the tickets, but the kids didn't mind raiding the vending machines and hanging out while we waited.

Whew! On the train to the city, where we had to change to the subway to get to our hotel.

We didn't get much done on the first day other than make it to our rooms and find some dinner. But the lobby restaurant rewarded us warmly for our patience! Welcome to Japan!

On Sunday morning, we set out for a day exploring the city and I'm really glad we started at Shibuya crossing, the world's busiest crosswalk. Up to 2,500 people cross here every few minutes and it was fascinating to watch and check out the crowd.

About every 10-15 minutes, we'd see the Live Bus go by with girls dressed up as maids dancing in the windows. Why? Who knows! But it was entertaining.

We bought coffees so we could go upstairs at Starbucks and see the crowd from above.

Endless entertainment!

Traditional Japanese footwear?

We met up with the Guidroz family, also in Japan but not skiing, and checked out the Meiji shrine together. It was a really nice walk through the park with some cooler weather.

Snack time! Most everyone else chose ice cream but I had these grilled rice cakes that were kind of awesome.

The entrance has rice containers and wine barrels that were dedicated to the shrine.

The shrine itself isn't open to visitors or photos but people buy charms and take them to boxes inside. Apparently, you get the luck of the draw on what kind of charm you receive and some can be bad luck!

We saw two different weddings underway and really enjoyed seeing this procession cross the main court.

Outside, we found an interesting street band performing on the corner. Just walking the streets was so entertaining.

Next, we wandered through Harajuku street, famous for its tiny restaurants.

We had grilled pork and other skewers at this stall. Believe it or not, it has an upstairs and there are two people sitting behind me! Ben, Brayden, and Braxton were sitting along the outside.

Our next stop was the Park Hyatt with amazing views in every direction of Tokyo. On clear days, you can see Mt. Fuji as well. It was the set for the movie Lost in Translation.

Don't look down!

Finally, it was time to meet up with the Richardsons and some of their expat friends for dinner, so we went back through Shibuya (which was even busier as it got later!) to find the meetup. By this time, we'd been on the subway 4-5 times and we were becoming experts. Alex loved navigating the trains and the different stations and we'd finally learned the most efficient way to use google maps (screenshot it before you arrive or it's difficult to find the best exit out of the station...and some have like 14 choices).

Made it! Tired, jet-lagged (but only a 2-hour time difference so not bad), exhausted but invigorated from all the ground we'd covered all day.

This was a very cool area that Alice's friend chose and one of their favorite restaurants. Most things are tiny there so it took some thought to find a place that could accommodate 16 people.

We were all headed back to the subway and wandered through another cool food street that would open much later.

The whole gang! Good thing Matthew has long arms and could get all of us in. We said goodbye to the Guidroz family, who would stay in Tokyo and then head to Kyoto, and goodnight to the Richardsons, who would meet us on the bullet train the next morning.