Be brave, have fun

Today was a festival day and Ellie wanted to participate like the
other children: dressed in a kimono. We couldn't get one of the ornate
ensembles children traditionally wear, but we did find this pretty red
cotton kimono and obi sash at a flea market.

Ellie was so excited to go and it wasn't until we were about to leave
the apartment that she realized she would be navigating the streets
and subways of Tokyo dressed rather conspicuously, especially for an
American girl. Literally the moment we walked out the door, the
housekeeping staff went crazy, exclaiming over Ellie in Japanese.

Ellie was nervous and she did draw a lot of attention, but she looked
beautiful. I give her a lot of credit. Because she was so brave, we
had a special and memorable day.

So simple, so fun

Near the entrance of this park was a big blacktop area with a big box
of chalk. From the looks of it, hundreds of kids of all ages were
entertained here today.

Pony ride

It was a beautiful day for a pony ride. It is interesting to note that
most of the huge, fantastic parks we have been visiting are located on
the sites of former US military bases, changed to parks in the 60's.
Does this mean that Ellie and Trip will be taking their kids on
fantastic sabbaticals to Kabul and Baghdad? Hmm...

Donkey

Trip really misses his little stuffed donkey.

A farm in Tokyo?

Whoops, I fell asleep last night before I posted the day's
excursions. We went to another huge children's land park, this one
featuring it's own farm including a working dairy. Just 45 minutes
from the center of Tokyo, the kids got to feed baby cows from bamboo
scoops, eat homemade ice cream, and pet all the usual farm animals as
well as some unusual ones like squirrels and a pair of greedy raccoons.

Girls' Night

Ellie and I took off on our own tonight for dinner and shopping in the
bright lights of Shinjuku.

Is that allowed?

And can I do it too? Trip just can't believe that in Japan boys are
allowed to fight! With sticks!

These boys spent most of the afternoon battling for control of the
small hill using hard cardboard sticks clearly made just for this
purpose. Trip really wanted to play but the boys were a lot bigger and
they were hitting pretty hard too!

Fun and danger

They just don't make metal jungle gyms like they used to. And you just
don't see spinning merry-go-rounds on playgrounds anymore. But here in
Tokyo, they have a spinning jungle gym! Oh the possibilities!

Another great playground

We found this very cool castle playground yesterday, but it was
raining so we just had to come back today. It has a real streetcar to
climb in as well as a real steam locomotive. Too much fun.

Sumo on TV

The kids found Sumo wrestling on TV this morning... mesmerizing!
Especially because I told Trip they were giant babies and he spent a
long time trying to decide whether to believe me.

Bike park

After lunch we found a cool bike park where for free you can borrow
bikes, unicycles (yes, kids here can ride them), peddle cars, trikes.
They have real roads with pedestrian crossings, traffic lights, left
turn lanes, railroad crossings, etc. where the kids can practice
riding and following traffic safety rules. As you can see, there was
not a lot of traffic today, but plenty of fall color.

Leftovers make good bento

Remember that nice dinner I posted yesterday? Well the leftovers plus
a few other goodies helped make these homemade bento box lunches.
After the zip line, it started to drizzle, but we set up camp under a
pavillion near the swan pond. We were having a lovely picnic until a
couple of huge crows came around to stare at us and make menacing
noises. It was enough to freak Ellie out and the kids didn't eat much
after that.

All to ourselves

Today we rode the last streetcar line in Tokyo way out off the subway
map to this very nice park where we could enjoy the fall leaves, feed
the carp, and explore. All those other sucker kids had to go to
school so we had the zip line all to ourselves.

Back in Tokyo

It is funny how you can come back to a place and even if it isn't
home, it kind of feels like home. The arrival at the airport, the
trains into Tokyo, no big deal. Our apartment feels very comfortable.
We had some errands, some laundry, and some mommy-created school work
to catch up on. Polk got back to work on his presentation he's giving
next Tuesday. I cooked dinner at home and Trip just couldn't wait to
get started on his wakame seaweed soup. Also on tonight's menu: rice
(of course), Trip's favorite purple pickles, store-bought sushi rolls,
potato-veggie salad, fried panko shrimps, miso eggplant and scallions,
tea.

Farewell dinner

At the end of a great trip, we had a great meal. Two families, four in-
table grills, and several platters of meat. What could be better?
Thank you to the Chens for showing us Taiwan!

Taipei on a rainy night

Finally, we got a good pic of the tallest building in the world! On
New Year's Eve they shoot fireworks off each level (where the purple
lights are). Jennie and her family can see it from the roof of their
apartment building.

When can we go back?

The kids want to know when we will be back in Taiwan, chiefly because
they want to go back to Baby Boss and be fire-fighters. Who can blame
them since they would get to ride to a fire in a real truck and squirt
real water at a real fire?! Ok, not really a real fire, but everything
else is true.

Ellie writes about Baby Boss

Baby Boss is a place where kids can go and do jobs. The idea of Baby
Boss is for kids to experience being an adult. I could have been a
flight attendant. I could have been a fire fighter. I also could have
been a police woman. That is the idea of Baby Boss.

The job I chose was magician. The magic trick I did looked like the
knot in the rope was strong and I made it disappear. I liked it a lot.
I want to go again.

Baby Boss

The next amazing place our hosts took us was a fun and hilarious
complex called Baby Boss, a mini city where kids can choose one of
more than 50 jobs ranging from astronaut to convenience store clerk..
I had heard of the concept in Japan, but I had read that you had to
speak Japanese to go there so I scratched that off my list. We were
thrilled when we realized where we were, but the rule was the same
here; you had to speak Chinese and the kids had to go in by
themselves. Jennie to the rescue! She agreed to translate everything
for Ellie and Trip. How impressive for a seven year old to be able to
do such a thing! The tricky part was that the three kids had to agree
on one job they all wanted do to. They did not choose to be lawyers.
I'll let Ellie explain in the next post.

Ooooh, super gadget

I would just like to say that they make massage chairs on this side of
the world that are way better than anything we have in the US. We've
been tempted more than once to tie the kids to a post outside and set
up camp in a store's sample chairs. Polk covets this one that reclines
into its own cocoon.