Tokyo January 2009

We stopped by Tokyo for a few days on our way back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. This is the very first time we have been back home for Chinese New Year since coming to the US ten years ago. We have been through Narita airport many times enroute back to Malaysia but we have never spend any time in Tokyo before. So now that we have two toddlers in tow and seven pieces of luggages weighing about 50lbs (25kg) each, we finally decided that it is the most convenient time to visit Tokyo while enroute back to Malaysia (actually we always wanted to do that before the kids but didn't get the chance because we always had to be back in Malaysia asap to apply for US visa). So we landed in Tokyo airport after flying for 13hours from Dallas, found the baggage storage center. We left five big luggages at the storage center for 500yen per piece which is quite reasonable compared to other airport. Then we hopped onto the bus with one luggage, one infant carseat (we did not leave the infant carseat at the storage center to save cost), two jetlagged kids and headed into frigid Tokyo winter. Tokyo is much colder than New Orleans and the temperature hovers around 30s to 40s fahrenheit.



Outside the Tsukiji wet market in downtown Tokyo. Tsukiji is a huge market where tuna auctions is held daily.

Award winning Prada building near Omatesando avenue in Tokyo.

Shinto shrine near Asakusa.

Meredith admiring the chocolate dipped banana in front of the Shinto shrine near asukusa.

We finally gave in and bought her a chocolate dipped banana for 300yen (about $3). She didn't like it and I ended up eating 3/4 of the not so good banana.

The shinto shrine at Asakusa. We arrived very early at about 8am because both Isaac and Meredith would not sleep and woke us up at 3am.

Shinto shrine at Asakusa.

Meredith developed a new habit. When we asked her to look at the camera, she would deliberately turn away from the camera.

When we arrived at Asakusa, the sun is still not up and temperature is very cold with gusting wind. So we holed in a McDonald right outside the temple. To my surprise, the McDonal is packed with homeless people. Many people just order a cup of coffee and sat for hours inside the McDonald to escape the cold. I saw a guy that simply grab an empty McDonald happy meal cup and started sleeping on the table. It is pretty thought provoking to see a country like Japan with so many homeless people.

Meredith dressed in the Japanese robe provided by the hotel. Tokyo is an expensive city. We stayed in a mid-scale hotel and it costs more than Europe or US.