Enjoy a 10, 762 word detailed story of our trip.
Early in the morning, we woke up and headed over to Grace and Vrendy’s house so we could leave the car in their garage and they could give us a lift to the airport. We stopped at McDonalds on Queen for breakfast. Franklin ordered one packet of mayo. That is it. Just mayo on an order. He thought it was funny. After breakfast we headed to TD Bank which could not exchange our $100 Canadian into Yen. Eventually we finally got to the Airport. We checked in and made our way through customs. We got through pretty quickly and had time to spare. The sitting area was very nice, so we both worked on our laptops waiting for the plane. Then we started to board the plane. Dana went to the bathroom quickly as Franklin was waiting for her at the front of the line for her. He was thinking it was about to be a Home Alone movie. (Just joking, he wouldn’t leave her behind). We boarded the plane. Our seats were by an emergency door. With this came both good and bad. The good thing was extended leg room. The bad, was there were no real trays or places to put stuff. The take off was smooth, there was limited turbulence throughout and a good landing. Overall a good experience. They served us 3 meals. The first was chicken and rice, the second was a tuna wrap and the third was breakfast which included noodles. Since it was a long flight, we watched 3 episodes of the handmaid's tale after Dana finished work. Yes, she worked on the plane. Employee of the month! We finally landed in Tokyo. We actually landed 1 hour early which was awesome.
It is now 3pm in the afternoon, we are in the airport and need to head towards Osaka. After being lost for a minute or two (maybe 10 minutes) we found our way to buy tickets for the bullet train. We walked over and walked for it. Since we purchased assigned seats, we had to find where we were sitting. We were located at cart 4. The train was lovely. Super fast, fixed up nicely and one thing we noticed was that there was a constant flow of police walking inside the train. We traveled what would have taken a car 11 hours, in 2.5 hours. It had AC which was wonderful. You will learn a lot about the heat during this trip and as you read more about the journey below.. It is definitely a recurring theme. After a ridiculous long day of traveling we were tired. We still needed to walk to our hotel. Along the way we started to notice all of the vending machines, 7-11s, etc. It was hot but this heat we were experiencing was nothing compared to what was to come later in the trip. We just didn’t realize it yet. (We haven’t even got to the first hotel room and I mentioned the heat twice… you get the point).
We finally got to our hotel and went to check in where we realized that we were actually a day late. When we went to book, we didn’t account for the time change properly. We got our key to room 203, went up the elevator and put down all of our stuff. The room was small. There was a bathroom which had a bidet (they all do. I mean across the country. Every toilet has one. Lots of them have even heated seats), a bed that took up most of the room, a small desk and mini fridge. Something else cool was this hotel offered free robes, febreeze, shampoos and soaps, etc. We were hungry and went across the street to a family mart (which is basically like 7-11) to grab some dinner. We brought back water, coke, chips, a bun that had cheese and bacon, a margarita pizza wrap, and some smoked cheese. It sounds like a lot of food but it was all munchy food for the most part. We ate our snacks and went to sleep.
You know how we mentioned that we were off by a day? That meant after the super long day of travel from the 13 hour plane ride and 3 hours of trains, we had to go to Universal Studios as that was the day we picked for our tickets. We got up early and went for breakfast across the street from the hotel. This place and many later have a tablet ordering system similar to McDonalds. Franklin got a beef dish that tasted so good that he offered Dana some to try. Dana’s response was “mmm this is really good”. This would be one of two times this day that she would mention good meat. One might say she was converting over?
We walked to the train station and got tickets for Universal Studios. After a short 20 minute trip, we were there. When we got out of the train and were walking around Universal Studio Street (I think this is what it is called). Either way it was a street filled with stores of merch from all sorts of characters prior to going into the park. We walked past them and lined up to get inside. This is when we noticed all the umbrellas (thankfully Dana was smart and brought hers) as well as fans. So many fans. If we had only fans, we would have been much better off. After about an hour, we made our way in. (there were probably 10k people just in line trying to get in.) The start of the park is big streets filled with shops, and food that was all themed. Super Mario was everywhere! There were Harry Potter sections, Hello Kitty, Snoopy and more. We made our way past the shops to the main pathway. The park had a pathway that went around connecting all the different theme parks. The two we were interested in were Super Mario and Harry Potter. We headed over to Super Mario, waited in line only to be told that we needed a timed entry ticket (that we didn’t have). So we got one (it was part of our pass) and then had to walk to the back of the line. We were both dying from heat at this point so we decided to go get some drinks. We got a frozen mango on a stick. It was so fresh and cold. We also got an ice melon drink. It was amazing too. After sitting down (Franklin might have died temporarily on that bench), we headed back in line to go see Super Mario World. We started walking through and got to the outside of Peach’s Castle. Outside of the castle, Dana went and bought the Super Mario band. This band connected with the universal app so when you go through Super Mario World, you could collect coins and stamps to complete a stamp book. There were also some pipes just outside of the castle that allowed for some awesome photo opportunities. We finally went inside Peach's Castle and there were framed photos as if it was right out of N64 Mario. On the other side was something hard to describe other than Magical. A full world of moving creatures all from the Super Mario universe. It was epic. You could go and hit blocks with the Mario bracelet and hear coins, there was the jumping match game that is inside the game, there were Goombas and Shells moving around. Just so well done. Dana went and punched all the musical notes, Franklin hit the coin blocks. It was a ton of fun. Also hot… So we walked over to Bowser's Castle. It was epic. The entire Castle, outside and inside was themed incredibly well. Every fine detail. The walls, the doors, the lights, there were books that all had game related titles that were cool like “How to grow a prana planet, etc. It was amazing. This castle was also air conditioned. It allowed us to get a break for an hour and half. It was a nice break from the sun. By the end of the line, lots of people were sitting on the rails, or on the floor. One lady even brought a stool. We finally made our way to the front of the line and went into a room where we put on our Mario Helmets. Around the room were suits for each racer in glass cases. It looked really fancy. We finally made our way to the carts. You put on a helmet and use AR, you look around with your head and have to shoot enemies and other carts. All of this adds up to your wristband for stamps and coins. When you get out of the ride, you are inside of the Mario shop. We spent some money here getting all kinds of cool things. After this we went and checked out the Donkey Kong area. This was themed very similar to the game. There was a spot where you beat drums. Franklin did that as Dana recorded.
At this point we were hungry and wanted a place to sit down and relax. We went to the one place in the Mario world that had service for food. They were fully booked for the entire day. We headed out of Super Mario World and towards a place called Grille. We struggled to find it and almost opted to just stop and eat at this really old school looking diner. Dana noticed Grille across the street so we went and lined up. After making our own reservations, we had an hour to wait. We walked around a bunch of the shops. It was mostly just looking for nice places with AC to cool off and survive long enough to get to the next store. The time came and we went for lunch. It was an Italian place. We ordered a Meatball Pizza and tomatoes and cheese to share. Remember above when I said that Dana would like meat twice in the same day? Well, when the Pizza came, Dana started taking the meatballs off the pizza. Franklin tasted part of one and told her to try it. Dana liked the meatballs as well. They were pretty massive. She had a couple on her pizza and enjoyed it. The food was very good.
After lunch we went to the land of Hogwarts. The first thing you see before going in is Ron’s blue car smashed up. Lots were jumping on the hood as if the car just hit them. The best I could do was to get Dana to stand next to it for a photo. Then we continued our journey into the Harry Potter theme park. There was the Hogwarts express which was massive. It looked amazing. Then just past that was all the shops. They all had fake snow on the roofs, and all were as if it was just straight out of the movie or books. A store for wands. A store of wizard gear, etc. It was amazing. We walked to the end of the Hogwarts theme park. We almost went into the Castle ride but it was an hour wait and we both were exhausted at this point. Dana made the decision to head back to the hotel. We staged our way through the subway, and the 10 minute walk from the subway to our hotel, to finally get back where we took nice cold showers to cool off. We both wanted to get food but needed to fall asleep early. This just meant that the following day would start early of course :)
It is day 3, and 1am in the morning. We are both wide awake and hungry. Dana found a place to eat that would later become a life changing experience. We started walking towards it. Only a 30 minute walk. Doable. Especially at this hour when the sun is not fighting our mental sanity. We headed over to what can be described as a mall. You go from the outside and just walk in. No doors. Just a bunch of shops on either side of the walking path. Very little was open of course because of the time at night but it was fun to window shop and take in the experience. We finally made it to our either late dinner or very early breakfast (I will let you decide). It was a Ramen place. You walk in and order on a machine. You then walk across a tight path and sit at a bar like sitting arrangement. Above the bar is a jug of water and there were some sauces. We talked and were texting friends and family back home, where it was day time for them. Eventually the Ramen came. One sip after another, after another. It was insanely good. The best Ramen either of us have ever had. It was epic to say the least. The broth was flavourful. The noodles. It was truly a life changing experience. Who knew that Ramen could be that good? That's great? We got vending machine ice cream on the way back. Yes you heard that right.
I guess now is a good time to explain the vending machine and GATCHA culture. There are vending machines everywhere! I mean everywhere. You can get drinks like Coke or Water. You can get coffee and juices. And as mentioned just prior, ice cream. There is also a ton of GATCHA machined everywhere. With just 100 YEN you can have little knick knack toys in nearly any brand you would want. Dana did get a Harry Potter one for Ellie with the condition that she would keep it if it was Snape. It was Snape.
Anyways, we walked back to the hotel and we are there around 3 am after our fun outing. The smart thing would be to go to sleep so we can be rested for later in the day. Nope. We stayed up till 4. Dana was working and Franklin was playing phone games. We went to sleep for 2-3 hours and for a second time, started our day again.
Our first stop? Osaka Castle. We headed there early in the morning. It was a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the subway which took us to another subway which took us to a 10 minute walk to the castle. At this point, we were nearly pros at the subways. Language barrier and all. (Okay maybe not pros but Franklin wasn’t asking random people for help anymore. He did that a lot the first couple of days). We were outside of the Castle and talked to Grace and Vrendy. We showed them what it looked like from the outside. It looked amazing. We bought our tickets and made our way into the Castle. Each floor told a continuous story about how the Castle was made, how the wars were fought, etc. The one take away as I write this a day later, they fought in the Winter. If it was summer, surely they would have all had heat stroke and not fought at all. In all seriousness, it was a cool story about a guy who was born, and worked his way up the ranks. Eventually held a massive party only to take over the land from everyone. At the top of the castle was a nice sightseeing area that overlooked the city. It was amazing. We decided to check out the gift shop, rest up a bit.
We tried to book lunch reservations ahead of time for the Kirby Cafe but that didn’t work. After multiple failed attempts we left the Castle and headed over to Kirby Cafe. It was an hour walk that turned into 2 hours and Dana dying from heat at least once or twice. We stopped in convenience stores to get some air. A lot of the city is a “walkable” city where you basically walk from one thing to the next. It is wild seeing people in suits and walking around like nothing. We had a countdown to get there. Finally we get to a mall-like building. It is 9 floors and each floor has all kinds of shops. This building is connected to other buildings that are similar. It was an insanely big shopping mall. After a bit of searching, we found the Kirby Cafe. We couldn’t book reservations because we needed a local phone number. The lady who worked there was nice enough to provide us her own personal number so we could have lunch. While waiting an hour to sit down and eat, we checked out the Pokemon Center that was on the same floor. The lineup was insanely large to pay. We just looked around. We also checked out and bought some cool stuff from the Kirby Cafe Shop. Just when we thought we explored everything on the floor, there was another massive area. Here is where we bought another travel bag for all the things we purchased that would not fit into our backpacks.
We headed back towards the Kirby Cafe. When you go to sit-down there is a cool photo ops with the sign and a massive spoon. We then ordered our food. You can only order once and they had a time limit of how long you could sit-down for. Dana ordered a pizza. Franklin ordered a burger that Dana showed some interest in but wasn’t sure what it was. Luckily she didn’t order it as it was a fish meal. We also got a dessert. Overall the meal was subpar. The pizza was described as an attempt of cowabunga pizza but not good. The fish burger was not great either. The dessert was okay at best. After lunch we walked down from floor to floor.
Since the Kirby Cafe was on floor 9, we had the opportunity to work our way down. Floor 8 was interesting. They had a whole Le Creuset Store. There was an orange pot that glimmered. We saw the exclusive Pokemon themed cookware and a bunch of Japan exclusive things. We purchased the Red chopsticks to go with our collection. The shopping centre was massive. We went into some clothing stores and just random stores. Lots of GACHA stores. We purchased a ton of clothes from Uniqlo. We continued to walk around the mall.
Part of our plans was to go to the Temple that was nearby and then head back. Sometime while shopping, we realized we were in the same spot we were in at 1am. Just now everything was open and it was really busy. We started heading towards the Temple. We both were exhausted and needed a break from the heat and our feet. We stopped at a McDonalds. We went upstairs and got a table. Franklin went back down to get food. We had fries, the shrimp and avocado burger, and a chocolate shake. You can guess who ate what. After sitting in AC for a while, we finally headed towards the Temple.
It was an interesting Temple. Just in the middle of a very busy place is a calm and peaceful place where people go to pray. One guy was even praying to a cat that was there. We decided to shop around a little longer since we both weren’t hungry at this point. McDonalds ruined dinner.
We stopped in a camera store. At least that is what the name of it sai on the outside. We walked around and thought of it similar to Best Buy. At least to start. Then slowly we realized the difference between our electronic store and the one we were in. They had an insane selection. Did you need a shaver? They had 100 to pick from. Go to the next floor and there were 200 fridges, 200 stoves. Every model, brand you can think of. Each floor had thousands of options for nearly everything. Floor 6 was amazing. What made it so amazing you might ask? The selection of Only Fan Models. (I took some time to ensure the wording on that last sentence lol). We bought fans. We were in business! We also checked out the video game floor. Eventually we decided to leave and head back to the hotel. We were over 25,000 steps at this point, had no sleep and were suffering from heat. We got back to the hotel. Took some cold showers and went to sleep at a more normal time, so we could have a good night's rest, right? (This is foreshadowing things to come on the next day).
Before we left for Japan, Franklin told Ellie that he would have his phone sit so if she called and it was an emergency, he would answer. Even in the middle of the night. At 3:30 am Franklin got the emergency call. It was Ellie. She wanted to video chat just to show all the candy she got. The conversation went roughly like this; “Hey Ellie is everything okay?”, “Yes, why?”, “It is 3:30am”, “Oh I am sorry I forgot. Anyways look at my candy”. Dana ended up waking up because of Franklin and Ellie talking. We finally went back to sleep for a few hours.
Dana found a place for breakfast. It was an American Hawaiian Breakfast place. It is the only restaurant I have ever seen where the photo ads show less food than the actual order. Dana had a dozen scrambled eggs in her plate alongside a waffle. Franklin had a waffle with an insane amount of whip-cream and mango on it. We also ordered a shared bowl that had oats, a frozen blueberry paste and mangos and bananas. It was amazing. The food was so good. After breakfast we headed back to the hotel to grab our things and head towards the bullet train. Dana was working during our journey back to Tokyo. Franklin spent his time writing everything you see above.
We are going towards our hotel in Tokyo. Just this time more prepared. We have fans. We have a pool at the hotel, or at least we thought (foreshadowing). And we understand the public transit system. We went from train to train and finally found our new hotel.
APA Hotel & Resort Ryogoku Eki Tower is a really tall tower located right next to a sumo wrestling arena. We get inside and we check in through some machines on the side. The machine glitched out and told us to check in at the desk. We tried but they directed us back to the machines to try again. We then had to wait for the elevators. There are 32 floors. One set of 3 elevators goes from floor 1-16 and the other set is 17-32. You need to wait for your side. When I say wait, I mean really wait. They are super slow, and always packed. There are no options for stairs. Then you finally get to the room which has terrible AC, and cardboard for pillows. The halls are boiling. To get to the convenience store located in the building takes forever because of the elevators. The laundry room is overcrowded and to top it off, the pool that they advertise is not included. Terrible hotel experience.
Now we need to talk about the pool experience. We made our way to the rooftop pool. It is an odd shaped pool. The water is crystal clear and overlooks the city. The combination of heat + a cold water pool and nice scenery was amazing, until it wasn't. We both were just swimming around, when we read a sign that said you had to pay. We both had different takes on what this actually meant. About an hour into our swim, a lady from the hotel came to ask if we had reserved the pool. Of course we hadn't. We were told it was $25 per person, every 60 minutes of swimming. That is an expensive swim. We left the completely empty pool (that likely is never used). Unfortunately they advertised something that was not available or part of our stay. We were directed down to the basement spa. The spa was a public area separated by male and female where you bathed, not swam.
Later we went to sleep. The bed is located up against a wall. Dana slept on the outside so she could go to the bathroom easier in the middle of the night. Franklin was up against the wall. During the night Franklin was having a dream where he was in a fight. During the fight he kicked his leg out and into the wall. When you are fighting, of course it will hurt. So he didn't think he was having a dream until he kicked it a second time and realized what he had done. His big toe was really bruised for the remainder of the trip. The best reason for the kick was "Everybody was kung fu fighting". It might very well be true...
The next morning we got up early (we got up early everyday on this trip) and headed over to Miraikan, the Science and Technology Museum. We had to line up outside to buy our tickets. Dana went over and got an icee drink while Franklin was getting the tickets. We also purchased tickets for an extra show called Play Dome 02 Space Explorers ISS: Advanced. The show had a set time and we were hungry. So we went inside and went up the escalators up to the top of the building where the cafe was. Dana ordered a salad and fries. Franklin ordered a Hotdog that had shrimp on it with a side of chips. There was also a "Drink Bar" which had refillable sodas. There was also a water station, which we learned throughout the trip was pretty normal in different eating areas. You need to get up and fill up your own glass of water. Anyways, while eating Dana noticed a large robot statue. It was a Gundam and behind it was a mall. We figured we would go check that out after we go through the Miraikan.
After lunch we walked around the top floor. The conference rooms were all named after different planets. Dana wanted to get into Uranus but we had to settle with Neptune. Then we headed towards our show, the Space Explorers ISS: Advanced. We first waited in line. A lady came by and gave us a device that would translate the show into English for us. Eventually we were allowed in. We had assigned seats that we had to find. When we walked in, it was a really fancy globe. Our seats were in the front right. The best way to describe the screen is as a poor man's Vegas sphere. We moved the seats all the way back, almost as if we were laying down and waited for the show to start. They kept playing "do not record" and "do not kick the seat in front of you" messages while waiting for everyone to sit down. The show was really neat. It was about the ISS. At the end of the show, the credits said it was made in Canada. Yes, we went all the way to Japan to see something that was made in Canada.
We headed down to the floor and entered the exhibits. The first thing we noticed was how interactive everything was in the museum. It was not your traditional museum. We stood in line for about 10 minutes for a walk in the movie. We had no idea what to expect. It was a little "room" (sort of) with a curved wall with a projector facing it. There were 2 chairs on the other side and a button to start watching. We had some choices about what to learn about. We chose cell research, which turned out to mostly be propaganda about giving blood. The room was cool though. An oval with 2 black sheets, making a very small footprint movie theater style room. When we exited, the other side had all sorts of information about the human body. There was even a camera that tracked your body movements and you could point to a body part and it would provide you more information. We moved on towards a sustainable planet section where they had some really cool animations showing how the creation of a single product spans multiple steps and travels around the world. The coolest part for this floor though had to be the more science and space stuff. There was a pod replica from the ISS that you could walk in, there were little displays showing how they bring up fish and reproduce them in space, a section with little balls that represented the dangers in society and a section with a full 360 led panel that displayed space related items. In the middle was all sorts of cool demos about the movement of light, the universe through time and even a spot to talk to an AI model.
It was incredible! We both agreed this was the coolest museum we have ever been too and even ready to walk across to see the Gundam, until we realized there was a whole floor with more things to see and do. Thankfully we didn't skip this floor. When we walked in there was a huge sign about Quantum Computing in the distance. Exciting. The first thing you get to look at is robots. There was a humanoid however it was unfortunately not working at the time. Then there was a creepy baby robot. You went in front of the camera and could wave and interact with the baby. They also had a whole display for Lovots and Aibos. We will discuss Lovots more below, so for now I will explain the Aibos. The Aibos is a robotic dog from Sony that is small and moves around like an actual dog. It has a charging base and is pretty cool. Kids were all around this dog, trying to pet it. After the robot section were some screens with morphing characters, objects, items, that went from one to the other. It was all AI Generated. The Quantum Room had a lineup for an interactive thing you needed to pay extra for. The next room still in the Quantum section went through the history of Quantum Computers. They even used little Legos to create demonstrations for scale and size.
The last thing I will mention about the museum is the big Earth. They have a huge planet hanging from the ceiling. You were able to see it from every floor. It was amazing. We took photos at eye level, as well as directly under it looking up. After the museum we headed over to the Gundam statue. It is a massive robot that is 65 feet tall. We saw it during the day as well as at night. During the day you could see all the details that they added to make it look as good as it did. At night, when it was dark, they had the Gundam light up. It was absolutely incredible. There was also a set of stairs that light up at night and matched the statue. During the day, there was a music band playing. It seemed to be a place where a lot of people hang out and just had fun.
Behind the Gundam statue was the mall. We kind of just went around different floors and had fun looking at all the random things that they had. On this trip, McDonalds seemed to always be our resting location. They had AC and no one bothered us. While we were in the mall and it was getting late, we decided to get some dinner. This is when we came across a Sushi place. As we walked past the tables, we noticed that some had their plates stacked extremely high. This was an AYCE Sushi place. We weren't super hungry so we ordered individual items. This Sushi place was a Sushi Train, well sort of... They had a little train and went back and forth delivering your meal. The train looked like the Bullet Train that we took earlier in the week. The food was amazing and the idea of a Sushi Train just makes so much sense. It was an amazing experience. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel to rest up and get ready for the next day.
Once again, we got up early. It was a very productive morning. We went down to the basement of the hotel and did laundry. Well that was the idea until we realized all the machines were taken. Then Dana went into the Woman's Bathing area and found a machine that cost more but was not in use. She put in all the clothes which gave us an hour and a half before we had to leave to get our rings made (more on that later). We went up to the second floor and got breakfast. Well it was actually ice cream because it was hot haha. Franklin needed to record his weekly AI News Sunday video and we thought it would be a good idea to go to the roof/pool room to record. When we got up there, the door was locked. So now we decided to go back to the room. Franklin got onto the wrong elevator, the door closed and Dana and Franklin were on different floors. When you got onto the elevator, it required you to tap your room card and then the floor number. Dana had the card, Franklin didn't. Franklin could only get to floor 18. He needed to get to floor 17. He waited for someone to tap their card and then he pressed the number behind them. He got to floor 18, then went to the other side of the elevator and went down to floor 17. Dana and Franklin were texting laughing while this was happening. Dana was still waiting for the elevator on the roof. The worst part about this experience? Franklin had his ice cream and no spoon. Dana had it. The hotel was hot and the ice cream was melting! They eventually agreed to meet down on the second floor where they would eat. Dana recorded Franklin in the hotel lobby/public spots for his video. We got our laundry and headed back to the room. That is when Dana realized that she had left paper in her pocket which was going everywhere. All over the hotel floor, on the elevator and all the way up to our room. We were both laughing. We got to the room where we laid all of our laundry out. We were now ready to start our day outside of the hotel at least.
We had an appointment for 10:30 but on the way we saw an Apple store. We went inside to get some air. Franklin was looking at the VisionPro when an employee came up to him to ask if he wanted to give it a try. He of course said sure and then realized he was filling out a whole form. Our appointment was only 4-5 minutes from the Apple store, so we had maybe 10 minutes. Dana sat and watched Franklin test it out. The vision pro was really cool. After cutting the demo brief, we headed off to our 10:30 appointment. Unfortunately we were already running late and turned the wrong way/got a little lost on the way there. After being 10 minutes late we arrived.
We were making our own rings! For real this time. I didn't mention it prior but we went to a ring shop where you get to pick out your own ring material, the style and the finish and then you use tools to build your own rings. After going through the whole process we got a grand total of just over $2,000. We decided to spend that kind of money on custom rings. After looking around, we found another place where we could go and make rings for a much more reasonable price (around $150 for both). We showed up around 10:40 and went through the entire process. Figuring out the size, the style, etc. Dana was making Franklin’s ring and Franklin was making Dana’s ring. The process was pretty straight forward. You first heat up the ring and then put it into water. Then you use a dremel and remove the black stuff on the ring. The next step was interesting. There is a ring sizer and you put the ring on it. You then put the ring sizer up against your chest and hammer the ring down. As it flattens it gets wider. At the halfway point, you take the ring off and flatten the other side so it is even. While doing this, you give the ring the texture that you chose. Lastly you use the dremel again and push hard this time to polish the ring. You can literally see it become shiny as you go. They took both rings from us and went to engrave what we chose. The entire process was a few hours, and it was a ton of fun.
After the rings we were hungry. We had a plan to go food hoping. We wanted to get sushi and then Thai food. The sushi place was hard to find. It was just this really old school door that led you down stairs to a super fancy basement restaurant. They were cash only and we didn’t have enough on us, so we just headed towards the Thai place. It was up stairs above the ground floor just around the corner. We lined up and Dana picked out something. It was hard to communicate. We then were directed to sit down. They had very cold tea that was refreshing. They then brought these big plates to the table. The food was delicious. There was a mystery meat that neither of us could figure out what it was. It had a really awesome flavor! Dana really liked it. We found out after it was called Gapao rice.
After lunch we headed towards the Senso-ji Temple. This is the oldest Temple in Japan (first established in 645 AD). The actual Temple complex, made up of many temples. The architecture and detail was amazing. We walked through and inside the main temple. Only one part was sectioned off that you could not walk too however you could see through the chained fence area. One thing that was noticeable was the swastika symbol. “Over the course of a millennium, the manji 卍文 (literally “swastika symbol”) established a permanent home in Japanese temple iconography, but also became an auspicious decorative motif on fabric, lacquer boxes, pottery, ceramics, and even family crests”. The other interesting part was a section where it encouraged you to donate money in order to pray and get good fortunes. We also noticed a ton of women walking around in kimonos for their Instagram photo shots. Just outside of the temple was an old school water well where you were supposed to put water in your hand and drink. Franklin took the spoon-like measuring cup thing and filled it with water and poured it all over his head. It was HOT outside!
After enjoying the Senso-ji Temple, we went to the shops that were nearby. Now for the next part of the Japan Story, we need to go back in time before we actually got to Japan. We were picking out clothes to put into our backpacks for the trip. For shoes, Franklin wore his running shoes and Dana packed some different cute shoes because and I quote “they look cute with my dresses”. After some back and forth, Dana chose to leave her running shoes at home. Japan is a walkable place. You walk a lot. Everywhere. Everyday. On a low day we were at 12,000 steps. Dana’s feet were really hurting. She needed real shoes. In the shop area, we purchased Dana a pair of shoes that she says “looks cheesy but are comfortable”. She definitely needed the shoes but this is just a funny tidbit on how and why she bought them.
We like food… In the shops area, there were a lot of food options. We walked into a sushi place which was amazing. They have different colored plates. Each plate cost a different price. There was a sushi train that went around the entire restaurant with all the different color plates going around and around. You kept all of your plates and they totaled up the cost at the end. So instead of using the train to deliver the food directly to you like the prior place we were at, this one used the train as a way to showcase all the different dishes they had and allow you to grab and pay for what you wanted. The quality of the food was amazing.
After dinner we headed back towards the hotel. On the way back there was a park that was open. We had walked past this park many times over the past few days but it was always gated off and closed. There was a nice pathway with beautiful scenery. Trees, flowers and a man made lake. It was beautiful. We sat on a bench and just enjoyed the sound of the water and the nice breeze. Dana jumped at one point and wondered what was swimming around the water. She thought it was a Gator. (Fair assessment. You could see a little part out of the water). Franklin zoomed in with his phone and figured it was a fish. A few minutes later, an older lady walked in front of us and went down towards the lake. That is when we noticed it was turtles and she was playing with them. After she left, Dana went down to see them closer. The turtles jumped in the water. They came back towards the land but never got on it until we left them alone. After a long day’s adventure, we went to sleep, ready for the next day.
If you recall above, I mentioned the Lovots and that we would discuss more below. Well hello reader (or future us reading this), we are here to discuss the Lovot. It is a little creature that can roll around the floor, go to its charging dock when needed, and will follow you around and make cute sounds. We first saw it in the Miraikan next to the other robots. After looking it up online, we learned that we could have a 30 minute demo learning about it. The gentleman helping us was super nice. We used Google translate back and forth asking questions and having a conversation. He put two of them on the table and showed us how they would not roll off. When we picked up one to hug it, the other one got jealous. Unfortunately, the Lovot speaks only Japanese and does not understand English. You can not get one outside of Japan.
The Lovot was in a mall. As we were walking around the mall, Dana mentioned that we have yet to see the really expensive fruit. Minutes later we ended up in a grocery store and saw the mango. The $25 mango. Yes, one single mango for $25. We bought it and headed down to the food court area where we got a couple of cups of water and sat there with our $25 mango. Since we did not have a knife to slice it up, we had to resort to the old school, caveman style. This mango was incredibly juicy. Every bite felt amazing. I mean every bite was a few dollars, but it was amazing. We both agreed that we probably would get one more often if we had it near us at home. Granted we might just be saying that at the moment. A $25 fruit is a lot of money. Funny enough, during the trip we pasted other mangos that were $4 and joked around on how cheap they were. We also used “half a mango” or “two mangos” as a measure of cost for things. In this mall there was also a dedicated Snoopy store that we had to check out. It had Snoopy cookies (everyone had cookies themed in different characters). They also had cool T Shirts, a huge Snoopy at the door and of course Chopsticks. We bought a Snoopy chopstick for Pappa Jack. We had enough malls and decided to move on.
We also went to the “tech area” of Tokyo. This area is known as Akihabara. There were all sorts of “tech” styled shops. We saw computer stores filled with GPUs, we went into retro video game stores, even arcades. There were a ton of GACHA machines and lights everywhere. It had a 2000 vibe to it. The best way I see it explained, Japan was in the year 2000 since the 1980s. They are still in the year 2000. It's wild that outside of the subway (which most of the major metros in North America/the world has) they are really outdated. Maybe add the toilets if you like bidets. Granted they are the only place you can get a Lovot, so there is that.
Just down the street from the tech area is Weird Vending Machines Corner. It is just a bunch of old, beaten looking vending machines filled with absolutely weird stuff. There were stories written on the packaging that didn’t make much sense. After a bunch of back and forth on what to get, we settled on an $8 package. The story made no sense at all.
"Matsukakaya Chitose was a great man. She donated to Adachi Ward. She was a comedian. When I was a big star, my younger brother was a small wave. You probably wouldn't understand. When I was a small wave, my older brother wrote Big Wave in Hokusai style. I wonder if you'll understand, I don't think you'll understand."
Gemini summarized it as a reflection on someone's life, comparing times of success and struggle to 'big waves' and 'small waves'. That it mentions a younger brother during the 'big wave' period and an older brother during the 'small wave' time, who created art inspired by Hokusai. It ends on a slightly sad note, wondering if the listener can truly understand these experiences.
The next morning we headed towards the Goldfish art museum. That isn't the actual name but it is a better name based on what we saw. But I'm jumping ahead of myself here. We got to the mall early and the part where we had to go for the Goldfish was cut off. We couldn't really go anywhere, so once again McDonald's was there for us. There was nothing else open for breakfast so we ordered food. We learned that you can order an egg sandwich and then for your side you can get chicken nuggets! They also had some other really cool items. An apple pie like outside but with creamy milk inside. Oh and coke floats. We talked to Grace and Vendy. We sang "Grace Happy Birthday" at McDonald's. On the way out, Dana left her purse. 4 kids came running behind her to inform her that she forgot it.
We then headed towards the Goldfish Art Museum. I guess now is the time to give it the proper name for future us. ART AQUARIUM MUSEUM, 4 Chome-6-16 Ginza, Chuo City, Tokyo. That name is terrible. It is not an aquarium in my mind. There were only goldfish. But goldfish are not in any old regular tanks. They were really fancy. As soon as you walked in there was a wall of globes that lit up and cycled colors. There was another section with really big rounded tanks. They had bamboo around them. Everything was art. It was beautiful. We made our way through the different rooms. Each were really cool glass structure setups, all had changing lights and goldfish. When we made our way to the end, we realized that we could probably walk the entire thing and do a cool time lapse. So we walked back to the beginning and both did a timelapse through the entire thing.
After the Goldfish Art Museum, we walked around the mall briefly but wanted to see more historical things. So we headed towards Fujimi-yagura. It was insanely hot outside. From the exit of the subway to Fujimi-yagura was an 11 minute walk. The heat was unbearable. We slowly made our way there. You could see it in the distance. There was a nice little river beside it. As we walked towards it there was a police officer washing the ground with a hose. We aren’t sure why he was doing that. That water should have been on us. To cool us off. Not on the ground. So Franklin walked up to the Officer and asked for water. He wet his entire head. We finally made it to the entrance only to learn that you need to have a tour ticket already booked. At this point we were overheated and for the first time on the trip, decided to just go back to our hotel and relax for a little bit.
After our afternoon relaxation we decided we wanted to eat but also we didn’t want to go out anywhere because we showered and didn’t want to sweat again. So what options did we have? Well Dominos Pizza! They had a lot of really interesting options that we didn’t have in Canada such as a Mayo Shrimp (Shrimp, Green Peppers, Corn, Mayo Sauce, Tomato Sauce), The Giga Meat Pizza (Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Pork Sausage, Bacon, Tomato Sauce) and others. We ended up ordering the Mayo Jaga which had Potato Slices, Pork Sausage, Mayo Sauce (Double), and Parsley Flakes on half the pizza. The other half was a classic cheese. They also had some interesting side items like the Cheese Volcano Dip, and a ton of milkshakes. We opted for potatoes and acorn soup.
We ordered the pizza and then went from floor 17 down to floor 2 to get some drinks from the convenience store. Then we went up to floor 17 to relax and wait for the pizza to be delivered. By the time we went to floor 17 and put the drinks in the freezer, the pizza guy was already in the lobby waiting for us. We went down and got our pizza. The pizza was kind of flavorless. The best thing was the corn soup. Kind of disappointing overall.
We got up and went for a walk to get breakfast. This place was 20 minutes away from the hotel. The idea was that it wasn't blistering hot yet so we could totally make the walk. For the most part it was a pretty straightforward walk to the place for breakfast.
When we walked in, the place was packed. The only seat they had available was a little sofa and coffee table, almost as if we were on the friends' set. Someone saw and said that they were leaving, so we could have their spot on the "bar" table. Japan has a ton of places where it's a little table across the wall with single sitting chairs. I'm sure there is a better way to describe this setup. Nonetheless, Japan does a lot with a little space.
Franklin ordered Blueberry pancakes. It was big fluffy pancakes that had a custom blueberry sauce on top. Then a lot of whip cream. It came with no syrup. Dana ordered pancakes and eggs. Hers came with syrup. Well sort of. The dish showed up with a tiny little bottle of syrup. Of course she went and bought some more. Similar to other places, this one was no different in regards to getting your own water.
After breakfast we headed towards the Tokyo Museum. On the way there, Dana lost her train card. The trains were pretty interesting. They were always on time. Every time. They could get you anywhere in the entire city. However they also were strange in the sense that they require cash only to refill the card. You purchase one of these cards and then tap on and then tap off for your payment. Once your card runs out of money, you need to refill it. Again, as mentioned, you can only refill it with cash. You can also buy single way tickets to your destination. The system is smart enough to return the ticket if you're on a connecting train. However with all of this, you can not tap your phone (which would be so much easier) or use any cards to fill the card. Anyways with Dana missing her card and only a couple of days left, it made the most sense to buy single way tickets for the rest of the trip.
We got to the museum. This way partly because it seemed like a fun idea to explore but mainly it allowed us to breath and walk around with AC. It was insanely hot outside. Not sure if I mentioned that yet 🥵.
The museum was split up into 3 different buildings. Due to time and energy we only explored one of the three. The architecture on the building we were in was amazing. The stairs were grand and really nicely designed. The ceiling and baseboards were beautiful. I know, I know what about the actual things being displayed? Equally interesting. There was clay bowls that were from 2000 BC. This number actually took me a moment to really appreciate. The museum had scrolls and ancient komodos. There were swords, historic coffins, scrolls, lots of scrolls (super long. Very interesting to see these in person) and even the chairiet that the people would grab and pick up the 4 corner sticks that would stick out to carry royalty around. This was more similar to your traditional historical museum. Nothing like the Goldfish or Tech ones we went to earlier in our trip. However, just purely due to the age of the things we saw, it was an incredible experience.
We had an invite to AI Tokyo that started at 6pm. We left the Museum and headed towards the event. It was located in the same building as the train. We thought this was amazing since we didn't have to fight the heat. Just outside of the museum we stopped at a water fountain. The water didn’t come out as an arch for you to drink, but instead shot straight up in the air. Dana laughed as Franklin put his whole head in. Right after he was done, she did the same.
When we got to the subway station it was 4pm. We wanted to get food prior to the event that was supposed to go from 6 to 9. There was a Mexican place that Dana wanted to try that was also in the same building (there were a ton of restaurants). The Mexican one didn't open for another 30 minutes. So we walked around. Eventually we made our way back and got a table for 2. We both look at things we want to order from the menu. Just normal restaurant things. Then they came over and showed us the fine print on the menu. Just to sit down was $4 per person. You also needed to get at least one drink for each person at the table. The cheapest drink was $6. So a grand total of $10 per person for a drink and no food. That was the cheapest too as obviously the cost of the drinks increased depending on what you ordered. The lady held her chips until we agreed to stay and eat. Then she put the chips on the table. We had a few and discussed how we were getting scammed. So we left.
We were hungry and had limited time at this point. So we decided to go to the grocery store (also I'm in the same building. This train station building was massive). The grocery store had an insane number of precooked options. We both got some food (Franklin finally tried the triangle sushi thing. Yes that's the name hahaha okay honestly not sure what it is called) and Dana got a fancy egg dish. We sat down and ate at a table just outside the grocery store.
We headed towards the AI event. This place was really hard to find. The email with our ticket included directions. The map wasn't super helpful. Even the written instructions jumped around from Japanese to English and back and forth. There were some helpful images though, so we followed that and made our way there.
At first we sat down at a table. Eventually they came and told us to move the chairs over. We helped them set up the tables. Each side folded upwards and we wheeled them over. This entire office space was really cool. It was a super long rectangle. Where we sat room up maybe 10% of the entire room. We both thought it was cool that there were so many people yet we could talk and it still felt good. The acoustics were great.
In total, there were 4 guest speakers. They shared very interesting stuff. Our western data pretty much dominates the market and they can't use that data locally since they drive on the other side of the road. They need to come up with solutions but don't have the same funds and resources our companies have.
One was a 6 person team that has self driving cars in the local airports here. The approach they took was to make literally everything modular. They went into great detail about the process.
The second was a team of 9 that placed 3rd in last year's Waymo yearly challenge (they share a ton of datasets and people try to solve problems that are presented). Their approach for AV was all about how humans think. They have Neuroscientists rather than engineers. They figure if you can predict what a human will do around you, you can solve the problems faster.
The 3rd person was the guy who created an ai model for Grand Turismo that is now in the game. He was hired 2 weeks ago to a new company that is trying to basically just copy Tesla. He didn't seem to know a whole lot. Just answered the questions with enthusiasm that they were doing the right things without knowledge.
The last speaker was an AV test driver for Toyota. He basically said that his company is still in the race because no one has scaled yet. Until that happens anything can happen. He did allude to the fact that they have massive servers and are collecting a ton of data to train on.
One quick thing to note, Franklin broke 40,000 subscribers at this point in the trip. When we left he was at 30,000.
After the event we didn't have a ton of options. We required going into one sushi place, but they didn't have vegetarian options. Then we tried another place which had a really bad smell. Eventually we were frustrated and got on the train and headed towards our hotel. A 5 minute walk from our hotel was a McDonalds, so we ate there. They have options we don't have access too so it was still a fun experience. The "Samurai" burger which was two patties, cheese, onions and teriyaki sauce was pretty good. Dana got fries and the apple pie like thing filled with milk (mentioned prior in our story. Yes we had it multiple times. It's good). And there was also an apple like pie but filled with cheese, potatoes and bacon. Also good.
Our final morning, we got up at 8 to pack. We fit everything into our 2 backpacks and 1 duffle bag. Now we just had to hope that we could get through security with Nonna's gift. Now that I mention it, I'm not sure we covered this yet. So as you walk around the city, the outside of restaurants have gelatin versions of their dishes on display. There is everything from ramen to sushi to pasta. One of the stores we stopped in was selling the kits to make your own. So we bought Nonna a bowl of spaghetti kit. We were told that it may or may not clear customs.
We head to the airport and that is where the elevator story happens. I know what you're thinking, you've already heard about an elevator story on this trip. What is up with us and elevators? Well we get in the elevator in hopes to go to our terminal. It is just us two and our cart with our bags. No one else could fit. We click the floor we want and wait. Then wait some more. We try pressing the close button. Nothing happens. At this point Dana thinks the elevator is broken. It isn't. There were idiots (first it was a child and the parents watched the kid play with the button and then it was a lady) clicking the button in hopes to get another one for themselves. Dana stepped outside the elevator, in American rage and shot them (chill out, there is more to this sentence) a dirty look. Then told them to stop so we can go on our way.
We had a ton of time by the way since the hotel we checked out was at 10 am and they charged an extra $20 per hour. Franklin didn't feel like they deserved any extra money. So we had a lot of time at the airport. There was an observation deck that we went too which was a really cool bridge that overlooked the entire check-in process. We also stopped and got ramen and then ice cream. Dana fell asleep at the table after eating her ice cream. This was fine until other people brought their terrible smelling food over.
We then moved towards the check in area ourselves to see if we could get in. We tried when we got to the airport, however we were told that we were too early. We found the air Canada kiosk and headed towards security. It's interesting how each airport has their own set of rules. This one you put everything in your bag. Including electronics and you keep your shoes on. And it was so simple. We were through. Including Nonna's gift.
We walked to one end of the airport with the idea that we could check out all the different stores and shops along the way. At the very end was a cool pokemon vending machine that sold plushies. There was also a books and drugs store. Strange name but Dana got the stick things for her hair. We also stopped at 711 and bought some things that we could try with Grace and Vrendy when we landed. Our gate number was 149, the very last gate on the other side of the airport. We passed and checked out a lot of different stores and food places on the way.
Something we noticed while walking in the airport was chairs that were just driving around with no one in them. Later on our walk to our gate, we saw the hub where they all ended up. They were for anyone in the airport to sit on and get a ride to their gate. Of course Franklin sat on it and gave it a test run. A little harsh braking. Some phantom breaking and some close calls, but it did eventually get him to gate 111 (we tried it with a gate closer).
Finally we walked to our gate which was empty. Dana slept across three seats for a while. Eventually she woke up and we went to grab sushi just prior to boarding the plane.
Just like how we started, we had an aisle seat and Dana being the amazing employee that she is did the work today. In the meantime Franklin spent time finishing up the Japan story.
We can now say that DANKLIN has traveled around the world. It is technically true, geographically speaking. This is just the start of many other traveling adventures to come.