Ueno Zoo and Old Tokyo

We've spent the last two days visiting 'Old Tokyo' – not too far from where we are staying, a little more traditional and a lot more wandering on foot. 

We've had 48 hours of the Demon Toddler from Hell (who may or may not have just birthed a gigantic molar with more on the way... ), who's favourite activities include waking several times in the night, getting up at 5am, throwing shit, screaming, and generally being totally demented at all times. Needless to say, a tiny space, more sugar, less interaction with other demon toddlers from hell probably doesn't help. Despite those factors, we've had a great* couple of days adventuring the city! 

*I'm so fucking tired. I'll say anything. But it really has been fun. If I just blank out the parts I don't like.

Oh I'm sorry, are you very tired from NEVER SLEEPING?! I guess we're not winning parents of the year. In this shot alone the kid has his own iPhone and a toilet roll for company. Don't even get me started on the posture. 

We do not underestimate the beauty of open spaces here. This looks innocent enough, however the closer we get to the fountain, the closer monkey gets to the fountain (the toy, not the boy). Yep, little shit threw him in. You probably can't tell from here, but that fountain has to be about 50 metres long and about 10 metres wide. Kent pulled some impressive ninja moves to rescue that one, more due the potential shame of littering than Viv losing his beloved monkey.

Viv meets Ri Ri. Or the other one ... Shin Shin? I don't think I've seen a panda in real life, so that was fun. 

Yesterday I took Viv to Ueno Zoo – the oldest zoo in Japan (born in the late 1800s from memory). Also quite possibly the saddest. It gave me new appreciation for Melbourne Zoo and the amazing habitats that have been created for the inmates (and why it costs you a month's salary to get in). The zoo here is delightfully accessible, affordable (about $7 for me, free for Viv), and small. Sorry animals. It was a real treat for Viv who for much of this trip has needed to be strapped into his stroller for his safety (and those around him). He was able to direct which way he wanted to go when, and walk around unimpeded. I thought it would turn him into a nicer person, but I was wrong. 

How do you explain to a two year old that these guys are likely to be extinct in his life time? I can't decide what's worse, their extinction, or keeping them alive to live on shabby 1950s style film sets like this. Look at the guy, he's so miserable.

Viv waits for Mr Polar Bear to go for a swim. Sorry dude, the apathy is strong in this one. 

There is only so many empty animal pens I can handle, so we trained back to Asakusa (near where we are staying) to wander home through the old town. Very touristy, but fun. Weird post boxes prevail, and we spend most of the walk calling out 'where are you eggie man?!' in the hope of seeing another one of these characters. 

Totally undeserved, but necessary – snazzy new shoes! To be fair, the child might be being an arsehole due to his shoes being too small. Mean parent makes him carry his old shoes all the way home.

I'm sorry lady, you probably didn't need me photographing you, but I think I did a pretty good job furrowing my brow and staring fixedly to the sign behind you to make it seem like I wasn't. 

The struggle is real, but tomorrow is a new day. 

Today took us to Yanaka, with the idea to see a particular gallery (you can see more about that on Kent's blog thesubmachine.net – seriously, it's so good. So many art reviews already, and no doubt his review on today's adventure is already up), as well as have a general wander. Yanaka has officially stolen my heart with it's winding streets, lack of high-rises and tiny little cafes and interesting windows tucked in lots of corners. Vivian really did pull a few numbers on us (we really need to start taking him home for naps again), so it prevented too many adventures, but we'll be back. This part of Tokyo has a little bit of a Kyoto feel about it: a little older and wiser somehow.

Today I died and went to cafe heaven in Yanaka. A rare quiet moment with the fellas in this beautiful space in Kayaba Coffee. No seats available downstairs, so off came the shoes for traditional Japanese style dining upstairs on the tatami mats. Definitely a space for a quiet read (with a lovely art book library to help yourself at), I am sorry to the other patrons for bringing my two year old with me.

Greed got in the way of a better photo. One of my favourite dining experiences in Japan is the 'Morning Set' – in this case with your coffee you can order toast or a sandwich variety. Mine was egg toast – for an extra ¥300 (about $3.50) I got myself fat toast with scrambled egg, salad and soup. Kent's sandwich was 'ham' – which I will now be fantastising about until we go back, as it was cheese, salad, mustard and bacon with the crusts cut off – standard with sandwiches here. 

Contemplating the sunshine.

How the waitresses got up and down these stairs (read: ladder) in their socks with our orders is beyond me.

Pregnant woman is nervous. FYI that handrail? Not quite as attached as you would hope. I'm pretty sure I'm not responsible for that crumbing plaster ... 

I like to photograph Kent in these communal spaces to help people understand the size of them. This is the foot of the stairs where we took our shoes on and off.

What? I REALLY liked this cafe! 

Possibly Tokyo's happiest milk bar.

Obligatory playground stop. I love the extreme lack of OHS standards in these playgrounds. Viv took an amazing topple off one of these steps and nearly fell all the way to the ground.  

I get excited when he has to share/navigate playground politics with other children. 

Beautifully considered shop in Yanaka selling simple yet fancy homewares. I may have left with some important socks.

May I never forget this bakery as long as I live. Found in a small cluster of traditional dwellings, Kayaba bakery (an offshoot of Kayaba Coffee down the road) is in my forever list. Flavours I never would have dreamed of, the perfect balance of sweet and heavenly – Vanilla bean custard-filled milky bread bun of happiness, lemon curd toast of surprising joy, ugly wonderland of gorganzola, fig and walnut filled roll. I still can't quite believe I shared these items with my family. But I did. I did. It is worth (and probably necessary) the 4 kilometre round trip on foot to get to this little nook of ecstasy.

Peeking through a window in this amazing group of houses. 

The side streets of Yanaka. I do wonder what kind of car is in there, and whether it ever comes up for air – it appeared to be sinking into the underbrush...

Back in Asakusa, the back streets near our apartment. There should be a rule about letting pregnant women into spaces like this. I'm still confused – was it a trap? The proprietor gestured and encouraged me in here. I couldn't even turn around to go back out. 

We were blessed with 15 degrees and sunshine today – as you can probably tell, the less time the small human spends in the apartment the better for us, so we hung out here for about an hour before heading home in an effort to run him out. He's preeeeeeeeetty fucking tired. You know you're in trouble when you look at the time and think 'Ok, it's 3pm, so I'll go home, cook dinner, give him a bath ... and he can be in bed by ... 4.30 ... hmm.' 

Delirious but happy. That's all you could really ask for I suppose!

Another night of terrible pre-bed behaviour ends with being sent to his room to 'read' quietly by himself until we fetch him. Yet again, it results in passing out on top of the books with the light still on.

One of the main challenges of being here is that Viv is used to a 1.5-3 hour sleep every day after lunch. Given our location, that often is skipped so that we can visit other areas of the city, which is fine – though our hopes for him sleeping in the stroller have been dashed. We've found that he still needs to come home every couple of days for a day sleep (much to his protests, and mine), just to catch up. I hope we haven't stunted his growth too much by skipping too many ... Tomorrow Kent has a very busy working day, so Viv and I plan on staying close to home to get a nap in and catch up on some sleep, where I will dream of custard buns and fig and gorgonzola rolls. Oh my god. This baby is going to be fucking massive.


xox
Lj.