We need a map.

Another day of sushi, lattes, tantrums and slippery slides. So far we are embracing the banal of parenthood in style – what better place to do it than in central Tokyo?! Viv has won the hearts of the locals (rushing to the barista who made his 'baby-milk' to hug him this morning – actually I wanted to hug the barista too, the coffee was so splendid), making old ladies swoon with his 'konichi-wa!' at every opportunity.

Western* coffee costs upwards of (aus) $5 so it really does feel indulgent, but when you find the right one, it manages to destroy Melbourne coffee by a mile. Our 'local' spot is literally right across the road from our apartment, which is remarkable given there are no other consumables/convenience stores/cafes in the entire street (see our last post – we are staying in kitchen utensils street in Asakusa). The coffee stand (which Tokyo-ites are so fond of) is located within a trendy warehouse that is the home of a snazzy architectural firm. So far these hipster cafes do comfortable seating that looks uncomfortable incredibly well... 

Simple and elegant displays at Bridge Cafe. 

Less elegant child is happy to be here.

Thank god there is sushi on every corner. The kid is obsessed. 

Travelling with a small child, I've decided to keep my expectations low, and so far it's paying off – this is the view from the Asakusa Tourist and Cultural Centre – an impressive building from the outside too. 

My main goal today was to walk the 12 minutes (usually about 120 with a stroller, sushi stop, small meltdown, pause for water, get out of stroller to look at something ...) it takes to reach the Asakusa Tourist centre for a city map. Our collection of Tokyo maps is vast and infuriating. A certain someone who will remain nameless*** stupidly cut down our very good city map we bought last time we were here in order to reduce the effort in unfolding it, thus losing the entire eastern part of the city where we are now based for the next month. 

This area of Asakusa is very traditional and touristy, giving a feel of Kyoto. I'm looking forward to exploring it on a day that isn't Saturday. We actually passed an owl cafe, which included a woman standing out the front holding a beautiful live owl. 

Spot the dufus.

The side streets of Tokyo continue to melt my heart. 

I cannot express the joy I felt this evening when I found this at a convenience store. The outside is very cold
(4 degrees today) and indoors is like living inside a dry biscuit. So much dry heat!
I now need to somehow slather my entire body in this shit. 

Grandparents please don't worry. The kid is certainly not starving – we can't keep up with how much he needs to eat at the moment. I can't tell if he's simply growing or just greedy for al the delicious food!! Probably both. 

My biggest challenge is simplifying the way we prepare meals without missing out on eating properly. Decoding packaging is tricky, and we have a frypan and no bench top. I am balancing plates on the sink, the bin and the other hotplate. We're enjoying a mix of home-cooked and mystery precooked food from the local supermarket. I thought I bought tempura carrots this afternoon for snacky treat, took a bite into what then appeared to be fish sausage (um, no Japan, no). When we got home I google translated it to be sweet potato chicken. Needless to say it was weird and Viv loved it. 

In other news, I had a moment of panic when I thought Vivian may have had an ear infection. He was quite upset when he woke up from his nap, which went a little something like this:

"My ear! My ear is stuck!" (screams)

"What?! What's wrong, does it hurt? Show me"

"It's there! It's stuck!"

"Is there something in there??"

"Yes! Yes!" (more screams)

"What is it? I can't see anything"

"It's got ... bulldozers and diggers in it." (starts laughing hysterically). Oh the FUN!! 

So far our trip is a heady combination of banalmazing. We are experiencing the same everyday inane shit of being a parent: provide meals, change nappy, navigate stroller in supermarket, find another bloody playground, panic about impending virus/infection/rash, change another nappy, read story, accidentally on purpose skip bath. But we're doing it in fricken TOKYO, so everything has a shiny new wrapper (literally). The playgrounds are more fun, the supermarket has weird cool fun mysteries and the stories need to be made up because we just bought one in Japanese. 

Stay tuned for the adventure I've been avoiding, but is surely inevitable as we have some rainy days coming up: the Dreaded Indoor Playground.

xox

Lucy

*Luxurious milky lattes served by the coolest of cool** Japanese baristas who take so much pride and care in their skill, I feel some shame for our lax attitude toward something we view as so everyday at home. 

**Today's barista was wearing a black sequinned baseball cap like it was a normal thing that most people wear. 

***It was me. I cut up the maps. I'm an idiot.