Where do I even begin??? Firstly, I have to give a shout out to Gareth at Pokerstars for putting together such an amazing trip for us. Everything went off without a hitch – flights, transportation, hotel, cruise – we had no problems whatsoever. So, thank you very much for a seamless trip!
And also a huge thanks to Team Online Player Naoya (nkeyno). Naoya hung out with us for two days in Tokyo, helping us navigate through the city and assisting with communication. I would say that Japan possibly delivered the most culture shock I have ever experienced when traveling. What good is an English map of Tokyo when all the road signs around you are in Japanese? Not much, I tell you. Anyone else seen Lost in Translation with Bill Murray? I didn’t understand it and thought it was the most boring thing on earth. Now I want to see it again. Because that is exactly how I felt in Japan – lost in translation. I don’t believe Japanese translates well to English. With only two and a half days to explore such a vast city, Naoya was a real treasure.
We stayed at a Japanese style inn or “ryokan” while there. Gareth was informed that this was a great place to stay for a truly authentic experience. To which I said, WTH? That is what travel is all about, right? So, please know that I knew full well what we were signing up for before Gareth booked this place for us. But one tends to forget that you arrive jetlagged, cranky, possibly hungry and largely in need of a hot (and private) shower. Double all this when traveling with a toddler. And before any reps stress about this, George LOVED all aspects of this experience and embraced it wholeheartedly. Cooper seemed perfectly happy as well, though he never embraced the Japanese food. He even rejected McDonalds – I blame jetlag. I, on the other hand, was whole-heartedly yearning for some all-American hotel lodgings, LOL.
Anyway, this is the front of the inn. Imagine us arriving in a pre-arranged taxi from the airport with tons of luggage…..
and then greeted by 8-10 Japanese men and women dressed in kimonos, socks and thongs. All running (in tiny steps) and bowing out to the car. They completely took over our luggage and whisked us away to our room….
which looked like this. The flooring is a tatami-mat, not suitable for shoes. This is probably the first “lost in translation” moment I experienced. Because I proceeded to ask about how we make the beds. She gently and sweetly explained, in English, something about the closets. I opened them. Inside was a bunch of folded up bedding. Ah, ok! We make the beds. And how do we do that? More sweet talk. To which I say to myself, “Surely, we will figure it out.”
All for nought. Because we come back from dinner to the room already made up. DUH! All that sweet talk for “we do it for you.” LOL. Not sure if there is an actual name for this bedding but it is basically a futon-style mattress covered with duvet type bedding.
I mentioned dinner. Breakfast and dinner were at the inn and, typically, looked like this with breakfast being slightly smaller. So much food!!
It would consist of various types of sashimi, tempura, smoked fish and numerous things of which I have no idea. Just when you thought you had tried everything, more food was brought out. George loved this. I found that I needed to know what things were. I usually asked about one item at each meal. Enter next “lost” moment. Each conversation went something like this.
“Excuse me, can you tell me what this is?”
(to which an English sounding word was spoken that I have never heard of)
“And what would that be?”
“One moment”
(five minutes later)
She would come back with a handheld translator that simply said “scallops.” I am not kidding! Everytime! Scallops. I had no idea that scallops could come in so many flavors, colors, shapes and sizes. Haha
In addition to this room, there was a small anteroom which held our luggage and then two small “waterclosets” as I call them. You can see that one had a toilet and the other had a sink with half a tub. The expectation was that bathing be tended to on the 2nd floor in the common bathroom – one for women and one for men.
I didn’t get any pictures of the common area as it always seemed like someone was bathing. But picture two rooms – one a changing area with a bunch of bins for your clothes and then a second room separated by a sliding door which had four sinks on the left wall and a large hottub. Each sink had a stool in front of it and on the wall was a handheld showerhead. The idea was that you derobe in the first room, sit down on a stool in the second room, proceed to wash yourself and then use the showerhead to rinse off. After that, you were welcome to step in the hottub and relax. Which was like a billion degrees. In the end, I was grateful for the half tub in our room. LOL
The next morning, we met up with Naoya and started exploring.
He got us to Ueno Park where we checked out the zoo for Cooper. It was quite pretty with shaded pathways. I don’t have pictures but all the normal animals apply. Except their lion looked exactly like a tiger. The exhibit had two sides and Cooper kept running back and forth between them. He was so excited.
Walked around a bit….
and had sushi for lunch. With this as our menu, we thought it best to have Naoya order for us. 
We then went to the Imperial Palace.
You see many Japanese wearing these masks. I, of course being American, assumed there was still some concern of bird flu. Naoya explained that people either wear them due to pollen allergies or have a cold. It is considered a courtesy. So interesting.
We did the “hop on hop off” bus tour…with headphones for the English translation. This was hysterical because the tour guide spoke constantly but our headphone translation was just a few sentences here and there. People would turn their heads to look at something but George and I had no idea that we were supposed to look. Or our headset would talk about something before we got to it. Lost
The next day, Naoya took us a couple hours north to Edo Wonderland. This is a theme park that depicts life in the Edo Period complete with period costumes, recreated fight scenes, plays and various activities like throwing bow and arrows or throwing ninja stars. You could even pay some money to dress up in costume yourself. Dressing up sounded fun to all of us but, then for some reason, none of us did it.
There was alot of fighting, killing and yelling during these scenes.
Cooper could care less and occupied himself with gravel and dirt. Which was a nice reprieve from his normal running around.
Here, we are inside a tent. No idea what this game is called but the object was to knock the other persons’ samurai down first by tapping the table. Pretty funny to watch. (please note PokerStars gear)
The last day we had half a day before leaving on a train to Kobe where we were meeting the cruise ship. Our original plan was to be on the train by 3. We were having so much fun, we didn’t get on until 8ish and therefore, arrived on the ship at 1130! Long day but so worth it. We just walked around the area close to our hotel. Here are some highlights….
This is a rickshaw – an alternative to taxis.
We could see the Tokyo Skytree in the distance. Fairly new being completed only last year and, therefore, not in our guidebooks. We were intrigued. So we set off to find it. Wasn’t too hard and got some nice city pics from the top.
After that, we rode this water taxi…
which Cooper seemed to really enjoy.
Then we took one last pass at the Senso-ji Temple. This was right around the corner from the inn and I think we ended up there each day somehow.
Which is why it is surprising that we never made it inside.
George getting his share of good luck from the incense burner. We’ll see how SCOOP goes this month!
And some last minute souvenir shopping….
and it’s off to the train station we go!
So, that is the first leg of our journey. More to come…..
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