A Kid-Free Trip to Machida

I have been going a little crazy since we moved here. We will venture out, skim through awesome stores, peer in the windows of colorful pastry shops, glance at intricate displays...and then move on because we have three kids with us and it just works best to get from point A to point B efficiently. I have always been a person that wants to pick things up, read labels, feel them, and then move on to the next thing and continue with this until I die or until there are no more things, whichever comes first.

So all I wanted for my birthday was an outing without kids where I could just STOP and LOOK to my heart's content. We got a babysitter for Wednesday night and we made a plan to visit Machida, a city in the western part of the Tokyo Metropolis. (Japan is divided into prefectures, which is roughly equivalent to states in the US. The prefecture in which we live is Kanagawa, Machida is in Tokyo.) It is less than 20 minutes from us, and only a couple of train stops away.

Luke and I walked to the train station and rode to Machida, but not before taking a few selfies at the train station.

<3

Machida had so much going on! There are two tall towers called the twins where you can buy everything from fancy breads and jellies to high-end clothes and accessories. They even have restaurants up on the top floors. We started at the bottom and I just wandered around like a toddler with ADHD, looking at anything that looked interesting. Which was everything. 

I'm not sure if you can tell in this picture, but the prices on this fruit are ludicrous! The top two grape packages are ¥5,400, or about $57 and the bottom single bunches are ¥1.900. A single peach is $7. (Side note: we got some peaches like this at Costco for much cheaper and best. peaches. ever.) These are meant to be given as gifts and they are in a specialty foods store, so they are pricier than average. 

Our search for a wallet for me brought is here, to the sandal socks. Look at Luke's naked sandaled foot in that picture?! Don't you think a pair of those pink panda socks would suit him? Those weird purses are for men, I think. Like I said, it's a thing.

As much as I wanted to get this wallet that said, "A treasure chest overflowing with pleasant functions," it was $70. All the wallets in the store had the same words. 

At least a hundred stores later, we made our way up to the top floor for dinner. Luke remembered a dish called okonomiyaki from his mission, so we opted for that. It was described to me as a cabbage pancake. I wasn't enthused, but I like Luke a lot so I gave it a try. 

Restaurants almost always give you some kind of moist washcloth before eating. These ones were warm. Hence the face rubbin'. 

 I picked the top right, still not really sure what I was getting. 

The ominous hot sauce a the table. 

Then they brought these little guys that looked...interesting. Luke's is the one covered in what looks like frosting but is actually mayonnaise.

Mine was like an egg, cabbage, ginger pancake with shrimp, fish, and beef inside. It was actually delicious and I even put some of the mayonnaise on as well. The hot sauce was not as spicy as advertised. I kept waiting for Luke to turn into an anime character and writhe around on the floor after tasting it. Very disappointing indeed. 

After we ate. Luke wanted to scope out all the restaurants up there, so we did a little window tour. As is a case with many food establishments out here, they all had big glass cases displaying astoundingly realistic replicas of the items on their menu. 

This one was so lovely I just had to have an ice cream cone to keep me company for the rest of our walk. It was Hokkaido, my one true love. I have determined that the taste is actually more like sweetened condensed milk rather than whipping cream, though it is sufficient to say that it tasted like heaven. 

Not sure if you can tell, but the spoons in the soups on the top row are suspended in air by an artificial noodle. That's some fancy fake soup. 

And in case those posts were making you feel too snacky, here is this gross replica of some egg patty things with emoji ketchup faces. Fairly put me off my dinner. Except that I already ate. And nothing could put me off my ice cream cone. Not even ketchup winks.

We next visited a ¥100 store, which is about dollar, depending on the exchange rate. I love these places. There is the typical cheap. junky stuff that you find at a dollar store, but there are also really fun, hilarious, or awesome things. We were determined to buy a bunch of these bath bombs for kids we got last time, not realizing then that they had wee little toys in the middle. Needless to say, Ivy and June's baths have been lackluster since we ran out. We bought a ton of those, then I did what I do best - wandered and inspected.

Really, a blog post wouldn't be complete unless I mocked Japanese things, right?

It's like Justin Bieber lyrics that got run back and forth between translators a few too many times. 

Thanks for the guilt trip, whimsical tote bag. 

"a cup of happiness a lot of happiness a cup of happiness a lot of happiness" repeated infinitely sounds a little like something someone would mumble to themselves while rocking back and forth in the corner of a mental hospital. 

These cozy cushions don't seem out of place here at all. The bathroom comforts really know no bounds. Most of the public restrooms I have used have heated seats, bidets, buttons that activate music or ambient noises (presumably to mask the sounds of any bathroom unpleasantness) and buttons for a south side air dry. Word to the wise: button pressing two-year-old's make terrible bathroom companions. Trust me. 

Overall, it was a wonderful evening and the kids did great at home. We can't wait to go exploring again!