Let's Talk Tokyo

Last Wednesday, Luke came home from work and I was in a cramped hotel room with three small children and our conversation went something like this:

Luke: "What do you want to do tonight?"

Me: "I want to go to Tokyo." 

L: "Hmmm....it might be crazy on the train coming home." 

M: "Oh well." 

L: "You want to go tonight?" 

M: "Yes. I want to go right now." 

L: "All right...." 

So yeah. Somehow that whole three babies thing hasn't totally killed the spontaneous side of me, though it probably should. We packed up our kids, brought along our spare ergo for June's inevitable cry of "I want you to hooooold meeee!" which has the tendency to ruin everything, and headed to the train station. Sure enough, June was on my back before we even left the base.

I don't think this is from that day, but you can enjoy looking at the train and my ticked looking face. 

The train ride to Tokyo was longer than any we had done before, and June slept for nearly the entire 30 minutes. The train wasn't crowded so Ivy and I had seats with June still on my back like a giant, tan, hairless baby monkey. We got off at a station in Shinjuku, which was starting to get busy. As I said, train stations here can be like malls. Some are very basic, but some, like the one we entered, are huge. Eight floors of stores and restaurants and booth type things and so many people.

We left the train station and walked around the block, but it was so insanely crowded that we decided to just go back in and eat there. The clothes here are so lovely - I want to save up some serious yen and get a new wardrobe. Long flowing skirts and tee shirts are in style, and many women wear hats. There are also funny things, like I said, where English words are just randomly put on clothes. I want some of those too.

The upper shirt says "crushed ice." Awww yeah. I love that stuff. 

This was a dress at a fancy children's boutique. On the back, I was hoping to see the secret which makes a good hamburger...

and I was not disappointed! 

I actually really wanted to buy this for Marielle. 

Advice we could all live by. 

We were having difficulty finding a ramen place, which is what I was craving, but we finally found a place that served ramen with a tomato broth base which was excellent. I opted for the basil variety. The little wonton things were the best ever. I ordered 10 more and ate them all.

Just looking at those pictures makes me want to go back. Until I think about the train ride home.

Picture all the Japanese people you can imagine comfortably fitting into a train, then double that amount and add 5 Americans. That's how it was. William was almost sleeping in the Ergo and tired out of his mind when we got on the train. It was stressful, trying to stand still and not touch other people and also trying to keep an eye on June and Ivy who were somewhere by my legs or someone else's legs. And then we stopped at a station where a few people got off, but many more got on. The sudden press of people, at least 8 of whom were directly in contact with him, caused William to go ballistic.

Eventually, though, the sheer amount of bodies acted as a sort of cocoon and lulled him into a sweaty little REM cycle. In the mean time, a man carrying a gigantic man purse (which is totally a thing out here) kept bonking me with it and I finally just shoved it away. He didn't even turn around as he shifted it to his other arm. Sorry, guy. But not really.

We got off the train in a big lump and somehow managed to peel ourselves apart from each other, with the Japanese people rushing off with purpose and direction and us ambling feebly towards the exit.

So, the moral of the story is: you should always go to Tokyo on a Wednesday night if that's what your heart desires. Even if it's crazy, it's still a good story.