It turns out that our hotel is situated midway between two very upscale shopping centers, roppongi hills and Tokyo midtown. We stayed at the same hotel a couple years ago, completely oblivious to the presence of either of these places. However, now that we are trying to figure out what one does in Tokyo with a toddler, we have found them to be oases in the middle of an urban landscape that is not generally child friendly. While we have neither the money nor the desire to spend much time in the actual stores, the places themselves are immaculate, full of interesting architecture, sculpture, and other decorations, and
have wide concourses and spaces for toby to run through. So we spent the first half of today in midtown. Then after a rest, we headed to the meiji shrine, but because toby fell asleep on the subway, we wandered through harajuku and eventually made our way to yet another high end shopping area, omotesando hills, to taste some sake. On the way, we feared toby might be peckish so we purchased a drinkable yogurt, which, it turns out, is essentially sugar masquerading as a more nutritious food. As jon and I quietly sipped some sake, toby slurped down the last of the yogurt drink, and transformed. I admit that in some respects I was mildly disappointed that he didn’t
somehow break out of his clothes or turn into a green lou ferrigno, because that might have provided us with a better indication of what we were in store for. Of course in other respects, I’m quite happy that toby remains regular colored and not lou ferrigno. Anyway, we spent the next hour or so trading off with one of us chasing him up and down the ramps and stairs in the shopping center while the other would sit peacefully, cultivating a nice buzz and watching, bemused, as our sugar monster sprinted past. Just for your information, it’s very hard to catch a sugar monster after a few glasses of sake. But eventually he slowed enough, and we regained our energy enough, to capture him, eat some dinner, and return at last to our hotel, our lesson about the dangers of yogurt related drinking products learned the hard way.
It turns out that our hotel is situated midway between two very upscale shopping centers, roppongi hills and Tokyo midtown. We stayed at the same hotel a couple years ago, completely oblivious to the presence of either of these places. However, now that we are trying to figure out what one does in Tokyo with a toddler, we have found them to be oases in the middle of an urban landscape that is not generally child friendly. While we have neither the money nor the desire to spend much time in the actual stores, the places themselves are immaculate, full of interesting architecture, sculpture, and other decorations, and
have wide concourses and spaces for toby to run through. So we spent the first half of today in midtown. Then after a rest, we headed to the meiji shrine, but because toby fell asleep on the subway, we wandered through harajuku and eventually made our way to yet another high end shopping area, omotesando hills, to taste some sake. On the way, we feared toby might be peckish so we purchased a drinkable yogurt, which, it turns out, is essentially sugar masquerading as a more nutritious food. As jon and I quietly sipped some sake, toby slurped down the last of the yogurt drink, and transformed. I admit that in some respects I was mildly disappointed that he didn’t
somehow break out of his clothes or turn into a green lou ferrigno, because that might have provided us with a better indication of what we were in store for. Of course in other respects, I’m quite happy that toby remains regular colored and not lou ferrigno. Anyway, we spent the next hour or so trading off with one of us chasing him up and down the ramps and stairs in the shopping center while the other would sit peacefully, cultivating a nice buzz and watching, bemused, as our sugar monster sprinted past. Just for your information, it’s very hard to catch a sugar monster after a few glasses of sake. But eventually he slowed enough, and we regained our energy enough, to capture him, eat some dinner, and return at last to our hotel, our lesson about the dangers of yogurt related drinking products learned the hard way.
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