How I spent my summer vacation: Tokyo with kids (Part 1)

Seven days is too short for Japan—especially if you’re traveling with kids. Next time, we will go for ten days.
Being the mom of three boys, there are sacrifices to be made. Nobody wants to go to Puroland but me.
Shopping is next to impossible, so that must be carefully planned around what they want (read: Nike).
Here’s a quick guide to what we did within one week in Tokyo:

1) Kiddyland in Harajuku is a must stop. Kiddyland is five levels of cute stuff. I’ll take Kiddyland to any other toy store in the world. Kiddyland and Hakuhinkan are my favorite toy stores.

2) Whatever you do, do NOT be fooled into going to the Ninja restaurant in Akasaka. I regret having been tricked by a blog to go there. It is a horrible tourist trap. I thought it would be fun to take the kids to a realistic Ninja restaurant but it was really dumb, I can’t even put it into words.

This three-piece toro sushi was the only good thing we ordered

Not the kind of salmon Ben expected, so Jeroen ate it.

Worst yaya meal: Ate Mariza and Markus ordered curry. This is what they got: inedible black balls

Inside:

Jeroen had a bite and then nobody touched it anymore.
The food was so bad we were ended up “fighting” over expensive steak, but it was not enough.

Our bill for 6 people: about Php 14,000

We were still starving after dinner so we ended up buying food at this place.

3) Here’s our favorite restaurant in Tokyo: Barbacoa which specializes in Brazilian all-you-can-eat churrasco.
Jeroen and I have been eating here since 2000. We have tried to bring it to Manila, but the Japanese simply aren’t interested.

This is our family’s happy place

with the unli Japanese rice

and all kinds of barbecued meat brought to your table

P.S. Their rolls are to die for

4) Chris and I really love the milk ice cream at Meal Muji. I am still dreaming about it. There is nothing like it in Manila. This is a must have.

Ate Mariza has one too

Wish we had Meal Muji in Manila

5) Sega Joypolis in Odaiba is a boy’s world. Since Jeroen and I don’t know how to take the train, we took two cabs and it was expensive to travel to and from Shinjuku.
It’s a three-level high-tech indoor playground that is perfect for a rainy day. We spent a few hours there and the boys loved it.

The boys enjoyed the virtual rides, but even Jeroen felt sick after two rides and had to slow down.

I saw myself as a fish in a virtual aquarium and felt very sad

The boys went wild with the shooting games

Jeroen and Markus won plush toys

Finally, Ben and Markus had their caricatures drawn by a Japanese artist

He’s so talented

(To be continued)