Wrapping up Japan

Sadly, after almost three weeks, our time in Japan is coming to an end.  During our visit to Tokyo, we had stayed in Shibuya and visited Midtown and Roppongi, so we used one of our last days to head to Shinjuku.  I think it may have been even busier than Shibuya!  If you’re looking for someplace to stay in Tokyo that has that busy, big-city vibe, you can’t go wrong with either Shibuya or Shinjuku.

Shinjuku by day..

And night.

And we did one last shrine visit, with a trip to Meiji Jingu, because we apparently enjoy torturing our children.

Most importantly, after having seen this kind of structure a few times but having no idea what it was, I finally found one that had an English sign, and discovered that they’re barrels of Sake, which are dedicated to the shrine.  

Mystery solved!

Because Robots

This entire post is dedicated to the Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku, because the two hours of my life that I spent there today more than deserve their own blog entry.

First, let me say that if you’re in Tokyo and on the fence about whether to spend the money on the a Robot Restaurant, you should definitely do it.  Don’t pay full price on their web site, though.  We got a good discount through Veltra, and when we got to the ticket office, we found they were offering even better discounts at the door.  Of course we were going to the 4pm show during the off season, so I can’t guarantee it’ll always be that way.

Speaking of the ticket office, this is what you see when you arrive…

The sign out front…

Big, scantily clad robots that you can sit on and move their arms…

A cute (scary?) little robot perfect for a picture…

And the brightest entrance hall ever.
By the time we got to the elevator, we were already so excited, we could hardly stand it.  Then we saw the waiting lounge.  Hello, Vegas!

Yes, that’s a robot playing 80’s hits…

This little show about Sake completely scared the kids…

And I just couldn’t resist getting this picture of the entrance to the bathroom.  Apparently, the men’s room has a gold urinal!
After the waiting lounge (where you get a free drink – woo hoo!), you head down to the basement theatre, where your mind will be blown…

And go into action, he did…

You could feel the drumming through your legs…

Rockin’ out with a fish, as you do…

End of act one.

I’m sure there was a point to this brief interlude, but I missed it…

When evil robot aliens attack, who you gonna call?  Kung Fu Panda!

And when he fails the first time, of course he returns on a large cow…

Time for the heavy artillery…

Oh, look!  There’s one of the baddies!

Who’s about to get his butt kicked by a mermaid on a shark!

Indiana Jones could never watch this show…although he would probably end up wooing the baddie dominatrix with the machine gun.

Michael Jackson songs are even better with neon dancers.

There was no story line to the 3rd act, but who needs a story when you have a horse riding a horse?

So many sequins…

And another creepy picture, in case the header picture wasn’t enough to give you bad dreams…

But we’ll end with a happy picture because, really, the Robot Restaurant is all about good, wholesome, robot fun.

Rearrange the letters in Kyoto, and you get…Tokyo!

Sadly, we never made it onto Mount Fuji, but on the plus side, the kids got to play in fresh snow!

When we could no longer feel our fingers, we got on the train to Tokyo.  We had decided to stay in Shibuya, and were excited to experience Shibuya Crossing, which is sort of like Times Square in New York.

We said a quick hello to the Avengers, before heading home for the night.  

We got slightly lost on the way home and discovered the local red light distict.  It didn’t really seem appropriate to take pictures, so you can just use your imagination here.

This morning we set off to the Tokyo Tower.  The special observatory that’s at 250m is closed for renovations, but we still had a great view of the city from the 150m main observation deck.  We even stood bravely on the glass floor.

As a major plus, the food court at the tower had enough different types of food that everyone in the family actually found something they wanted to eat, which is possibly the first time that’s happened in over 2 weeks.

On a side note, Aarrrrgh…

And filed under, “Only in Japan”…

Yes, those are people dressed up in Mario Bros. costumes doing a Mario Cart driving tour around the city.

It was looking like rain when we left Tokyo Tower, so we decided to take a peak around Roppongi Hills, in the hope that it would be mostly indoors.  As you can see from the pictures, 1) it didn’t rain – it snowed, and 2) we were mostly outdoors.  

That’s one big spider!

We never figured out what the monkey was pointing at.

Roppongi Hills is the kind of place where the flowers don’t care if it’s the middle of winter…they’re still going to bloom.

When we finally figured out how to get inside, we agreed it felt vaguely like a Las Vegas resort, but more subtle.

A lovely day overall, but I have a feeling it will pale in comparison to what we have planned for tomorrow.  Prepare to have your mind blown…