Blog No. 20 – Thanksgiving in Japan

This year for Thanksgiving, we did not eat a traditional American turkey feast. Instead, we ate sushi because we went to Japan over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tokyo is only a two hour flight from Shanghai. It is a direct flight, and as a US citizen, you don’t need a visa to visit which makes it very convenient. It is a very dense but clean metropolitan city. Most people do not speak English, but they are polite and courteous.

We spent our first two nights in Hakone which is about 1 ½ hours from Tokyo by train. It is a small town located near the base of Mt. Fuji, and it is known for its natural hot springs and picturesque scenery. Although we did not take advantage of the natural hot springs, we did enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery while taking a variety of transportations. We first took the Hakone Tozan Railway which is a little train that does switchbacks to go up the steep mountain slope to the open air museum. Next, we rode in the cable car to the top of the mountain. Afterwards, we hoped on the Hakone Ropeway for a tummy wrenching ride over a large gorge and to view Mt. Fuji. Then we took a boat ride on a “pirate” ship around Lake Ashinoko. Finally we took the Tozan bus back.

In Hakone, our family stayed in a traditional Japanese inn called a ryokan. Our room was a large space, divided by paper walls with sliding screen doors to create individual rooms. The floor was covered with traditional tatami (rice-straw matting); the living room had a low table with legless chairs; and we slept on futons which was laid out every evening and folded up every morning. We were required to remove our outdoor shoes at the entrance, and we were giving slippers and blue and white-patterned yukata (robes) to wear around the inn. Even the kids received child sized slippers and robes. Traditional Japanese breakfast and dinner were served in our room. It was a very unique experience, but Mark and I agreed that it wasn’t the best place to stay with young kids. (One of the kids put a hole though the paper wall.)

After spending a couple of nights in Hakone, we took the train back to Tokyo. We stayed in the Ginza district which is known for its high end shops. The first day we walked around Ginza and went to Electronic Town at night. You can view, buy, and test out all the latest electronics here. The second day, we went to Hama Rikyu Garden which is a Japanese style strolling garden. Afterwards, we went to up to Tokyo Tower, which is a replica of the Eiffel Tower, to get a 360 degree view of the city. On our last day, we woke up very early and walked to the Tsukiji Fish Market.

Mark’s favorite part of the trip was visiting the fish market; Brennan enjoyed all the train rides; and Quinlan and I loved Hakone.


Lake Ashinoko


A view of Mt. Fiji from the Hakone Ropeway


Large gorge below with sulfur gas

Interactive art work at the outdoor sculpture museum

Mark, Quinlan and Brennan at the end of the square rainbow

The kids standing on the fried egg sculpture

A view of the beautiful fall colored leaves in Hakone from our ryokan

Master Quinlan trying on his robe