Collett Family Chronicles: Tokyo Trip December 2023

For Christmas this year we chose to take advantage of our location and take a trip to Tokyo rather than do physical gifts.

LEAVING OKINAWA

We love all the fresh orchids around the Okinawa airport.

Brooklyn all ready for travel.

DAY 1

We ended up spending the first half of the day sleeping in our AirBnB because of having to spend the night before in the airport. It was cool to stay in a Japanese style apartment.

A tiny washing machine on our balcony.

Shoe shelves

Tiny bathroom

It was a cool cultural experience to stay in a traditional Japanese style apartment.

We visited Shibuya Sky and watched the pedestrians cross at Shibuya scramble crossing. Its the largest pedestrian crossing in the world.

The Hachicko Memorial Statue was made to honor a loyal dog who waited at the train station for his owner everyday, even after his master died.

We happened to walk by a sweet car store.

We were happy to visit the Latter-day Saint Tokyo temple.

We loved the beautiful grounds and nativity

We visited Tokyo tower and enjoyed some delicious Pakistani food in one of the restaurants on the second floor.

Checked out a Christmas market, which in Japan means a market with American-style comfort food.

DAY 2 Tokyo trip day 2: Sky Tree, Ueno park, Senso-ji temple, and Samurai Ninja museum.

Japanese street market

Senso-ji temple

We saw a beautiful drum performance

The temple had beautiful gardens

Ueno park and markets

Beautiful trees

Beautiful manhole cover

Ueno park had temples, shrines, and pretty gardens

Sky tree had beautiful views of the city. It was amazing to see

It was a clear day, so we got a nice view of Mt Fuji

We enjoyed the Samurai Ninja museum. Throwing ninja starts was a favorite part.

In ancient Japan when a piece of pottery breaks they fill in the cracks with gold. I love the symbolism of making something even more beautiful out of something broken.

We learned some basic Samuari sword moves.

Sparing together

Ninja armor

Ancient samurai armor

Audrey the Samurai

Picture on the subway at the beginning of the day

After a day of sight seeing, we were all pretty worn out.

Sky tree tower at night

DAY 3 Tokyo trip day 3: Imperial Palace and gardens, Aoyama harp store, Team Lab Planets, “Rainbow” bridge and Statue of Liberty.

Rainbow Bridge was pretty, but we were hoping it would be more colorful. We found out later that they only light it up on rainbow colors on special occasions.

It was fun to see the statue of liberty that changed colors.

We loved the flower room at Team Labs.

Team Labs was an amazing immersive sensory art experience.

We had some delicious vegan ramen.

Madeline visited the Aoyama harp store and picked out a pedal harp she liked.

Sisters stuck together

The imperial palace and gardens were impressive and beautiful.

DAY 4 Tokyo Trip day 4: Harry Potter WB Studio Tour.

Frog cafe had the best tables!

This trip to Harry Potter studios was a great Christmas gift!

The great hall

It was fun to see all the costumes in person

Moving staircase

Picture gallery

Gryffindor common room

Slytherin common room

Quidditch

Props

Dumbledore's office

Potions

Mirror of Erised

Classrooms

Hogwart's library

Lord Voldemort

Forbidden forest

Hagrid's hut

The flying car

Butterbeer

The bridge

Wizard's chess

Privet Drive

Cupboard under the stairs

Letters

Aunt Marge blown up

Hagrid's motorcycle

The Knight bus

Phone booth

Platform 9 3/4

Hogwart's express

Ministry of Magic

Diagon Alley

Hogwart's castle

DAY 5 Tokyo Disneyland. This day was a gift from grandparents (Disney Tokyo costs less than half of what it does in the US). Our favorite part was the Beauty and the Beast ride and castle. The Happy Baymax ride was a close second. It was fun to see how excited the Japanese got singing and dancing to the Baymax music. A lot of the rides were similar to ones in the US, but here you get to actually go in Cinderella’s castle. We also felt lacking as Disney fans since we were some of the only people not wearing Mickey ears or some sort of Disney themed hat.

The light parade

Beauty and the Beast castle

Alien mochi

Baymax ride!

Tea cups!

Cinderella's castle

Star Tours

Fun band

Christmas time at Disney truly is magical

DAY 6 Tokyo Disney Sea. This day was a gift from the other set of grandparents. It was absolutely amazing! We especially loved Agrabah. Favorite rides include Indiana Jones, Soarin’, and Journey to the Center of the Earth.