We’ve had some really full days.
On our first day, we were all awake early, so we went to the sensory overload store known as Don Quixote. The one we went to was relatively small — only four storeys, each with tightly packed rows filled with phone sized video screens extolling the virtues of each particular product. No photos.
The primary destination of the day was Sagamiko MoriMori for illuminations. It’s on a hillside, so several trains and a bus ride away from Central Tokyo. It feathers a rainbow slide, where riders go down on inner tubes. It was bitterly cold because of the wind, so I passed.
Day Two: more than 250 km.
The very first success story was a visit to the Tokyo Stormwater Collection Caverns. It’s much further away from the city core than I imagined. We passed lots of farmland on the way. And yes, there is no water in this picture. Visitors are not allowed when there is active water collection.
Water is diverted into six of these caverns — 18 meters high, 78 meters wide and 128 meters long. It is disbursed in a regulated fashion into a river, avoiding severe flooding of villages and rivers. On top of this cavern, there is a soccer field.
The next stop was the Shimizu Field Athletics Park. Anita learned about this park when researching adventure playgrounds for the one she designed for Hamsterly Beach at Elk Lake. There are four courses, each with its own challenges. This picture is from the green course; the blue one has more water.
Our final stop was the Ashikaga Flower Park for its peonies in bloom in January and its illuminations.
The peonies are in houses to protect them from the weather.
The gardens are most famous for the wisteria. In season, this entire block is a single plant. In winter, it’s lit up as though it were in bloom. The colours change, by the way.
There are several different themed areas.
Google Maps let us down a bit this day. We missed connections and made wrong decisions so we ended up taking several taxis in addition to trains. One taxi driver had trouble believing our request for a 10,000 yen ride. We were happy to pay to avoid a one hour wait for the next train.
Day 3: Tokyo Disney
My favourite new hair band was this Lady and the Tramp one. Because of the weather (0 to 7 degrees Celsius) most people were bundled up in plushy hats. The North Americans and Australians wore toques. some 20 something girls had plush or knitted mouse ears.
Anita had her Remi hair band, which attracted a lot of positive attention.
There’s a new area in Tokyo Disney Sea (day two of our Disney adventures) called Fantasy Springs that has incredible rides. Peter Pan’s Never Land Adventure is extraordinary. I couldn’t figure out if it was trackless. It glided in and out, up and down. The cars tilted and spun. We could fly, we could fly, we could fly!
Anita preferred the Frozen ride, the loading area of which is pictured above. The visitors ride boats, similar to Pirates of the Caribbean. However these boats go up hills and down waterfalls, as well as changing directions. The ride tells the entire story of the first Frozen movie.
The third major ride in this area follows the Tangled movie plot. It’s magical though not as amazing as the other two.
Disney days are long for the Prooms. Today is a day of rest as we travel south from Tokyo to Nagoya, where we’ll visit a craft fair.
Juliette Knits 