I flew from Los Angeles, while my wife and son flew from Singapore to meet me at Narita Airport on a Friday. Sunday is when we are expected to be in Shonai, and we decided to spend a day in Tokyo on Saturday because I wasn’t sure if I needed time to recover from the jet lag.

My wife was flying on her birthday, and Singapore Airlines provided a mini celebration for her at her seat!

There’s only an hour’s time difference between Japan and Singapore, so my wife and son don’t need much adjustment.

We checked in at the Hotel Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport because our connecting flight would be from Haneda Airport to Shonai Airport.

I was fascinated with 0% alcohol beers, and I started to order these whenever we had meals. I couldn’t tell the difference between the non-alcoholic beers and the regular ones, and they taste great!

Exploring Ginza

We woke up late the next day to recover from our flights, and then we headed to Ginza to explore via train.

Traveling with a stroller is an art. Not all train stations and places are stroller-friendly, and we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to navigate towards the nearest elevator. It also didn’t help when we didn’t know the language to explain what we were trying to do.

When all things fail, I would carry the stroller with my arms up and down flights of stairs.

We stopped by Kisoji Ginza 5 Chōme for lunch.

They put us in a private room, as they noticed we had a toddler, and it is customary to try to keep families with young children away from other patrons to prevent noise disturbances. We liked it as well because Benaiah can be noisy at times.

We took a short walk around the streets to shop around.

As it was the weekend, Ginza closed select roads for shoppers to walk, making shopping easier.

It was a regular shopping district, very similar to Orchard Road in Singapore or other major cities. The only difference is the Japan-specific brands that may not be common outside of Japan.

Tokyo Toy Museum

After Ginza, we headed to the Tokyo Toy Museum for our son to spend his energy.

From the outward appearance, it looked like a community center or school. They hold classes for the community, and I saw folks practicing kendo in one of their halls.

We initially thought we could buy tickets at the place, but the staff there asked us to book tickets online instead.

The toy museum features exhibits and interactive toys that children can enjoy playing with. Each room has a specific theme, and you can join in the fun with other families who are exploring the museum.

We particularly enjoyed the interactive elements and toys in the museum. My son likes the wooden ball pit tremendously.

All the toys were made of wood, and it exemplifies Japanese artistry at every corner.

There are too many toys to feature in the museum, and we didn’t explore every corner because we went a little late. It was close to their closing time, too.

Lost Our Passports on the Train

My wife explained to me that the train cabins have a compartment over the seats where you can place your bags, allowing other riders more space.

My wife placed her bag in the compartment, and we headed back to our hotel at Haneda Airport Terminal 3.

As we couldn't understand Japanese, we didn't know we arrived at Haneda Airport Terminal 3, and we had to rush out of the cabin as the doors were closing.

However, we left my wife's bag in the compartment!

I always carried my passport with me, but my wife's and son's passports were in the bag. Thus, we had to head over to the information counter to get help. 

It was nerve-wracking as we were scheduled to fly tomorrow to Shonai, and it could upend all our travel plans to Los Angeles, too!

It was a struggle to use Google Translate to speak with the officer at the information counter. After several minutes of back and forth, the officer told us that the same train was about to return to the same station at the opposite end of the platform at around 7 minutes!

Quickly, we exited the platform and entered the opposite platform through another gantry. As I was pushing the stroller and there were many people at the train station, my wife went ahead to retrieve her bag because I wasn't able to keep up with her pace.

In the hotel room, I messaged my wife, and she replied that she found her bag! She was praying to God throughout her journey, and she noticed her bag in one of the cabins. Before the doors closed, she swooped in to retrieve her bag and exited the cabin swiftly.

For the rest of the trip, my wife held on to her bag tightly and wouldn't leave it out of sight.

We thank Jesus for the help because it would've been disastrous to lose my wife's and son's passports.

Musings On My First Day In Japan

I reviewed online materials on etiquette in Japan, and I thought Japanese people don't converse when on board a train because they don't want to bother other people with their voices. However, I saw otherwise.

My wife mentioned that it was the weekend, and people were generally letting themselves loose. Additionally, the Japanese have a unique art form in speaking on trains. I could see the lips moving, but I couldn't hear anything.

Google Translate isn't as helpful as I thought. Unless it's an emergency, it's easy to give up trying to communicate because using an app is a hassle.

Learning a few simple Japanese phrases is more helpful than going through an app.

However, Google Lens is as helpful as advertised. When the menus were in Japanese, Google Lens helped us to understand what we were ordering.

Tokyo is great, but it's not easy to travel with a stroller and with a child. I would like to spend some time with my wife alone and visit other places within Tokyo.

Shonai is our next stop, and I'm looking forward to our new accommodation!