27 April 2010

It was sunny, but there was an incredibly strong, gusty wind, reaching maybe 50mph or more at times. We enjoyed a family day out in Minato Mirai. As we were worried about sun exposure and because Emily could barely keep on her feet in the gusts, we decided to check out the Mitsubishi Industrial Museum. She liked the model trains, planes, ships and rockets on display and there was even a real rocket engine. The displays were in English, and the information wasn't too long or too technical. There were plenty of interactive displays and Emily happily pressed buttons and turned wheels.

Overdue for lunch, we had to queue for 15 minutes to get into the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. Emily was happy (once she had a plate of grub in front of her) as from the window we could see the rail tracks, especially as it was her current favourite, the 'blue train' (aka Keihin Tohoku line). She had been a bit cranky in the morning and it was 5 days since her last poo. As soon as she finished lunch she said she was doing one so I whisked her off to the loo, and she actually did most of it in the 'big girls' toilet', which she proudly announced to Daddy. Nick and I breathed a sigh of relief as we had been getting increasingly concerned about her bowel habits again. This certainly makes me worried about beginning potty training as she is quite resistant to sitting on it lately.

We finished our trip with a visit to the observation floor of Landmark Tower, which is on the 69th floor and about 270m high. The building is the highest in Japan. We had fantastic views all round Tokyo Bay and back to the city, but I cursed as I had forgotten the camera. Emily was really tired and fell asleep as we were pushing her home from the station, but we still managed to get her to bed by 8.30 even though she had 40 minutes on the sofa when we got home.

25 April 2010

It was a sunny day though the air was a bit cool; we took Nick to our latest discovery, Asukayama Park. He brought along his latest acquisition, a digital SLR camera, as we had been having trouble getting it to focus. After a very frustrating hour or so we gave up and decided he would have to go back to the store to find out what the problem was. Emily headed straight for the elephant slide and then wanted to climb the castle. She spent ages in the 'turret' calling 'I'm the king of the castle' and had big smiles on her face as she rode the many slides.

After our picnic lunch, which she largely refused as she wanted to collect sticks under the trees, we found a quiet piece of lawn and tried out a new bubble wand.

On the way out we went in search of the splash pools Bettina had mentioned. They were certainly worth finding: several natural-style rock-strewn streams, pools and waterfalls, and not more than calf-deep on Emily.

Despite the cold water she insisted on removing all her clothes and pottered around contentedly in the buff! There were plenty of other kids playing there but she was the only naked one. Nick and I anxiously scanned the nearby adults to check that they weren't taking furtive snaps of her.

23 April 2010

Emily was in nursery, which left me free to steady my nerves and take a pregnancy test. My cycle has been very erratic for six months or more, but the last few have been around 20 days, so now at 32 days I felt that I was justified in checking. However, I confess I had not 'felt pregnant', and when exercising had, if anything, felt fitter than ever these last couple of weeks, so should not have allowed myself to get my hopes up. I had also calculated that a potential due date would fall almost exactly on Christmas Day, which made me think it would be Sod's law if I was expecting. But, the three minutes ticked away and when I braced myself to look there was no line in the result window.

22 April 2010

Emily and I went over to Odaiba with Jo, Isy and Cooper. It was really wet and miserable so we were confined to the mall. We chilled out in the large Starbucks first, while the girls went predictably crazy running up and down and disturbing the other customers, then we took them up to the little jidokan on the 4th floor where they played very happily for an hour. We finished off with a quick lunch at a cafe then parted company. I took Emily to Toys R Us and she managed to leave with several new things, including a model rubbish truck (ie dust cart) as she is obsessed with them at the moment. Returning on the Yurikamome light railway we were offered the front seats of the driverless train, so for the first time had an unobscured view of the tracks ahead. A pity it was raining and the carriage steamed up somewhat. Emily dropped off in the buggy on the way home and I managed to transfer her to her bed where she slept on for an hour, so this time it was back to the old routine and a later bedtime.

21 April 2010

I coordinated the TMG meeting at Nandemo, then Emily and I went on to have lunch with Nick. It was a pleasant day so we had a picnic in the nearby playground, already wary of the strengthening sun's rays. After parting from him, she and I continued up the Namboku line to somewhere I had never been before: Oji. Bettina had passed on info about a park and playground up there, and with Emily's new regime making full days away from home easier I decided to go and check it out. She attracted a lot of attention, and we were the only gaijin I saw the whole time we were there, though we were only a few miles from central Tokyo.

Asukayama Park was up on a ridge above the rail tracks, and a pleasant example of an urban Japanese park, with no grass but lots of trees. There were three things that set it apart for me and made it a destination I will go to again and again: First, it is right next to both elevated shinkansen tracks and regular JR rails plus there is a tram running from there, so there is plenty of trainspotting potential. Second, there was a dinky little monorail that took us all of 50m up from the station to the top of the hill; it must qualify as the world's shortest, surely, and hate to think about the cost of installing it. They don't even make a charge for using it to offset their outlay a bit. It did make the park more accessible though, as otherwise there were steps to navigate, and even if there weren't we'd have ridden it as Emily loved it.

Lastly, and the most important reason, was the playground, which was extensive and the best equipped I have seen here yet. The main features were a high elephant slide

a rotating cage, a large castle-like structure with many ways to ascend and descend

and even a real, retired steam train and carriage to look around.


Eventually Emily showed distinct signs of weariness and we made our way home. After so much excitement I was amazed that she got through to bedtime without dropping off, and even ate her tea, though later there were tears before bed.

19 April 2010

After lunch I took Emily to Kyu Shiba Rikyu, where we wandered for more than an hour in the 20C hazy sunshine. She and I shared an icecream, though she complained that it was too cold after a while.

The clipped azaleas were really pretty, and there were still some cherries in flower.

Emily fell out of bed during the evening (luckily I had placed pillows on the floor for her in case) and she was very upset and lashing out at me as I tried to put her back in. After a couple of minutes she surrendered to it though, and settled back down. Nick and I debated whether to buy a guard rail but decided to put the beanbag next to the bed instead so that if she rolled off she would not fall.

18 April 2010

Again Emily slept through, except for missing her teddy around 4am; again I had to go in and pick him up off the floor. I don't want her to suss out that she can escape her room, but I did show her how easy it is to reach down and pick up lost toys, though I doubt she will be capable of that when only semi-conscious and in complete darkness. She keeps saying 'I haven't got a playpen' and 'I haven't got any bars', which makes me feel a bit guilty.


In the morning we all went to play at the Onarimon playground for an hour in the sun. I then parted from Nick and Emily as I had to rush home to prepare for my afternoon out: having tea with a few of the girls at the Shinjuku Park Hyatt (where Lost in Translation was filmed). He and Emily had lunch at David's Deli then went to Tamagawa for the afternoon, where they were joined by Wako and her family. It looked as though they had lots of fun.





Our reservation at the hotel was in the 41st floor tea lounge, and we had a good table as Helen had cheekily lied and told them that it was Steph's birthday. I thought the Y3,200 (22 pounds)price for the three hour tea was quite decent as we had a steady stream of tea, coffee, savoury offerings and gorgeous cakes and scones, though each was only bite-sized so I probably didn't eat as much as I thought I did.


Back at home I found a very tear-stained and blotchy Emily wolfing her tea, having had nothing for 5 hours and being extremely tired; after a busy day she had thrown a bit of a wobbler on their arrival home. More tears in the bath curtailed the usual tubtime and she was into bed and away before 7pm.