Free Day in Tokyo
Today was our first full day in Tokyo and our only free day before the tour starts. We kicked it off with a traditional Japanese breakfast. It was a work of art to look at and some of it was delicious but other parts I am just not used to eating, especially first thing in the morning. The breakfast consisted of a bowl of sticky rice, Miso soup, congee (mashed rice), broth with eggplant and peas, a pile of tiny pickled fish on top of pickled cabbage, a rectangular shaped block of sweet egg, chicken pieces and tiny bowls containing a very salty picked plum, some salty jam and some marinated seaweed.
We explored more of Nakano in the morning. The kids bought all kinds of strange but compelling Japanese sweets including blueberry marshmallows, a Kinder-egg-style chocolate with a Pokémon figure inside (perfect since Pokémon Go just went live in Japan!), and tiny strawberry milk crisps. We also stopped in a small bakery selling French specialties like croissants as well as these adorable Totoro treats:
After walking around Nakano we took the train to Shinjuku, a very busy area of Tokyo. We had a reservation at Cat Cafe Calico. We spent an hour drinking iced tea and petting & feeding cats.
Dinner was a kickoff with the entire tour group. Our tour leader ordered dinner so we could try different a variety of Japanese specialties. Even my fussiest child tried 5 new things.
Tomorrow our whirlwind tour officially starts.
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