Category: Asia

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Asia

Japan with Kids: Navigating Tokyo with a ‘Tween

Denwa (Cell Phone) Mania, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)It’s up, it’s good….

Here’s my 30 April San Antonio Express-News article about family travel to Tokyo with a ‘tween (preteen, roughly ages 9-12.)

I talk about visiting Harajuku, Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli and Odaiba plus climbing Mount Fuji.

More detailed postings about Tokyo to come, over the next few months.

There was also a sidebar about Yokohama that didn’t make it online, but here is my blog post about it.

Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)

Hope you enjoy it along with my other Tokyo blog posts.

Update 5 June 2006: I found a good overview for a week-long Japan trip with Budget Travel Online’s Trip Coach — take a look here.

Update 02 December 2006: Here’s a detailed story on BootsnAll about climbing Mount Fuji.

Update 08 January 2007: From Ampontan, a blog about Japan, is a detailed post about Japanese matsuri, or festivals. Great fun if you can see one while you’re visiting.

Sake Barrel Offering, Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Tokyo (Scarborough photo) Taking a Break Climbing Mt. Fuji (Scarborough photo)

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Asia

Family Travel: Take the Kids to Hong Kong

Dragon Masks, History of Hong Kong Museum (Scarborough photo)I recently had the opportunity to take my daughter to Hong Kong; it’s my favorite city in the world since I made my first Navy port visit there in 1985.

I’ve seen it before and after the vaunted turnover to the Chinese, and it’s still the same sparkling, colorful urban jewel.

Think of it as sort of a Chinese New York, with all of the energy and verve and excitement which that analogy implies.

We visited along with my intrepid 20-something nephew on a Go-Today package; just the airfare and hotel because I said “no thanks” to the included tour. I already knew where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see. The package was a Hong Kong-Tokyo combined deal; you’ll see the rest tomorrow when I post the link to my article about Tokyo in the San Antonio Express-News. (Update: here’s the link to my post “Navigating Tokyo with a ‘tween” including a link to the article plus other good Tokyo info.)

With a package, you are limited to a menu of hotels at different price ranges, but we weren’t going on this trip to admire our hotel. The Stanford Hillview on Kowloon side was fine; rooms were comfortable, staff was helpful and breakfast was OK.

Speaking of breakfast — I have now had a traditional Chinese breakfast and a traditional Japanese breakfast and I prefer….the traditional Norwegian breakfast! (smoked salmon, yogurts, cheeses, pickled herring in tomato sauce, fruit, meats, hearty bread, good coffee.)

Anyway, just getting around Hong Kong is half the fun. Assuming you arrive at Hong Kong International, grab your MTR Pass at the tourist desk and kick back as the Airport Express train whisks you efficiently into town in 20-40 minutes. Getting you and your family around is easy on buses, subway trains and fun double-decker trams.

The best transport, however, is the Star Ferry, which in just minutes takes you back and forth across the narrow strip of water that separates Hong Kong Island from the mainland (Kowloon side.) No extra charge for the spectacular views.

Star Ferry Terminal on Kowloon Side, Hong Kong (Scarborough photo)

The city is wonderfully walkable, so go to the well-designed tourist Web site, figure out what you and the kids would like to do, and take off.

My top recommendations for Hong Kong family travel:

** See the nightly laser light show at 8 p.m. from Kowloon side, either standing at the Sidewalk of the Stars or sitting (with a Shirley Temple or Coke for them and a good gin and tonic for you) in the lobby bar of the Intercontinental Hong Kong Hotel.

** Check out the options under the Tourist Board’s Cultural Kaleidoscope program; how would your kids like a (free) morning tai chi class overlooking the harbor?

** While exploring Wan Chai and Central, visit the original Shanghai Tang store in the Pedder Building. Wildly expensive and wildly imaginative and gorgeous. We haunted the sale rack till we found something we could afford.

** Ride the Mid-Levels escalators up the Hong Kong hills, then hop off and wander some side streets.

The Mid-Levels, Hong Kong (Scarborough photo)

** There are several very good museums; we liked the Hong Kong Museum of History for a comprehensive look at the city’s origins and development.

** Wander through the Kowloon/Nathan Road big branch of Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium (check out the snake wine, with snake included, in the food store, plus colorful packaging on Chinese herbs and medicines one floor up.) Rubber ear with acupuncture spots noted in Chinese? Great inexpensive souvenirs.

** A nighttime tram trip up to Victoria Peak (in clear weather) to admire the city laid out before us.

For more info, check out Frommer’s Favorite Experiences in Hong Kong, MSN Travel’s take here and this excellent article on GoNOMAD.

For serious shoppers (poking, browsing, buying and schlepping is a serious sport in HK) my personal favorite shopping Bible is by Suzy Gershman: Born to Shop Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing (Suzy includes some teen-oriented shopping tips from her own young son Aaron.)

Get your family going to Hong Kong; it’s worth every jet-lagged minute.

Related posts:

Technorati tags: travel, family travel, Hong Kong, China, Asia

Costumes, Hong Kong Museum of History (Scarborough photo)

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Asia

Taking Kids to Japan: Manga and Anime.

 Climbing Sticks, Mount Fuji, Japan (Scarborough photo)    Parents, are your preteen/teen kids into Japanese manga (serialized graphic novels) and anime (Japanese animated movies?)

Manga Display at Hong Kong Comics Convention 2005 (photo courtesy Nancy Fancher)

If you’re clueless at this point, go ask them, but prepare for an earful of tongue-twisting names and plots.

For those fortunate enough to travel to Japan to see the real thing, here’s a great link listing manga/anime museums including iconic Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) in the Tokyo suburb of Mitaka.

Manga How-To Books, Hong Kong Comics Convention 2005 (Scarborough photo)

If you want more details, my “Tokyo with a ‘Tween” article will hit the streets in a couple of days in the “San Antonio Express-News” and I’ll provide a link here.

Miles o' Manga at the Hong Kong Comics Convention 2005 (Scarborough photo)

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Asia Tips

Tokyo Quickie

Here’s a link to Budget Travel‘s new “Snap Guide” to Tokyo, providing info links for transportation, trip planning, etc.

Other “Snap Guides” include London, Paris, New York and Honolulu.

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Asia

Kids in Tokyo — Escape to Yokohama

Minato Mirai, YokohamaFeeling overwhelmed by Tokyo’s bustle and sprawl? Take a subway ride just a bit south, to the relatively compact seaport city of Yokohama.

It has the largest Chinatown in Japan, plus the attractive waterside Minato Mirai park area, with its skyline-dominating Cosmoworld amusement park Ferris wheel and the soaring Landmark Tower shopping and hotel complex.

There is a much more relaxed atmosphere here, especially near the water.

Many of the elaborate shopping complexes around Minato Mirai will feel much like your local mall, with brand-name shops and a Hard Rock Cafe.

Still, let’s face it; sometimes your kids (and maybe you) just want something that feels familiar. This can also be good for a rainy day or a slow evening (shops are open till around 8 p.m., and restaurants till later.)

Pokemon enthusiasts will find the Pokemon Center shop in one of the indoor shopping complexes, with every imaginable item branded with the cartoony little creatures. Best option is a chopstick set or a kid’s bento (lunch) box.

Pokemon Center shop Yokohama (Scarborough photo)

You Hello Kitty fans will find plenty of that in this mall as well, including neat little washcloths with the Kitty in various guises around Tokyo neighborhoods.

Take a pleasant walk over the water bridge to the World Porters area if you haven’t had enough shopping, or stroll past it even further to the Red Brick Warehouse (Web site in Japanese) where there is an outpost of the beloved fresh cosmetics company Lush.

Also at the Warehouse is Motion Blue, a smaller version of Tokyo’s dinner club and performance venue Blue Note, with some terrific jazz musicians on the schedule. Good for older kids.

Does your son or daughter like ramen, the noodle soup that blossoms in the microwave in just a little water? Check out the real stuff at the unique Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum.

Once you pay a small fee to enter, you are transported back to late-1950s era shitamachi Tokyo, right down to the advertising signs, street performers, a little toy shop and eight different actual ramen restaurants, each serving different styles of the iconic noodle bowl, at very reasonable prices (including perhaps a Kirin or Sapphoro beer for the adults.)

Some of the museum street performers tell Japanese adventure tales to children using special painted story-boards.

Watch their technique of building up to an exciting point in the story and then quickly showing a new picture: this is one of the cultural foundations of today’s anime styles.

Shin-Yokohama Raumen/Ramen Museum, Yokohama (Scarborough photo)

The gift shop has noodle-related knick-knacks including Naruto, who is a very popular manga character with his own action show on American TV.

His name comes from the traditional small decorative egg item with a swirl that is placed on top of bowls of ramen.

HOW TO GET THERE: Take the subway from Tokyo to the Sakuragi-cho subway station and walk out the Minato Mirai exit.

There is a tourist booth just outside the exit where you can get maps and directions to all of the attractions in Yokohama. The Ramen Museum is a few minute’s walk from Exit 8 of the Shinyokohama subway station on the Yokohama City subway line.

Maritime Manhole Cover, Yokohama (photo by Sheila Scarborough)

Update 8 October 2006: There’s a nice LA Times article on taking a side trip from Tokyo to Nikko.

I haven’t been there myself but it looks like a wonderful option with older kids (and would be closer than Kyoto.)

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Asia

Tokyo: Asakusa to Odaiba Itinerary

Asakusa Kannon Temple, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)

This is a nice combination of old shitamachi Edo (Tokyo) and some modern touches.

Take the subway to Asakusa (pronounced A-sak-sa) to see the lively Kannon Temple, the famous giant red lantern at its entrance and the fun Nakamisedori shopping street between the lantern and temple.

There is also a tourist office near the temple, with very helpful staff, maps and the all-important bathrooms.

If you have time, look for the Asakusa street called Kappabashidori; the shops there sell all manner of kitchen gear plus those marvelous fake foods that you see in Japanese restaurant windows.

The bowls of shrimp, seafood tempura, etc. are hyper-realistic and not particularly cheap, but great fun as table displays or gifts. I like my little ice cream cones that look like they’re just about to melt all over the dining room table.

The kids will have fun finding fairly inexpensive touristy stuff in the little Nakamisedori shops that lead to the Kannon Temple (don’t be alarmed at shop proprietors shouting “Irrasemase!!” when you walk in; they are just saying “Welcome.”)

Look for the little cell phone decorations that hang on a small string off of your phone; it seems as though everyone in Japan has a cluster of these netsuke-like items jangling off of their mobile, to personalize it. They make fun gifts to take home. This area is also famous for senbei rice crackers in all sorts of flavors.

I’m partial to the peanut version.

Asakusa Temple pagoda at night, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)

The temple itself is full of people and you feel as though you are walking into a postcard of quintessential Japan.

Step up to the cauldron in front….the smoke is supposed to help cure what ails you, so do as I did and waft some towards your face (to make you pretty) and rub the smoke on your head (to make you smart.)

I’ll let you know if it worked.

Asakusa Kannon temple entrance, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)

The fountain over to your right is for ritual purification, so before entering the temple you can follow this tradition by pouring water over your hands and wiping a bit on your mouth.

Clap your hands and toss in a coin to the offering box once you are inside, if you desire.

There are also small amulets to buy (one to help with driving or examinations for your teen, perhaps?)

After wandering about and enjoying the temple grounds, get ready to head over to the Sumida River for a boat ride.

Right next to the Azuma Bridge is the Suijo-Bus boat pier. Another landmark is the Asahi Building nearby across the river. Atop the building is a giant gold decoration that is supposed to be some sort of flame, but has become known as the Golden Poop.

Sure makes ME want to drink Asahi beer….

Sumida River Suijo-Bus, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)

Take the swoopy silver futuristic-looking craft for a 40-minute ride down the Sumida to the riverfront entertainment and shopping complex at Odaiba, which is quite a contrast to Asakusa.

There are restaurants, video arcades like none you’ve ever seen, tons of shopping, a Starbucks if you’re jonesing for that, and for manga fiends there is a Jump Shop.

Parents, if you don’t know what that is, your kids probably will.

By the time you’re ready to leave it’s probably night, so for some great views, hop on the Yurikamome unmanned monorail. It will take you from Odaiba across the Sumida under a dazzlingly bright Rainbow Bridge, ending with some Blade Runner-ish scenery as you are deposited at the Shiodome subway station.

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Asia

Family Travel in Tokyo: An Overview

Prayer Cards, Meiji Shrine, Tokyo (Scarborough photo)There is a reason that Tokyo is not normally listed as a “family destination” (whatever that is.)

It is a sprawling metropolis, more a collection of distinct towns than a coherent city, and it has no real city center to help you get your bearings. It is crowded, with over 12 million people hurrying and jostling and crowding themselves into every micron of available real estate.

Despite the tourist brochures and other assurances that you may have heard, it is often difficult to communicate in English. The usual fallback to the language barrier is being able to at least guesstimate signs and other written items, but here you are again stymied unless you can understand kanji, hiragana or katakana.

Still, for those who persist, the rewards are tremendous.

The Japanese are unfailingly polite, and they are courteous and kind to children. Even the drunk salarymen on the subway at 11:00 p.m. are polite. The city is safe, if not always easy to navigate.

The culture is rich and rewarding for those who take the time to understand it. Japan seems to hold a particular fascination for pre-teens (or ‘tweens as I call them) and teenagers. They are huge fans of Japanese serialized comics (manga) and animated movies (anime.) Many kids have taken karate in their hometowns, and sushi has become commonplace in US supermarkets. Even the pervasive Power Rangers have helped spread Japanese pop culture (I think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might be a stretch example, though.)

The Navy posted my family in southern Japan (Kyushu) when my daughter was young, and she joined me in Tokyo this past summer when I was there on temporary Navy duty.

I am very fond of Japan but also quite realistic about its challenges for family travel. If you are thinking about a trip there, or perhaps considering taking family with you on a business trip, I hope my thoughts on this blog can help.