The city and the old fish market

In late December, in those short days in between Christmas and New Year’s, Ashley and I, and the kids, took a whirlwind holiday in that city of cities – Tokyo. Ashley’s parents and her sister’s family also came along, marking the first time that the whole clan had traveled together since our trip to Cambodia almost six years ago. A lot has happened in the intervening years – more kids, career switches, a global pandemic, other big life changes – so it was nice to spend some time as a family outside of our busy Hong Kong lives.

We stayed in the Tsukiji neighbourhood, home to the old Tsukiji fish market before it relocated to Toyosu back in 2018. Many of the small sushi and sashimi restaurants and food stalls have remained, however, and its narrow streets and alleyways were jam-packed with tourists and foodies throughout the day. It wasn’t our intention to stay in Tsukiji specifically, it just so happened to have hotels within our price range that met the needs of families, but being able to grab a delicious wagyu beef skewer or platter of sashimi in the mornings before heading out into the rest of the city was a nice bonus. It was also a short walk into Ginza, where we had a few shopping destinations highlighted. In the evenings, some of the restaurants were still open for the dinner crowd, and it was much easier to grab a table in those off-peak hours. It’s not a place I would immediately think of as a place to stay – Asakusa was lovely when we were there almost two years ago, and the Tokyo Station are was so convenient when Miles and I did our first boys trip in the fall of 2023 – but it did have its perks.

Afternoon on the rails

It’s a given on any trip to Tokyo that Miles will get his quality time with one of his core loves – trains. If anything his passion has grown even stronger since the last time we were here, aided by the printouts of the city’s metro system we gave him a few months ago. He can now instantly locate any train station in Tokyo on a map, and he’s got more than half the lines memorised by heart – it boggles my mind how much information kids can retain when they really, really like something. So on one of the afternoons where the adults wanted to do some shopping, I asked Miles if he wanted to go ride some trains instead, and his answer was to grab my hand and start walking to the closest subway entrance.

I have a little suspicion that he already had routes planned out, and one thing I’ve learned on our boys trips to Japan is sometimes what he wants is for me to just follow along, no questions asked. That afternoon we got on the Ginza line at Ginza station and took it to Shinjuku, popping up onto street level for a quick look around, before heading back below ground to take the Oedo line to Iidabashi station. At Iidabashi we transferred to the Namboku line to take it to Shirokane-Takanawa, where we then switched to the Mita line to head towards Otemachi station. From Otemachi we got on the Hanzomon line towards Nagatacho, and then onto the Yurakucho line heading to Ginza Itchome station to meet up with the rest of the family again. This basically took us on a huge loop of Tokyo via its convoluted metro system, exactly as the little boy planned.

Kanda Myojin

My first time in Tokyo was nearly 10 years ago, when I tagged along with Ashley on one of her business trips. While she was in her company’s Japan office during the day, I went all around the city, soaking in the different neighbourhoods and cityscapes and seeing everything I had only experienced through watching hundreds of Japanese movies and anime and reading endless volumes of manga throughout my teenage and young adult years. One of the sites that had made an impression on me back then was the Kanda Myojin temple complex, tucked away into a city neighbourhood north of the Kanda River, and I headed out after the kids fell asleep one night to revisit this Shinto shrine.

There were only a handful of devotees lingering in front of the main hall as I walked through the dark temple grounds, the only light coming from inside the sacred structure. The chilly weather and the shadowed environment of the complex were a far cry from when I was there back in 2015, during the height of summer, where I watched groups of salarymen and office ladies trickling in and out of Kanda Myojin seeking some divine blessing before getting on with the rest of their day. The lighting coming from inside the temple was magical though. Afterwards I walked over to the nearby Akihabara district to grab some ramen at Hakata Furyu Akihabara – I just googled for nearby shops and found the closest one with decent reviews. The noodles were tasty, no doubt, but I think I almost enjoyed the fact of being able to get a late night bowl of ramen more than anything else. I enjoyed that experience a little too much, perhaps, because I found myself running down the street to catch the last train back to Tsukiji – which I did, just barely.

Solo-ness as a parent on holiday

As has become our usual practice when traveling with the whole family, Ashley and I took turns heading out and getting our own “me time” once the kids were in bed. I usually enjoy these times when I can walk around unencumbered by other tiny little lives, but lately whenever I find myself in a lively part of whatever town we’re in I become very aware of my solo-ness in that moment. Back in the day when we were single and/or childless, traveling with groups of friends was the norm, and it was too easy to find people to go and check out some neighbourhood or head on over to the nearest street market or wherever to grab some grub and enjoy the atmosphere. With kids, it’s a different story – not worse, but different.

Which is why I was glad I was able to meet up one night with a friend from Hong Kong who was holidaying in Tokyo at the same time and who is also a father of two young kids. We met up outside Omoide Yokocho, a warren of tiny alleys in Shinjuku filled with tiny izakaya and yakitori joints with enough eating for only handful of customers at at time. The first place we ate at was tasty enough, but afterwards we ducked into a little place that seemed straight out of that Japanese TV show Midnight Diner. As we chowed down on gyoza and yakisoba, the cooks and wait staff joked and bantered with the increasingly tipsy regulars, and spilled beer was not an uncommon occurrence. It was everything I really wanted out of the experience. After catching up for a couple of hours, we parted ways and headed back out into the chilly Tokyo evening.

Final thoughts

I’ll never say no to spending a few days in Tokyo, even to chill and shop and take it easy. The sheer city-ness of it is the point. We didn’t “do” much in terms of the usual tourist sights and sounds, unless you count shopping at the various flagship stores in Ginza – Uniqlo, Muji, Daiso, and all the rest. For me, I was happy to eat some good food at Tsukiji, ride the metro with Miles, get some late night yakitori and gyoza in Shinjuku with a friend, and buy my latest stash of socks (Japanese convenience store socks are no joke). And that’s pretty much how 2024 wrapped up for me and mine – until next time, Japan!