this ain’t your typical neighborhood 7-11

i really don’t know if it was because our flights were pretty well-timed or if that flykitt really worked, but getting up and out for our first morning in japan was easy peasy.  we were excited to get out and wander around the area, and headed out as soon as we could get ready.

one of the things we’d been looking forward to the most was visiting a konbini - japanese convenience stores are well known for the variety of delicious fresh grab-and-go food.  we’d watched countless instagram videos that showcased all kinds of fun stuff like sandwiches, pastries, sushi, onigiri.  and lucky for us, there was a 7-11 right around the corner.

7-11 in japan is nothing like the ones we have at home.  here, they’re stocked with lots of good stuff that’s delivered from local vendors several times a day to make sure that everything is fresh.  and some of them have sitting areas so that you can stop and eat your food before you leave the store.  this is particularly helpful because finding trash cans on the streets is next to impossible, plus it’s not cool to eat and walk at the same time.  you’re expected to eat your food and dispose of your trash at the konbini or take it with you till you get back home and throw it away there.  and so after we picked out a few things we walked back to the hotel to eat it.  the bean also used one of the breakfast coupons we’d been given at check-in to sample the goods at the buffet.

once we were done eating we headed back out to walk around and check out the area.  as it turned out, we were just down the street from where all the luxury shops were located.

and then we found it:  don quijote (“donki”), japan’s famous department store.  it wasn’t too crowded yet, and we spent a good amount of time wandering the floors browsing through everything from snacks to beauty products and even a display of preloved louis vuitton bags.

i was super amused to turn the corner and find myself staring at a huge display of sexy cosplay outfits.

we’d filled a whole bag with all kinds of fun stuff that we were excited to take home and share with the old lady, and took it back to the hotel so we didn’t have to lug it around the rest of the day.  on our way back, the bean stopped at one of the vending machines to grab something to drink.  it was so cheap - 160 yen for a full-sized drink, which is right around a dollar and some change.

by then, we were feeling brave enough to hop onto the train to get to yokohama for the activity we had planned for that day.  before leaving home, we’d downloaded suica cards onto our phones, so that we didn’t have to deal with buying tickets.  and google maps proved to be our best friend, because it gave us very clear instructions on which trains to take and where to board them from.

the train station in yokohama was so cool - it was huge, clean, and there were lots of shops and restaurants to browse through.  we stopped for another konbini snack at 7-11.  honestly, we could have eaten at konbinis for all of our meals.

we even passed a disney store, but since we were going to be at the tokyo disney resort in a few days we didn’t go inside (yes, i do regret it).

but when we saw the snoopy town shop, i knew we had to stop in. our original itinerary for the trip included a trip to the snoopy museum towards the end of our trip, but we’d made a few changes and weren’t going to make it there after all.  

when we finally exited the train station, we found ourselves right across the street from an amusement park.

i don’t know how, but i managed not to take any pictures as we walked through it.  it did seem like it was geared towards much younger kids though, and so we skipped most of it.  there was one building that was filled with arcade games and photo booths, and i somehow talked the bean into stopping in one of the k-pop themed ones to take these ridiculous photos:

we’d timed it pretty well because by the time we were done there, we had just enough time to walk over to the museum for our timed tickets.

inside it was clean, modern and minimalistic.

the instant noodles history cube was really cool.  the walls in this room were covered with so many different packages of instant noodles, all arranged in order of when they were invented.

an extensive exhibit shared the story of momofuku ando, the inventor of instant noodles.  and i was stupidly stoked to learn that he invented them on the very day i was born.  

yup, cup noodles and i share a birthday.  aren’t you jealous?

and then it was time to check in for our chicken ramen factory experience.  we’d scored tickets for the last one of the day, and over the next 90 minutes we wore these aprons and bandanas over our hair and made our very own packet of instant chicken ramen from scratch.  we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the process, but we got to mix and roll and cut the noodles before they were flash-fried, seasoned and packaged for us to take home.

after that, we squeezed in a visit to the “my cup noodles factory,” where we got to decorate our cups and customize our instant noodles with flavors and toppings before the tops were sealed and packaged for us to take home.

we had just enough time to browse through the last two floors to see what was up there before the museum closed.  there was an indoor playground:

and a restaurant that we were a little sad to be too late to try out.

we did have a pretty nice view when we stepped outside:

and then we stopped for another drink on our way back to the train station.

as we walked through the station, we decided to stop in this roast beef restaurant and enjoyed these most delicious bowls that cost us less than $20 (for both!).

for our ride back home, we rode in one of the “women only” trains.  japan is a really safe country to travel through, but i appreciated having this option since it was only our first full day there and it was already late and dark outside.

also, this is when the bean learned that their mother is shit when it comes to directions.  heh.  when we got off the train, we were somehow on the opposite side of where we’d boarded earlier that day and i could not figure out how to get back to the hotel.  even google maps wasn’t helping me and the bean ended up having to navigate and get us back to where we needed to go.  unfortunately for my child, this scenario repeated itself several times over the course of the next two weeks.  oops.

but hey - we’d had a great day and got to see and do all kinds of fun stuff.  and it was only day one!  so much more to look forward to.