Day 2 in Tokyo. I have had the Sumida River Boat outing on my last on my last 3 trips to Tokyo and never got around to doing it. This time, we decided we just had to try it and it sounded like an easy relaxing way to spend a day with jetlagged kids.
Hama Rikyu Gardens was one of the stops of the river cruise and I knew exactly where that was; so we decided to catch the river boat from the gardens. From our service apartment in Roppongi, we took the Oedo line to Shiodome station, four stops away from Roppongi. From the station, 5-10 minute walk takes you to the Hama Rikyu Gardens. What I did not know was that you had to pay the entrance fee to the Gardens in order to catch the river boat from the Hama Rikyu pier. The Gardens are worth the admission price of JPY300 and worth the detour. We opted to miss the 10:30am boat and caught the next boat to Asakusa at 11:15am.
We had a wonderful time strolling through the gardens and the girls had fun trying to catch the many beautiful butterflies that were surprisingly abundant. (I definitely don’t see this many butterflies in the Bay Area.) Although short on time, we had to have green tea at the tea house in the middle of the tidal pond. The setting is gorgeous and serene. The green tea with sweet costs JPY500 per person. My older girl did not want any part of the green tea break but my 5 year old downed the whole bowl of green tea. The tea is not sweet, in fact it is a bit bitter so I was very surprised to see an empty large! bowl in front of my youngest. It’s a beautiful experience and we did not have enough time to truly appreciate it. With two kids in tow, I did not want to miss the 11:15 boat since the cruise to Asakusa takes 45minutes and missing it would mean a late lunch and a potential meltdown on my hands.
The boat ride costs JPY 720 for an adult and I highly recommend taking it. Our boat was large and comfortable. The air was refreshing and the scenery interesting…no, it is not picturesque like the canal cruise in Amsterdam or the Seine River Cruise but it is still really enjoyable. Our whole family had a wonderful time.
We landed right by the train station in Asakusa and very close to Sensoji temple with its famous gate with the large red lantern. After a very mediocre and expensive lunch of soba nearby we made our way to the temple. The temple may be the main attraction for most, but for our family, the shops along the way proved to be our main focus. We sampled many traditional Japanese snacks and the girls stopped to admire the souvenirs at nearly all the stores!
There is an old amusement park nearby which might be a fun stop for families with young children. We checked it out from the entrance and decided against it since the girls were tired but it may be worth a side trip for those with excess energy to burn.
http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_04.html
http://www.suijobus.co.jp/cruise/index.html
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/tokyo/asakusa.html
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