Tokyo Comic Con 2019

Bob took a Saturday off work so we could check out Tokyo Comic Con.  Bob and I aren't that into it, but we do enjoy a good super hero movie and thought it would be fun to see what there is to see.  Boy was it crowded!  We had to wait in a pretty long line just to walk inside the building.  It was rainy and cold so we were happy when we made it inside.  Most of the line was under cover but we did walk outside a good 20 minutes in the rain and I was not prepared for that.

Right when we walked in everyone was handed a plastic bag with random papers and advertisements inside.  Each bag also contained one little toy, not a lego, but like a  lego figurine.  The kids were so happy about those toys they said that made whole trip was worth it.

 We just walked around for a couple hours and looked at the booths. 

There were a lot of people dressed up.  I'm pretty sure this was just a regular guy who posed for the picture.  He kind of came up to Leon and tried to get him to pose for me to take a picture.   It was a little strange but I guess when you invest in a costume like that you want to get some use out of it.

 There were tons of figurines to look at.

 Calista got to see Ariel again.

 On the way out we stopped at a convenience store to grab some lunch.  Calista actually grabbed a corn dog and ran out.  Luckily I noticed her and was able to add it onto our other items as we were checking out.

I'm glad we went to see what it was all about.  We probably won't go again though.

Unicornland and Cookie Time

We were in the area and decided to make, what I thought would be, a quick trip to Cookie Time.  This place is known for their cookie dough flavors they scoop out onto cones like ice cream.

It is always crowded in Harajuku.

 We stumbled upon a place called UnicornLand and had to check it out.

I paid the dollar to actually make the unicorns go around, probably not something I would have splurged on for the kids in my younger years.  haha.

 It was just this completely decked out little shop that mainly sold some sort of shake or smoothie with cotton candy on top.  I debated getting one but wanted to save room for Cookie Time, it is after all for serious cookie munchers.

Too bad for us there was a line out the door.  It wasn't crazy long, but they were crazy slow!  I couldn't believe how slow the line went.  I'm sure we were in line over an hour and a half.  It was hard with Calista getting everything.  There was not room for the stroller.  I had to feed Beatrix, and try to plug my phone into the wall somewhere so it wouldn't die before we knew the way home.  Not fun!

Calista made some friends.  She seriously played with these two Japanese women for about half an hour while I was in line.  It was a life saver.

It was around six when we got to the front of the line.  So this was our dinner!  The Harajuku milkshake.  It was basically an expensive strawberry shake with whip cream on top.  It didn't taste spectacular, pretty average.

But it sure did look fun.

We also got the biggest chocolate cookie dough creation they had.  This was good!

We couldn't finish it all after the shake.  It even has a mini cone inside the cone!  It was pretty cool. 

Was it worth the wait?  Probably if you don't have much else to do.  Not if you have been out all day with three children and one of them is a toddler who likes to take everything off the shelves while you are in line.

We got another picture on the way to the train station.  Still crowded.  Leon was so fun to hang out with.  We don't spend a lot of time together without the other kids and it was nice.  He just goes with the flow and I don't think he once complained or even asked for food, which seemed odd because we pretty much skipped dinner.

The hour and a half train ride home was pretty horrible.  Probably my worst yet.  It was very very packed.  Have you seen those videos of people pushing and cramming others onto the train?  It was that packed.  I didn't think we would fit on, but we did, and then 20 more people behind us also magically fit on.  The problem was we had a stroller.  Not friendly for crowds.  Calista was in the stroller and the people pushing on couldn't see the stroller that was preventing everyone from squishing properly.  The stroller even got half tipped over (it couldn't tip all the way because people were standing all around it) and started to cave in on Calista.  It was a little scary.  The people around us were trying to help hold it open but new people were pushing on making it super hard.  Both Calista and Beatrix were screaming.  After a couple stops we were able to get it straitened out and opened properly.  It was probably only 15 minutes of extremely crowded.  Remind me to never get on a train leaving the heart of Tokyo at 7pm again.

Dominique Ansel Bakery

We had some time after our pilgrimage and headed over to the Dominique Ansel Bakery in Tokyo.

I didn't know much about the bakery before we went but when I heard it was opened by the creator of the Cronut I couldn't pass up the chance to go.

Everything was so pretty!

I tried to get the kids to share their blooming hot chocolates but no one wanted to.  Leon choose the Mr. Robato donut instead.

In the end everyone was jealous of Leon.  The hot chocolates were pretty but they were made with very dark chocolate.  They were bitter and not at all what we were expecting.  After adding sugar they were more editable for us.  But I ended up throwing most of them away.

My frozen s'more was my favorite.

It was a marshmallow on the outside with chocolate graham cracker crumbs and ice cream on the inside.   Sooo good.  I already want another one.

I also got a orange creamsicle cronut to bring home.

Harajuku Part 2

Christmas is pretty different here in Japan than what we are used to.  The vast majority of the population are not Christian but they have adopted some of the holiday.  As far as I can tell they decorate for Christmas and are big into lights and that is it.  While exploring in Harajuku we found a pink Christmas tree.

Ever since the amazing cotton candy I got in the Philippines the kids have been dying to try it.  They have a very similar thing in Tokyo so we had to get it.

I don't think it was as good though, and it cost three times as much and we had to wait forever to get it.  Out of all the things we did that day this was the think I could have skipped.  The kids would not agree with me.

We made it just in time to eat at Kawaii Monster Cafe before they closed to get ready for the night crowed.

The decorations were stellar.

The food was even very pretty.

But I have to say, it was ridiculously expensive and no one really even liked the food.

It was good for a one time Japan experience, but I doubt I will ever go here again.  I think we spent over $200 and all left hungry.

We walked by a pet store on the way back to the train and had to stop and take a peek.  They had the cutest puppies!  This little guy was about $6,300.  Some cats were $8,000!  The Japanese people are really serious about their pets.