A day in Tokyo

The arcade before the city wakes up. At six in the morning the arcade is open, the boys are awake, and Tokyo is not. Dev takes them. Maya sleeps.

Morning

Jet lag will have everyone up before six on day two, so we plan around it instead of against it. Round1 in Ikebukuro never closes: train simulators, rhythm games, and claw machines full of plushes, every machine chiming at once under neon at six in the morning. It is deafening, which is the point. The 8-year-old has wanted this since the flight was booked. The 10-year-old stays in it because it is active, not a walking tour.

Then Akihabara, the one focused anime morning of the trip. Multi-floor goods stores, retro games, gachapon capsules clacking into the tray. The trick is that the hotel is five minutes from here, so this is the only long visit. Every other evening he gets a short lap on the way to dinner and works out what is worth taking home.

Afternoon

A short stop at Hie Shrine in Akasaka to bring the volume down. Then the Imperial Palace from the outside only: the bridge, the main grounds, done. We skip the long inner walk. The 10-year-old does not enjoy castle grounds, and we cut what will not land.

Taxis in Tokyo are affordable when four people share one. When someone is done walking, that is the answer.

Evening

Conveyor sushi at Sushiro. Plates slide past on the belt, the boys grab the ones with the cartoon labels, and the bill is a stack of colored dishes. Cheap, low pressure, and the kids control the pace. It is the first sushi of the trip on purpose. Maya and Dev travel to eat, and this is not their meal. It is the boys' meal. The parents get their sit-down counter later in the week, once we know what the boys will eat, and it is booked for four through Tabelog so nobody is turned away at the door.

Where you sleep

APA Hotel Akihabara Suehirocho Ekimae, two rooms so the family is not stacked on top of each other. There is an onsen in the building, hot enough to end the day properly, plus a laundry room, and the location is what makes the anime plan work.

We have stayed at the Shinjuku APA and used the onsen every day. For this family we pick the Akihabara one, for the five-minute walk.