Our latest adventure

Today we found yet another adventure that we discovered last time we lived in Tokyo. Today we had no sport or swimming classes to attend so we'd planned to go exploring - preferably in a big park. However the weather has turned horrible. Cold and wet. I'm told there is a typhoon, but the temperatures seem about 10 degrees too cold for a typhoon!

So instead we took the train into Ikebukuro, the hub from which our train-line extends. It is one of the large city-hubs that exist in Tokyo.

Having taken a long time getting moving this morning (can't imagine why!), we arrived in time for an early lunch. Subway is one of our favourite take-away joints. It reminds us of the days when we were a couple. In Australia they are on every street corner and small town, now, it seems. There are very few in the part of Japan we inhabit. So this is a rare treat, though ordering sandwiches for three boys plus ourselves is not quite as easy as doing it for a couple.

Subway is in a large complex called "Sunshine 60". (It is a building with 60 floors, though not all of them are shopping). On a couple of floors below Subway was a fountain and an intriguing string quartet making beautiful music on see-through instruments, even if we only heard their warm-up. No idea how it all worked, but there were heaps of wires around. It can't have been easy to play with the loud fountain behind them.

Then we went to the object of our trip - Amlux. The name is a composite word for Automobile and Luxe combined. The English brochure says, "It represents to have cars looked at comfortably in a luxurious atmosphere."


And indeed it is a luxurious atmosphere. Unlike any car display place I've ever been in. It is like a museum of current auto locomotion. There are more than 70 current model cars in this 5 storey place. You and your kids are free to get in and out of almost all of them. The staff are very relaxed. Not at all trying to sell you anything. If you want to know something, though, they'll gladly tell you. If you don't they leave you alone. Oh, and they have nice toilets (if you're American read "bathrooms") too!

Addition to that is a number of exhibits. Safety displays, driving simulators etc. And in the basement there is a kid-orientated display that changes regularly, like a museum. Today there was a robot with a trumpet (though we didn't see it at work), a golf putting area, Wii-like golf area, a safety-story being told for littlies and some kami-nendo (paper play dough) that the kids could use to make models.

The picture with the driving seats and small screens it is a driving simulator. It is very patient as you drive around a city course, trying not to have lots of crashes! After a crash though, it simply displays a single screen ad and then you are back on the course ready to go again (no dents).

Needless to say the boys love it! They were 'driving' in one of these cars that had a navigation computer (what kind of place lets kids play with these?) when I think I heard them say, as they pointed at the map, "That's where the bad guys are, let's go this way so we can get them."


In another car, one boy was 'driving' another was in the front passenger seat and the eldest was in the back seat. I suggested to them that we had a "mummy, daddy and boy" scenario. Vehement denials all round on that one!

After Amlux we headed home, via a bakery for a snack. I have to say I am slightly bemused at the Halloween fever that seems to have taken over Japan. I'd say most Japanese haven't a clue about what it is, except that various commercial venues display decorations like this one. There also seems to be a pumpkin theme running through it, especially for eateries. At my gym the other day I was surprised to see the trainers wearing comical Halloween headgear - bright orange hats or hair bands. 


I cannot say I've enjoyed the day, however delightful our destinations were. Our boys were terrible. Their behaviour was deplorable at times. Especially on the trains and at home. They just couldn't stop niggling, wrestling, annoying and disobeying, especially our 11 y.o.; which was very disappointing. But at least we didn't lose him like we did last time we went to Amlux! 


David and I finished the day on our own with ice-cream and warm brownies and a hilarious episode of M*A*S*H. That helps repair some of the emotional damage done by ungrateful children, that's for sure.