Enoshima 江の島　is a tiny island that is part of Fujisawa City in Kanagawa.  From Tokyo it’s around a 2 hour drive.  We had a nice little day trip there with the kids.  They managed to climb up all the steps that lead to a small cave on the further end of the island.  For a small fee, there is an escalator that goes up to the top of a hill, where there is a lighthouse observatory deck. Otherwise, you can walk up to the temple (in honor of the goddess of music and the atrs) and continue up through a pretty garden and to the observatory. From that point, you can walk balk down towards the small cave. Entering the cave was a bit scary for the kids as it was rather dark. We learned that the waters surrounding Enoshima was believed to be the home of a giant dragon that ravaged the island, until the the goddess known as Benten married him.

Just be warned that if you take the kids down this way all the way to the cave, they will have to walk back up as there is no alternative way out. We had a few complaints going back up, but nothing that couldn’t be resolved with a frosty popsicle break at one of the many cafes overlooking the water.

Lunch was shirasu (teeny tiny white fish that you eat whole), which is popular there. Here is the large okosama lunch set (お子様ランチセト) kids plate with shirasu over rice and topped with a bit of ikura, ebi fry, french fries, sweet egg, yakult and jelly for dessert.

Hakone has been a popular weekend getaway spot for Tokyoites and for that reason, Yuki and I have never been there before. I happened to see a special deal for the Fujiya Hotel in Miyanoshita, so I insisted we check out this popular place at least once in our life. The place was one of the first hotels in that area to cater to foreign dignitaries and celebrities visiting Japan, from the early 1920′s. The hallway was adorned with lots of black and white photos of  their guests, including John Lennon, Charlie Chaplin, various royalty, etc.  The facade of the hotel is lovely and the rooms and surrounding gardens are quite spacious. Being in the Western-sized room I sort of felt transported back in time and imagined how it was for people back them to travel to Hakone from Tokyo or perhaps from Yokohama where the ships docked. I’m sure the Western environment was a relief for the tired, homesick guests. Parts of the hotel could really use some renovation, though. The layers of paint on the walls reminded me of old Manhattan and Brooklyn apartments, revealing the many years the building has been standing. Each room has onsen water running in the bath. I’m not sure about other rooms – the tub in our room was clean, again sort of reminded me of an old Brooklyn apartment, so it didn’t exactly make me feel like it was onsen water. The public bath is rather small as well, so not a place to go if you are looking for an onsen experience. I was disappointed that we couldn’t wear the yuaktas outside of our rooms…which is a pretty typical feature in other onsen hotels. Perhaps I’m being overly critical. The kids had a blast though. There is an indoor heated pool next to the public onsen area i

n the hotel. The French restaurant in the hotel seems quite popular for their curry, but unfortunately we didn’t get to sample the food there. It’s definitely an interesting place to visit and take some photos, but for an onsen experience in Hakone, there are probably better overnight options.

It was their first meeting but it didn’t take long for Ethan and Keiji to get acquainted with each other. Don’t they look rather suspicious in this photo?

Here is Myles at 1 week old! He made a rather surprise early appearance. But look how alert he is already.

We looked after these two little guys while in New York. To this day when Arisa sees a picture of a cat or any cat walking by, she calls it Steve or Bobby.

I never really went to a lot of malls before since I didn’t really live near any. But this time around we were on the Island for most our stay so we did lots of mall time. Roosevelt Field Mall is one of the bigger ones on the Island, but sometimes I find malls that are too big are just too much to handle.  The Mall at The Source on Old Country Road has an H&M with a kids section, and a pretty large Old Navy kids section. At H&M, where their regular prices are already quite reasonable, I found children’s clothes on sale for $1 or 100 yen. Old Navy is another place that always has a good sale on kids clothes.

If you don’t mind digging through racks, Century 21 isn’t a mall but a worthy department store to check out for deals. They carry a lot of designer and name brands at a discount, lots of children’s clothes, shoes and accessories. Last time I saw stuff there by Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, Juicy Couture Kids, Laura Ashley, Von Dutch, and also basics like Carter’s, Adidas, Puma, Nike. The branch in Long Island is a lot less hectic than the one in lower Manhattan but you need a car to get there.

There are a lot of nice children’s shops in The Westchester mall in White Plains and it’s pleasant shopping there – never really too crowded even on a weekend. Such pretty girls dresses and unique printed button down shirts for boys at Janie and Jack. Cute things too at Babystyle. You can also find Pottery Barn Kids and Crew Cuts (J.Crew’s children’s line). During sale seasons you can get some really good deals. I found sun hats at Babystyle marked down from about $30 to $3 or 300 yen and the Athlete’s Foot there had some kids winter crocs marked down 40%.

But for kids trainers I think nothing beats Fulton Mall in Brooklyn. It’s not really a mall in the sense that it’s one building with a bunch of stores. It’s really a long street full of shops lined up next to each other. Yuki also once found a tiny tuxedo for Keiji there for about $15 or 1500 yen.

Happy shopping

We were walking along Prince Street towards Bowery when we saw this bright sign. At the time I didn’t realize The New Museum of Contemporary Arts opened on Bowery. The sleek silver building stands out quite a bit in this neighborhood. We didn’t get a chance to check out the exhibits inside but I couldn’t help notice the sign which seemed to pop out of nowhere.

Does anyone in Tokyo know where I can find a sandwich plate like this Mexican pulled pork sandwich and preferably costing only around 700 yen? This is from a cute little Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn called Pequena. I don’t find many sandwich places around me. I sometimes miss even an average deli where I can just order any sandwich imaginable at the counter. Joy took us to a cute counter service restaurant in Tribeca called Pecan. They have some pretty tasty sandwiches there and it’s spacious enough to take the kids along. Other sandwich places I miss and would recommend to anyone going to NYC downtown area – a tiny Vietnamese shop on Grand Street, I think (I can only remember where it is if I’m walking) that has such awesome Vietnamese sandwiches for only $3! It’s worth looking for. But the Cuban sandwich from Cafe Habana is a good alternative if you can’t find it.