海角大神

Tokyo with a family: Big sights, big flavors, and a celebration of travel

A tiny, 7-year-old Japanese girl approaches my family in Tokyo鈥檚 busy Shibuya Crossing by herself. As my wife and I wonder where her parents are, she politely asks, 鈥淓xcuse me. I鈥檓 doing a summer project for school. Can I interview you for it?鈥�

We shoot furtive glances at the little girl, searching for any nearby adult. As American parents, we are not used to the autonomy that Japanese children have. When her mother walks over to us, it eases our fears. It turns out that the girl wants to interview the closest person to her age and her size: my 9-year-old daughter.

My wife is from the United States鈥� biggest city, New York, but she wasn鈥檛 ready for the vastness of Tokyo. My son had seen enough YouTube clips online to pique the culinary palate of a sixth grader. My daughter was figuring out what she wanted to get out of the trip, but she was tickled by meeting a new friend and eager to be interviewed.

After five questions 鈥� the two most burning ones were what a typical breakfast is in the U.S. (pancakes) and what fruit my daughter likes (strawberries) 鈥� the interview was over. We took pictures of the unlikely pair outside Shibuya Station. That memory sticks out after a recent 11-day trip to Japan鈥檚 capital city for a work assignment. I brought my wife, son, and daughter with me.

My first impression of Tokyo was that I loved that it鈥檚 a real metropolis. The hum of constant subway trains was like a baseline in a song for me. Beautiful faces were everywhere and so were the lights that came along with 37 million people.

Everyone was polite on trains, which I am not used to. They were quiet, and people didn鈥檛 mind sitting next to each other. Small children travel by themselves and no one bothered or babied or wondered whether they were lost. People seemed genuinely nice. The heat was oppressive, but we survived it.

The endless sea of skyscrapers fed my city-boy appetite. I loved the view from atop the Tokyo Metropolitan building. Inside, spectators took turns playing a yellow piano in the middle of the floor while I marveled at the buildings and green space. Japan lived up to its reputation for creative technology, with a digital art museum and a 65-foot-tall Unicorn Gundam robot in Odaiba that lit up, played music, and moved. (Mosquitos at its feet made my legs feel like they were on fire.)

I ate ramen multiple times, including at one place in the Harajuku neighborhood where I had to cook my own bowl, which made me wonder why I had to pay for it. I watched sushi chefs ball rice in their hands and place just the right amount into a form before they sliced perfect cuts of horse mackerel, tuna, red snapper, amberjack, and salmon. It was awe-inspiring. With small brush strokes, the chefs added special sauces on top of the fish.

I even tried uni, which is sea urchin. A colleague who was my lunch date told me that it is considered a delicacy and an acquired taste. I don鈥檛 think I will acquire any more of it, but it was worth it for the experience of trying something that Japanese people treasure.

Returning to the U.S., a co-worker asked what the best part about visiting Tokyo was. At first, I drew a blank. When I thought about it more, the true answer was traveling there with my family.

From the moment I told my kids that we were going to Japan, they bubbled with excitement. They wondered how it would look, what the food would taste like, and where they would sit on the plane ride across the ocean. I tried to share some of the language with them, like how to say hello, goodbye, and other greetings. The night I shared this, my daughter, in an attempt to practice what she鈥檇 just heard, smiled, waved her hand at me before climbing the stairs, and said, 鈥淎ll right. Saratoga,鈥� in an attempt to say聽"say艒nara." My wife and I chuckled hard after she鈥檇 gone upstairs.

In Japan, my son loved the food, even at 7-11, which is totally different from the ones in the States. He learned about dragons guarding Sens艒-ji Temple from our cool tour guide, named Yoyo. We saw a sumo wrestling demonstration that my son absolutely loved. He loudly cheered the wrestlers on. We found playgrounds in the stifling heat where my kids met Japanese friends. It all filled my heart.

I visited Japan to write about Black male college students from the U.S. studying abroad. It was always a regret of mine not to have done something similar. I have spent my adult life crossing oceans to learn, grow, and experience new things. 鈥淧riceless鈥� and 鈥渟piritual鈥� are words that immediately come to mind when reflecting on my experiences. That is what I want my kids to have. I want to foster a love of exploration and learning in them early, in hopes that that love will travel throughout their lives with them. The world is a beautiful place. This year was Tokyo with me. Their next stop? Wherever their hearts and minds desire.