Tokyo isn't for Cheapskates

The Tama Zoo. Another little train ride away from a really cool destination...

Mia and Anthony have fun while walking together:

The Entrance to the Zoo and Michael in the foreground....nice plaid shirt, you from Michigan?


Monkey's on overhead ropes. One adult had two babies firmly attached as she swung back and forth across the ropes.

Your wallet will certainly take a hit here in Tokyo. Some things are wicked expensive, some things are relatively cheap, but you pretty much end up spending money each and every day; it's almost hard not to. For starters, you pay to take the subway or the train (haven't figured out the difference in those two yet, perhaps we've only ever taken the subway?); food is more expensive at the grocery store than at a restaurant, so we eat out a lot. Some of the food we've eaten on the run (it's hard to sit in a restaurant with 4 adults and 3 kids) and that's relatively inexpensive (up tp $5 maybe, some as cheap as $1.50 for the onigiri). A container of apple juice is about $4 and gas is around $4/gal. A 'loaf' of bread (really about 8 pieces) is about $4 also. The fruit is outrageous; $5 for a package of grapes, bananas are about $1/lb, and so it goes . . .
Yesterday we went to the Tama Zoo and the tickets were incredibly inexpensive. 600 yen (about $4.80) for adults, kids free. I think the Detroit Zoo is about $24.00 for adults and an additional charge for kids. I could be wrong, but I know it's expensive to the point we only go once or twice every couple of years. I got Anthony a t-shirt for 1800 yen, which is about $15.00, and that seemed really expensive. Even the snack shop was pretty inexpensive. We ordered food for all of us (except Michael, he's still on a liquid diet) and the total came to around $25.00 (including beer). We had soba noodles wrapped in a scrambled egg (it was really good, even if it doesn't sound like it) that Anthony, Emilia and Andrew gobbled up; Deanna had some sort of rice with clams and other stuff wrapped in a banana leaf; Todd had a 'hot dog' with some sort of curry sauce and I think what may have been onions and he really liked that.


It seems like I say "some sort of . . . ." when talking about food, but the food is really different here. Last night Todd and I went for Ramen noodles at this little place down the street. It's not an american restaurant, but a traditional Japanese noodle restaurant, (actually, I think it was Chinese). We figured our way through the menu (fortunately there were only like three choices) and then covertly watched others eating so we could figure it out. And, yes, slurping is huge here, something to do with cooling the liquids and letting the smell/taste really get to your taste buds. Whatever, it's weird to do in public! The noodles (and pork strips) were awesome, but way too much to eat for just one person. Very unusual, since it seems like most of the other servings would be considered 'child portions' in the US.
We stopped at Starbucks when we were in Kyoto at a shopping center called a Porta. It's an underground mall-type thing where they had shops and restaurants alike. Anyway, at the Starbucks Todd ordered a small Mocha Frappachino (sp?) and it was REALLY a small size! How refreshing! Maybe there's a reason that the US has a higher rate of overweight people than practically anywhere else?
Anyway, Todd, Deanna and Andrew went out for bagels and pastries this morning (the bagels are not quite the same as the bagels at home, but they were really good!). Anthony and Emilia split a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast; Andrew had some sort of french toast thing; and Michael had liquified oatmeal. He said it was good. I'll take his word on that.