Spring Break in Japan: PUNCH + PADDY’S + FOOD

Happy TRAVEL TUESDAY, friends!

I have another little recap from our trip to Japan to share with you.

Don’t forget, so far, I’ve shared OUR ARRIVAL AND DAY ONE as well as OUR EPIC DAY IN KYOTO too!

After our crazy full and fun day in Kyoto, we decided to make this March 17th a bit more chill…

…everyone slept in a bit, Andrew, Smith and I worked out, I enjoyed a lovely coffee and read my book in the hotel restaurant.  That view, y’all.

How nice is this space?  It was the perfect slow morning to unwind after the really full day before.

What was the big thing on tap for us today?

Well, we have three (almost four) teenagers, so our day was built around a visit to see…Punch the Monkey.

If you have teens in your life, trust me, they know who Punch is.

If you don’t, please Google him.

Visiting a TikTok famous monkey was absolutely important to my children.  I mean, hello?  Why else would we visit Japan if not for this viral primate?! 😉

We knew the zoo where Punch lived was about an hour away, so around 10:00ish, we set out to visit him…

…we took an Uber to his zoo for the big day.

Let’s take a second to talk about Ubers in Tokyo.   You guys, they were SO NICE.  We didn’t get inside a single Uber that wasn’t spotless, smelled lovely and driven by someone wearing a full suit and tie.  The genuine pride they take in their profession and service was absolutely evident.  Using our Uber app was easy, vans that sat six were plentiful, and we had ZERO issues any time we hopped in one.  I’ve never had an Uber experience as wonderful as we did in Japan.

Okay…back to Punch.

The Uber dropped us off at the front of the zoo and this is where we realized that…

…we weren’t the only ones interested in seeing Punch.  This was the line to get inside.  We had checked beforehand and even asked our hotel concierge, but it didn’t seem like you could buy tickets in advance, so we were prepared to wait.  This line to buy tickets to enter the zoo really only ended up taking about 20ish minutes or so…

…and as you can see, we were so happy to wait 🙂 .

Okay, so this is not the “main” Tokyo zoo.  This is a smaller one.  What happens when the whole world wants to visit a viral orphaned monkey at a small-ish zoo?

This…

…it was bananas.

Which makes sense because we were looking at monkeys.

Soooo…

…I personally never got closer than this and never saw Punch with my own eyes.  I saw a lot of other monkeys who had climbed up high, but not necessarily Punch (but let’s be real, they all looked the same to me, so maybe I saw him up there?).

There are advantages to being Smith and Andrew.  Ha!  I went to the back and stood on a retaining wall and this was my view.  Poor Mades down there.

Smith was able to take these pics…

…with his arm in the air, he took a pic of the famous stuffed monkey (see it) and a monkey that was near it (possibly Punch?)…

I mean, some days your life makes sense and other days you’re in Tokyo standing on a retaining wall trying to get a photo of a monkey and his stuffed animal.

When your dad is 6’5″ the view is better from up top.

Smith got this photo too 🙂 .

So, our morning consisted of waiting in line to buy tickets to stand behind a monkey enclosure to see pictures on Smith’s phone.

But you know what?  MY KIDS THOUGHT IT WAS AMAZING.

They could not wait to tell their friends.

Best. Day. Ever.

Hahahahahaha!

Speaking of the best day ever, this Irish girl needed some Ireland on her March 17th, so after Ubering back into Tokyo, we went to have lunch…

…at an Irish Pub 🙂 .

Yes.

In Tokyo.

It was March 17th, y’all!

This pub was SO FESTIVE and the food was delicious!

We had fish and ships and a beef pie and drank Jameson and loved every minute of it.

After the pub, we strolled our way around a bit and then headed back to the hotel.

That evening, we had a food tour scheduled to visit and enjoy the Yurakucho Station Alley for dinner.

I love food tours for so many reasons.

First, you eat at places that are traditionally not for tourists.  You have guides that take you to spots that are more off the beaten path and typically for locals.  The second reason I love them is that because you’re with a guide, it’s easier to understand the menu, know what to order, try new foods that you normally wouldn’t order, etc.  Along the way, the guides also share information on the history of that area, the people, traditions, etc.  Andrew and I try and make food tours a part of all of our vacations.  It’s a fun way to see, eat and experience a different side of your destination.

On this evening, our driver met us at the hotel for a four hour dinner tour…

…the tour I picked focused on the Yurakucho Station Alley area which was only about 15 minutes from our hotel by car.

This was our first stop.  She’s explaining the symbols to the kiddos before we head inside.

We tried so many different things at this place.  The iPad on the table was their menu, and I feel like we ordered it all…

When we left this restaurant, we took a 10 minute walk across the neighborhood…

…everything in this district was so bright and colorful.  I loved it!

Here are some pics…

I sure do love being with my family.

Our next spot to stop was in this little alley…

…we were heading in here to enjoy more of our dinner tour…

We had two tables and on each one, we selected our meat and grilled it up ourselves right on the table…

This was certainly a fun experience!  We had beef and pork…

It was a fun, interactive, experience.

We headed out for our final stop…

…it was time for a traditional Japanese dessert…

…which was this little pastry thing with cream on the inside.

We ordered and then watched them make ours through the window…

…the outside tasted like a waffle cone and the inside was like a filled cream donut.  Delicious.

And that wrapped up our day!

A little PUNCH + ST. PADDY’S DAY + DINNER FOOD TOUR for the win in Tokyo 🙂 .

Contact MY TRAVEL AGENCY if you’re ready to head out and explore too.  We would LOVE to help you with your vacation planning.

I have a DECADENT EASTER DESSERT for you today too 🙂 .

I’ll see you in April, friends. xx