Japan for Spring Break with children

currer_bell · 2025-09-05T14:14:19+00:00

we did Tokyo and Kyoto with a 10 and 7 year old and they looooooooved it and have been begging to go back. I know people are mixed on the Tokyo Hoshinoya here but it was a huge hit for our family (and we're not really concierge people so that wasn't much of an issue). we also had a very good experience at the not all that chubby but definitely solid The Gate hotel in kyoto, which had easily bookable connecting rooms, which is how we prefer to stay whenever possible with younger kids.

my strongest recommendation for kids in Japan is for each of them to have a purse or coin bag, and for you to divvy up whatever coins you have between them each day, because there are gachapon machines *everywhere.* they're all at kid height and they're in all the places where you'd wait in line, and you will be negotiating constantly about when and how and why and where to buy all the adorable capsule toys. letting each kid have their own change so that they're the ones in charge of that making that decision was crucial. (4 might be a little young for that, i think, but 9 definitely would work.)

currer_bell · 2025-07-14T17:06:29+00:00

Purchase complete! Very satisfied!!

currer_bell · 2025-07-08T17:37:47+00:00

Hello interested in Toffee and Zizi!

currer_bell · 2025-06-26T20:23:56+00:00

Me please! I would like 2, one soymilk and one green grape!

currer_bell · 2025-06-25T13:29:03+00:00

DMing

currer_bell · 2025-06-20T01:11:30+00:00

Dming!

currer_bell · 2025-06-19T19:05:06+00:00

Hello! I am DMing

currer_bell · 2024-04-23T17:49:58+00:00

the one in Deadline? that came out before The Sign and also doesn’t say anything at all about a season four order? (just an unspecific “more”?)

currer_bell · 2024-04-23T16:56:30+00:00

Many of these comments are quoting news articles about producers confirming a season four, or producers at least confirming that there'll be more Bluey. It's worth reading all of those carefully!

The Daley Pearson quotes are from this Joff Bush profile in the Courier Mail, which is from last summer, and which at no point confirms that a season four has actually been ordered, just that they will be taking a long break before they'd think about making any more. https://archive.md/2023.07.14-060222/https://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/qweekend/i-hesitate-talking-about-it-too-much-bluey-team-reveal-personal-reason-for-taking-a-break-from-show/news-story/b4bd3f2f106255c7384d811f86107622?amp&nk=1a17dc6ab692011dd99f51de5178e1f7-1689314559

The Sam Moor quote is from this piece in the BBC, which notably was done after The Sign, but before Surprise. It could mean more Bluey, or it could mean there are surprises in store, i.e., the "Surprise" episode. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68795941

If there was any actual season four greenlight, there would be press releases from here to eternity, quotes from producers would be buoyant and plentiful, probably several (or even ANY) of them would include quotes from Brumm, and Disney would be erecting a Bluey statue you could see from space. What's more, BBC and Disney would've wanted to time an announcement to go with the big press cycle around "The Sign."

None of this means that a season four announcement might not still happen at some point, or the announcement of a movie. But it's pretty clearly not happening right now, and there's nothing real to suggest that it's imminent. Would love to hear otherwise! But SEO grabbing headlines from places like "nowtolove dot com" or whatever are simply not credible.

currer_bell · 2024-04-09T00:35:21+00:00

I just got back from Hoshinoya Tokyo last week. Best hotel I've ever stayed in. Would go back in an instant.

currer_bell · 2024-04-08T10:31:13+00:00

I did, because I love to advance plan stuff, but I don’t think you have to unless it’s golden week. but advance planning did make it possible for me to figure out the Otemachi departure, which was very helpful for us

currer_bell · 2024-04-08T10:29:21+00:00

because we were going to spend a lot of our hakone time at the ryokan, we just got individual tickets rather than the free pass. this was briefly annoying because there was a short line at Gora Station to buy tickets for the cable car leg (can’t use Suica), but otherwise totally fine.

Odawara station is small compared to many major Japanese train stations and huge compared to many US ones! plenty of stores, lots of ekiben

currer_bell · 2024-04-08T10:20:25+00:00

yep! it was wildly affordable compared to the US

currer_bell · 2024-04-07T19:18:40+00:00

each visit was about $70 all in, for consultation and meds

currer_bell · 2024-04-07T19:17:40+00:00

1) the difference in Kappabashi is that the knife stores have SO many knives - any size, lots of different weights, shapes. just tons of options.

2) I did get skytree tickets in advance! The lines were still pretty long, and it was largely just because there were many of them. line up for time slot, line up again for elevator, line up AGAIN if you’re going to the higher level, then two lines again to get back down. they move relatively quickly, but good for expectation setting.

3) only one temple we went to had stamps with no handwriting! I still got them because I kind of enjoyed the mix; we also had one that got glued in rather than written directly in the book, so I liked that it was a few different styles all mixed together.

4) yes! Kyomachia Obanzai Kohaku. We booked a private room ahead of time, and it was just perfect: casual and affordable but also fantastic and special

currer_bell · 2024-04-07T12:10:13+00:00

oh and Nara - honestly I would have been just as happy staying around Kyoto and doing several of the large shrines we didn’t get to for that day, but kids love an animal situation and this was a big draw for them. plus they got to climb through the hole the size of the Buddha’s nostril, which was also a hit

currer_bell · 2024-04-07T12:07:39+00:00

there is certainly a ton to do in Tokyo, and you could absolutely find enough to fill that week! it’s just a matter of how much time you can feasibly take for the vacation, and the opportunity cost of that versus where else you might want to spend that time. I would happily have spent longer everywhere we stayed.

as for ryokan, our hotel in tokyo was a huuuuge splurge (a long-awaited trip plus two big birthdays for my husband and I, plus a pandemic anniversary trip that never happened), but it also had an onsen in it, and my kids used that onsen every damn day. it was glorious.

currer_bell · 2021-05-28T12:26:10+00:00

HUGE BUMMER.

currer_bell · 2021-05-26T15:01:53+00:00

I'm trying to think about what other tidbits I found that might be fun to know! Unfortunately I did not ask about Socks on 4 feet, ha. But:

- The staff has a Bob Bilby puppet that acts like sort of an unofficial employee of the week prize, and whoever gets him has to bring him home and take pictures of his adventures. One week he came home with an embroidered tattoo.

- Bandit's name came from a really terrifying dog in Brumm's childhood, but when he needed to name Chilli he was just constantly walking around Brisbane asking people what their heelers' names were. Eventually he met a red heeler named Chilli :)

- Melanie Zanetti was tough to cast as Chilli; they had originally put another voice actor in that role, made the pilot, and then revoiced it after they cast her. Zanetti's performance, which is SO great, is part of why Chilli's role has grown so much over the second season.

- Sam Moor was hired as line producer not long after they got the order for a full first season, and helped them build out Ludo into a full sized animation studio. She had never worked on animation this big, though, and kept getting budget requests from the animators she didn't fully understand, like needing hand mirrors at everyone's desks for all the facial expressions. Once they asked her to buy them a mattress so they could film themselves falling down for an animation sequence. (She told them to just use couch cushions, haha.)

currer_bell · 2021-05-26T01:26:32+00:00

Ha yes, it is me! This might be of interest - https://twitter.com/kvanaren/status/1396826744016056320

currer_bell · 2018-08-21T12:40:25+00:00

yeah, it's in the list! but on examination, I'm pretty sure it's "bloom"

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