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Theresa O’Connor / Treasa Ní Chonchúir

A large, blue Loch Ness Monster-or-maybe-Brontosaurus-looking monster with a yellow mohawk stands in front of a wooded river valley.
I’m on Team Edward, obvi.

Moominvalley Park, 飯能 (Hannō)

Part of our

We left reluctantly—it’s truly a lovely city, and one of my happy places—but were excited for the second leg of our trip.

We took のぞみNozomi 80 to 品川駅Shinagawa Station, and then the 山手線Yamanote Line to 池袋駅Ikebukuro Station, where we met up with Mike, Naoko, and their kids. Then we all went on a mini vacation-within-our-vacation to Moominvalley Park in Hanno, a city in 埼玉県Saitama Prefecture. The theme park is inside Metsä, a hard-to-describe Nordic-themed vacation spot.

Two middle-aged people are sitting next to each other. They’re both smiling at the camera.
It’s always lovely to see Mike.

Zen, Erin, and Mui are all very close in age to one another, and they pretty quickly became friends. And Mila, Mike and Nao’s youngest, really took a shine to Erin too. It was so fun to watch the four of them navigate language barriers while getting to know each other.

Four children sit together, two per row, on a bus.

We stayed in two different Japanese-style hotels while there. At the first one, Erin had her own room. All three of us shared a tatami room and slept on 布団futon at the second one.

A hotel room with a tatami mat floor. There are three futons on the floor.

We spent a whole day at the park. We saw a short play, we toured a life-size Moominhouse, the kids played in a ball pit, and Mila-chan met one of the Moomins. Zen and EJ spent a bunch of time exploring the small stream that runs through the park; unfortunately, Erin fell into the water near the end of our visit, which soured her a bit for the rest of the evening.

Our return to the bus was slower than our walk to the park in the morning—everybody was a bit tired after a long day of fun.

Three adults and four children walk along a paved path among trees decorated with colorful balloons. Some are holding hands. Everybody looks a bit tired.

We had planned to go on some nice hikes on the second day, but it was very rainy. So, instead, we headed to 東京あそびマーレTokyo Asobi Mare, an extensive indoor play facility, and the kids had an absolute ball. (The parents, somewhat less so.)

Two children play in a pool full of white, blue, and green balls. One is lying face-down, while the other is kneeling.
A child sits on a large unicorn riding toy.
A smiling girl holds a bottle of flavored iced tea next to her head.
This is the best tea ever!!!

There was even a cold room with a bunch of snow to play in!

Two crouching children dig in the snow with green plastic shovels.

Erin’s really gotten into Pokémon lately, and had a lot of fun playing a Pokémon arcade game with Mila-chan (with some help from Mike).

Erin did surprisingly well with various meals along the way, and throughout the trip for that matter. She was game to try a lot of different Japanese foods, though she did refuse some things.

A tray bears many small plates and bowls of food. Salad, soup, rice, vegetables, and fish dishes are all visible.

Then it was back to Tokyo for the last leg of our trip.