Midtown

A few months back we had a nice day out that I never got around to sharing, so before I completely forget:

On a nice day in early October we went to Tokyo Midtown in search of the baby swing rumoured to be there. And we found it, sort of, in the park (Hinokocho Koen) to the northeast of Midtown. It's kind of half art instillation and half swing set, with a few regular swings and one toddler swing.

 

It's not really a baby swing though, and any kid big enough not to sit snugly in the weirdly designed seat is probably big enough to use a regular swing.

Just look how fun this swing is. Also, the whole swing set is really low and obviously parents have bumped their heads on the top bar, so on one side someone has slapped some ugly yellow and black warning tape. Not the side visible to most of the park though- wouldn't want to interfere with art. How the designers didn't anticipate bumped heads is beyond me, but it does seem to be a tradition in Japan for things to be designed by people who have never used them (thus my useless washing machine, obviously designed by a man who has never done laundry). End of rant, thank you.

We did have fun just hanging out on the lawn though. I don't know if it's on purpose, but most of the lawn is clover rather than grass, which is totally OK. The park is nice, and the other playground equipment looks OK, and there's a little Japanese style pond and garden and it's just a nice place to hang out.

We didn't find any four-leaved clovers though.

We had lunch at Union Square Tokyo, which I'd been wanting to check out since it opened a few years ago. They have a really nice patio, which faced the park and was spacious and had a few other families, which made us feel a bit relieved about bringing a baby to a nice place, but he was an angel.

I had pasta with oyster cream sauce, which was very nice, but Hideaki won for best order:

A nice burger, juicy and perfectly done, with good crispy fries. We also had some good wine, and the waitress fussed over Shuma, and combined with the nice weather and atmosphere it was a really really nice lunch. We've been back once and were kind of disappointed (especially since they close their patio at the beginning of November, regardless of the weather) but that lunch, and the whole day, was wonderful.

Comments

[Michael]

The robot playground at Roppongi Hills is a lot more fun than Midtown's. However, you'll probably need to wait until Shuma is a little older to take advantage of all the slides at that park.

However, Midtown has the advantage in the summer for toddlers. There is a small water play area that was probably already turned off when you visited.

[David]

Looks like a lot of fun. I only got to take my daughter into Ginza 4-chome after she had her shots. Before that, Tokyo was off limits. It looks like we missed out. We spent most of our trips away in Kamakura, Urayasu (Disney) and we even went to Tochigi once.

[Amy]

Thanks Micheal. I've heard of the RH robot playground but yeah, I'm waiting until the little guy is a bit older. I didn't know about the water play area at Midtown. I'll look for it next summer (probably open just July and Aug).

David, were you worried about her catching something in Tokyo?

[Neroli]

HI (long time stalker here)
I used to take my son to the swings in hinokicho (?) park, behind Aiiku hospital - near National Azabu (if it is still there). Have been meaning to tell you about them in case you haven't found them yet. I think there were two toddler swings.
I miss Tokyo!

[Wendy]

Hi Amy! I have always been in love w/ your blog! You have such a beautiful family!! When you have time it would be great to see you post recipes again!!

I was wondering, your pictures always turn out wonderful...what camera do you use?? And do you do any color correcting type of stuff after?

Thanks! I can't wait to do recipes again too, but I doubt it will happen for a while.

You can find camera info on my "About" page. I process most of my pictures in the free photo software that came with my computer, nothing major though.

-Amy