Lalaport

[picture to be inserted here once I download]

Is it a port? Is it a children's theme park? No, it is a shopping mall!

I can never understand the name. Why "lala"? Sounds a little childish. BUT despite the name, it's a great, great place! There is already 1 in Chiba, and they just opened one in Yokohama (outskirts of Tokyo) which is not too far from my home. They opened 2 weeks ago and we have been there - twice! Yup, every weekend that they have been open, we have been there. And both times, we had free parking for the whole day! (Which is excellent because parking is quite expensive in Tokyo/Yokohama)

It is an incredible place to bring the kids too and if we have nothing else planned for this Sunday, where do you think we will be?

It is a massive shopping mall. Lots of good shops including, for me, Fortnum & Mason's tea parlour, Banana Republic and California Pizza Kitchen. I have not had a chance to eat at California Pizza Kitchen yet but want to, for sentimental reasons - I used to go to their outlet in Singapore. And truth be told, I have not gone in to this Banana Republic yet also because there are just so many shops I have not covered most of them yet. I hope they continue to give free parking for the whole of the first month!

There are many shops, both for adults and kids. Almost the whole of the 2nd floor (there are only 3 floors) is dedicated to kids. And outside is well-landscaped with lots of water - which is great for Kai. A little cold now but when the weather gets warmer, I will let him wear sandals and he can splash about in the water as much as he wants. There is even a little atrium where when it gets dark, the little lights hung over look like stars. With the lush greenery and the water, it is a very nice atmosphere that is not usual here in Tokyo.

I like it because it is one of those places where it is OK for the kids to run around, and enough shops (and water) to entertain them. There is Le Maison on the first floor. Their cakes look amazing and so elaborate. We went in and were pleasantly surprised to see lots of English books placed inside. Cookbooks for me and quality childrens books. I think we were the very first people to finger those books. After I had opened a couple of the children's books and read them to Kai, I left Kai to Tomo and proceeded to read my cookbooks. All brand new and good stuff. On the second floor, there is Akachanhonpo (departmental store for children's needs) with little play stations where you can leave your kids to play and stand back for a bit. Next door is an amusement "arcade" for kids, complete with a Thomas train that can be ridden on, air slides, big automated animals that you sit on and it walks etc. Next to that is an educational toy shop. Down the corridor from that is an indoor playground complete with tubes to crawl in, slides to slide down and netting to climb. However, they charge and being the cheapies that we are, we have so far been able to distract Kai with the free entertainment. Including a pet shop where Kai gets all excited just seeing the cats and the dogs. On our 2nd visit, we discovered Itoyokado, or more specifically, their children's section. They close at 10 (1 hour later than the rest of the building). They have a fairly huge section of free play, consisting of trains sets, computers, model garages with toy cars etc. And right next to it is a very large gym section. Floor and sides fully padded. Babies can play in there. And there's Excelsior (Starbuck's competitor) nearby. So it worked out really well for us. Kai was running between the trains, the cars and the computers. Taiga was taken out of the sling and allowed to explore in the gym, and he was very happy to be finally let out to crawl and walk. All Tomo had to do was hang around in the padded area too, keeping an eye on both Kai and Taiga. I was in Excelsior taking my break from the kids, reading my Time magazine.

Oh and on the third floor, this is a kids restaurant i.e. a restaurant with a kids area complete with ball room and slides etc. I ordered their steak set and it was surprisingly good given that this is not a steak restaurant. Tomo and I had to take turns to accompany Taiga in the play area as he is still so small. I was thinking, only a couple more months and probably less than a year from now, Tomo and I can just leave the boys in there and sit back and enjoy our food/coffee together. Gosh, I think we have not done that in years!

What else have we not covered? There is a Moomin (a very popular cartoon character from Sweden although we don't see it in Singapore) shop that comes complete with a planeterium that has a dinner show. This is fully-booked and has to be booked way in advance. I would like to try this some day. Even though we have been twice, we have not even covered half of the place, so maybe there are other cool shops there that I don't know of yet!

If you have kids, are in the Tokyo/Yokohama area, and don't want to spend too much money, this is a great place to visit.