Eric Carle's pop up shop

I was scrolling through Facebook last night when I happened upon a sponsored ad for an Eric Carle pop up shop in Tokyo.  As a huge fan of his work, I really wanted to go.  After reading the weirdly translated text, I knew it was only open until Sunday!  So, we had to go fast.

After a morning of Piyo Piyo (outdoor playgroup) and an amazing lunch of clam chowder made on the open fire, we headed out to see Eric Carle and his very hungry caterpillar.  Knowing that the trip was going to take us an hour and a half to get there by train, I grabbed a few snacks and a water bottle.  Although there are places to buy snacks and drinks at every turn, it gets really expensive really quick.  Also, all the packaging drives me nuts!  My son has become so comfortable on the trains.  It doesn't matter to him if we sit or stand, he rides happily - except when we have a very long ride.  About 1 hour is his max before he gets super antsy.  Snacks definitely help, even if they technically are a Japanese etiquette no-no.  Having a meltdown on the train is also against the rule, so I figure I will go with the lesser of two evils when on a long ride.

We hopped on the train and merrily found our way to the shop.  It was one third life-size museum, one third souvenir shop and one third art studio.  After wandering through the shop (which had some amazing Eric Carle stuff like clothes, artwork, dishes, towels galore, and toys), we played around in the life-sized museum area.  There were several painted walls that you stick your face through to become a piece of cake or other item that the very hungry caterpillar ate on his famous binge.  There were also some 3D pieces of food with a caterpillar crawling on it.  My favorite thing was the huge caterpillar that kids could climb under and around. 

After we were done touching and playing, my son and I went to the art area to make a window cling.  They gave us the outline and we filled it in with paint.  I squeezed some paint in the different sections and my son spread it around.  My son was very specific that we make ours with the exact same colors as the example artwork.  After we were done filling it in, the staff took it and heated it to make it solid (I can't say harden it because it is so flexible...).  My son was so proud of his masterpiece. 

Since the popup shop was at the shopping center at the base of Tokyo's Skytree, when we were done at the shop, we headed outside to see the tall tourist attraction.  The area at the bottom of  the tower was all decorated for Christmas.  We enjoyed the decorations and festive atmosphere for a while.

It was a great popup shop and well worth the trip.  I'm so glad we were able to go see it together.