When I heard that there was a wooden toy festival in Tokyo, I knew I had to go. I didn't fully know what to expect, but I wanted to see what was there and if the toys were any different than the ones we have in the US.
The festival was held at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. I was surprised that I've never been there since it is just a short subway ride away on the Oedo Line. We didn't even have to transfer trains. The garden charges ¥500 to enter for adults. Children in junior high and younger do not have to pay. We bought tickets at the vending machine and walked through the turnstiles. There was a woman standing inside the entrance handing out maps and giving people directions. The park is huge with several gardens, including a rose garden and traditional Japanese garden. There are also ponds filled with koi and turtles, and many grassy areas perfect for picnics and festivals.
We walked up to the Landscape garden to find white tents creating a festival perimeter. Inside the U-shape of tents were strategically placed play areas filled with toys. As I scanned the area, I found myself smiling. It was much bigger and more impressive than I expected.
My family started by walking around to the various booths, which were all craft booths to make wooden toys. For a fee, children could make a pretend camera, name plate, car that used a rubber band to race across the room, or even an abacus. My son looked at all his choices and decided that he wanted to make the car. When we returned to the booth, we found out he could actually make a train or a car. He joyfully picked the train.
Dad and son got busy sanding and assembling the engine and train car, trading the pieces back and forth to make sure every edge was sanded smooth before they moved on to gluing. It was a fun project for them to do together, as it had several steps and allowed them to really focus on completing the build. They also had the option of decorating the train, but decided they would do that later because they wanted to play with all the toys at the festival.
My son immediately ran to the climbing structure built in the middle of the play area. He loves to climb and the structure was calling his name. He scaled it quickly and looked around to see what he wanted to do next.
We walked to a few of the mats where there were games and different types of toys to play with. He jumped into the wooden ball pool for a moment, but didn't stay for long.
He had spotted the wooden blocks to build with. These blocks were approximately 1" by 1" by 6" with two notches cut out. Other attendees had already demonstrated the blocks versatility by creating a wide variety of 3D structures. Off went my son's shoes as he hopped onto the mat (a cultural norm in Japan) and grabbed a stack of the blocks. It was here that he stayed for over an hour.
The day was sunny and bright. I'm glad my son was wearing his sun hat. But I wasn't, and there weren't any trees near the festival area. I got a bit pink on my neck. Nothing too bad, but it was the only negative about the entire festival. We all had such a blast.
After two and a half hours, it was time to leave so we could find some lunch. If I was better prepared, I would have packed a picnic. But I honestly was not expecting to be so enthralled with the festival. I thought it was going to be much smaller and more crowded. While there were lots of people there, there were more than enough toys to go around. It was wonderful!
At 5 years old, I think my son will only be interested in going for another 2-3 years. But in the meantime, this will be high on my list of places to return to.
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