One neat thing about the hot springs hotel we stayed at was they had, for a lack of a better term, a vintage game room. This hotel called this room tsuruya amakaze yokocho. It doesn’t translate to anything because it’s just the name of the room, not what it is. But essentially it was an old fashioned room in the stylings of the Showa period, focusing on the 1950s-60s I assume, where you can play simple games, have snacks, listen to music from the period and drink.
The kids had a Santa’s boot where they could fill it with as many small candies as they could fit in. Ellie played some water games and Chloe played some old style pinball. It was like pinball, just without the paddles, the sounds, and the flashing lights. So maybe it wasn’t like pinball at all. She seemed to really like it though. Aya’s mom was trying to teach Aya how to spin old fashioned tops, but Aya didn’t have the same skills that she did. I just lurked around the room taking pictures trying not to trip while wearing sandals that don’t fit my feet. This actually feels like what I do a lot here in Japan.
No matter how awkward things are for me, I am loving seeing the kids blend in and enjoy it all. I love learning more and more about the culture each time I visit too. I even tried green tea cola. Surprisingly it actually wasn’t that bad.