Back to an early start this morning—today was our visit to The Making of Harry Potter, which is about an hour by train (two trains, actually) from Ueno, and we needed to be there by 9:00am. Neither Craig nor I slept well last night, so it was a bit of a mission to drag ourselves out of bed, but we made it.

With a little time to spare before our tour, we did the obvious: 7/11 breakfast. I tried the infamous strawberry and cream sandwich (honestly, just okay), and a hot latte from the machine—way better than the bottled hot coffee we’d had previously. Jessie chose the pancakes filled with red bean paste (which she enjoyed), and Craig went for the classic egg sandwiches.

Nerima City is a funny spot for such a major attraction—it seems a bit out of the way. Craig reckoned it might be a real estate thing, and I wondered if it was about boosting the local economy… probably a mix of both.

Once inside the studio, we grabbed audio guides, but they turned out to be a bit unnecessary. If you’re super into the behind-the-scenes stuff and don’t have a kid in tow, they’re probably great. But for us, we ditched them pretty quickly and just enjoyed wandering.

The studio is massive—the biggest Harry Potter studio tour in the world—and it definitely lives up to the hype. We walked through some incredible sets:

• The Great Hall

• The Marble Staircase (yes, we added our own moving portraits!)

• Dumbledore’s Office

• Hagrid’s Hut

• Platform 9¾

• Diagon Alley

• The Forbidden Forest

• The Ministry of Magic (we even travelled by Floo Powder!)

We drank Butterbeer (you get to take the cups home, AND there’s even a cup washing station, and they give you bags… #japan), cheered on a Quidditch match, and Jessie even rode a broomstick. It really was magic.

Afterwards, we jumped on another couple of trains (the second one looped over the Rainbow Bridge, which crosses Tokyo Bay—super cool!) and headed to Toyosu to check out TeamLab Planets. Quick konbini lunch (I know, I know, but seriously—so convenient), and then we were in for our 2pm entry.

TeamLabs was amazing—hard to put into words, but thankfully we took a million photos. It was an immersive, sensory overload in the best way.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to chill. Jessie put on her Pikachu face mask, sipped a peach tea, and watched Harry Potter on Netflix (of course!).

Dinner was in one of the bright little alleyways of Ueno, at a tiny ramen joint I’d read about. You pay by putting cash into a vending machine, pick your food (all in Japanese, but the lovely manager had a handy photo guide), and get little tickets that the chef whisks away. Minutes later—boom—your ramen arrives.

I had chicken ramen with egg—delicious. Craig went for pork dandan and declared it his favourite meal of the trip. Jessie shared some of mine and gave it the thumbs up.

Tomorrow’s our last full day. We’re planning a trip to Ueno Zoo to see the pandas, and maybe a bit of shopping—we’ve noticed lots of cool stores around here. Also on the hunt for some good gyoza.

See you then for the penultimate.

❤ Laus