Kyoto Trip: Toei Kyoto Studio Park

When we were planning our Kyoto trip, we knew that we'd be visiting lots of shrines and gardens, and so we tried to make sure to include attractions that our kids would enjoy as well.  And, so, with William being as into ninjas as he is, we sought out some ninja stuff to do, which is how we came upon the Toei Kyoto Studio Park.

Toei Kyoto Studio Park is actually an Edo period movie set, where tons of movies have been, and are still, filmed.  But, in addition to just being able to walk around in an old-fashioned looking Japanese village, there are a bunch of fun things to do.  There are live ninja shows and people walking around in ninja, samurai, and geisha costumes, there are restaurants and shops, and then there are fun attractions like a ninja training course, ninja mystery house, maze, haunted house, and costume/photo shop.  William was in heaven.  His favorite was the ninja training course, which he went through twice.  While this place was somewhat pricey, it was definitely worth giving Will the ninja experience that he's been wanting since we moved to Japan.

Pipe Cleaner Ninjas

Since finding out that we'll be moving to Japan, we've been talking a lot about ninjas around here.  William is really excited to get there and begin setting "ninja traps" and looking for their hideouts.  I'm pretty sure any ninjas around will mostly likely be able to outsmart a 4 year old's traps, but we'll do our best :)

Anyway, the other day while I was doing my usual pinteresting (yep, I just verbed it.  And I also verbed verb.  Just go with it :)), I came across these adorable pipe cleaner ninjas and knew that William would go crazy for them!  I originally planned to save this project for our 11 hour flight from LA to Tokyo (YIKES, I know.  Definitely not looking forward to that!), but Will spotted the post on my computer and could not get it out of his mind.  So, I gave in and told him that we could make two now and we'll make more on the flight later.  Lucky Will.  So, today we gathered our supplies and created a couple stealth ninjas of our own.  And they turned out so cute I can hardly stand it!  I can hardly wait to make all sorts of fun little guys out of pipe cleaners, straws, and beads with Will and Clara.  Maybe it'll even keep them entertained for a few minutes of our LOOOOOONG flight!  Hopefully anyway :)