Rules, rules, rules...

Last week Thursday we visited The National Children's Castle with some friends. Somehow, the English name sounds more auspicious than the Japanese “Kodomo no Shiro (Child’s Castle),” but I guess they know better than I do what their name is. It also seems ironic to me that this “castle” is just around the corner from one of the hippest—so I hear, I myself am not claming to be hip!—areas of Tokyo, Omotesando. But even trendsetters have children, and they have to play somewhere, right?
Our original mission was to wave at my friend’s four year old daughter from the pool observation deck. She was below, faithfully participating in swimming lessons with about 19 other children of more or less her age and size. At least four teachers were in attendance, which made the number of children slightly less shocking. Having accomplished our mission, we were off to explore some of the other areas of the castle.
Allegedly, there are several floors of activities to keep small people busy, but we focused our attention on one room in particular.
On one side of the room there was an enormous wooden play structure. The other side of the room was covered with mats, which were topped with board books, cushions and a couple of much smaller scale plastic jungle gyms. This being Japan, the mat side of the room was no-shoe land. However, there were signs all over the play structure saying “please play with your shoes on”.
At this point, I don’t know if I need to describe what I spent the next hour doing. I suppose I will, just to humor those of you who haven’t recently been exposed to the workings of the two year old mind.
At first, Koji wanted to be into the play structure. Unfortunately, the more he tried to actually play on it, the more it became apparent that it was just a little bit too big for him. If he was just one inch taller (or if more of the height he has could be found in his legs….), he would have been all set. Alas, no, so the baby side of the room beckoned. He charged off the play structure and onto the mats, shoes and all. I shouted, “Koji, take off your shoes!” which was really my attempt to show disapproving bystanders that I was aware of the shoe conundrum and getting ready to do something about it. A response was not expected; after all, the kid does not actually know how to take off his own shoes, not just yet.
I captured him and removed the offending footwear. He played on the mat for 18 seconds, and then ran off towards the play structure. Cue my yelling for the benefit of anyone who might notice a small round boy running and climbing in socks: “Shoes! Shoes!” The next step was reuniting the shoes and Koji’s feet so he could give the play structure another try. And so on.
Taking the shoes off and putting them on again, seemingly ad nauseum was pretty annoying. But I don’t think that’s what really bothered me about the situation. I think it was more that I didn’t really care whether he wore his shoes on the mat, or played on the play structure in socks. Complying with a rule that didn’t seem to have much function other than to remind me that I’m in Japan, the Land of Rules now, was not enjoyable.
I love being in Japan. But the rules! They’re everywhere. I’ll need a separate entry to expound! Suffice to say, the part of me that thinks “I know better than you” is alive and well, sadly.
So, it’s hard to say when we’ll go back to the Children’s Castle. Probably as soon as it rains, or whenever I have much more savings in my patience account!