Reflections regarding Wednesday May 7, 2025 in Osaka, Japan
It was our second Universal Studios day. This time it was sunny, everyone woke up on time, and there were no meltdowns. But we were all moving a little slower and the boys’ new shoes were drenched from the previous day’s rain. Thankfully, we had not thrown out any of their old pairs, so everyone was able to wear a nice pair of dry shoes. Except for me. My shoes were still very wet. I borrowed Amichai’s new shoes, since we were about the same size at that point. They were incredibly uncomfortable, but I gratefully wore them knowing my feet were dry and I would simply look forward to foot cramps later in the day.
Eitan proudly shared that today he would be going on the Flying Dinosaur to face his fear. Despite moving slowly, we managed to arrive at the park by 8:30AM. As soon as we entered, Matanel, Eitan, Shai, and I ran to Harry Potter World so Matanel could go on Forbidden Journey before the lines became too long. He absolutely loved it.
Matanel and Shai were still committed to buying wands with their leftover funds. One chose a Harry Potter wand while the other chose Voldemort’s. I’m sure there’s some psychologist somewhere who would love to dissect what it means when twins do something like this. Personally, I would have chosen Hermione’s. As my boys like to tell anyone willing to listen, she’s the real hero of the story. Annoying, yes. But also, the smartest, bravest, and most insightful of all the characters. While the four of us wandered around Harry Potter World trying out the twins’ new wands, Chaim took Amichai to try Dream and Backdrop, two more “badass” rides in the park.
When my crew was sufficiently Harry Pottered out, we made our way to Minions Park. The whole area felt like one cute, fuzzy animal that made me want to cuddle with everything. It is hard not to smile walking around seeing minions everywhere.
As happened with several other rides, the immersive experience included a video of someone speaking entirely in Japanese. Standing in line while a video tried to orient and immerse us in the ride’s world without understanding a single word was surreal. We could not recognize anything beyond arigato/thank you at the very end. It made me wonder what it must feel like for so many non-English speakers visiting theme parks throughout the United States.
Eitan finally decided there was something worth spending his money on and bought himself an adorable Minions hat that hilariously would not stay on his head. He loved it so much he did not care.
Afterward, we noticed some characters were doing meet-and-greets with fans. The boys were excited to meet Gru, and so were many other people. Patiently, we waited while a park attendant waved guests forward. One pair of guests spent an absurd amount of time with Gru that I was starting to grumble. Maybe it was the lack of food in my system, or maybe I am simply hypervigilant about trying to be aware of other people, but I was genuinely irritated by their lack of awareness and the attendant’s inability to move things along. In one of those infrequent but important moments, the boys reminded me this was not actually a big deal and they were perfectly happy waiting. I did my best to chill out and noted this was probably a good sign I desperately needed food.
Finally, we “met” Gru and moved on to visit a less hyped part of the park, so less hyped that I cannot even remember its name. Personally, I was focused on finding some kind of food we could eat. Sadly, the only remotely acceptable option for our dietary restrictions nearby was another plain popcorn stand. But hanger waits for no one. More plain popcorn it was.
We discovered Space Ride, an older ride that looked like one of those innovative attractions from the nineties. We stored our belongings in a locker and headed in. Space Ride ended up being one of the most unexpectedly badass rides in the entire park. The boys loved it enough that they immediately ran back for a second round. Chaim and I left the ride nauseated and instead enjoyed some rare quiet time together while waiting for the boys to finish.
Afterward, we went to JAWS where the line was extremely long. So, we used the singles lane life hack again. I was the only one who ended up in my own boat. The rest of them somehow got grouped together and we saved ourselves twenty minutes of waiting.
As soon as we finished, we headed directly to Jurassic Park World, which sat immediately opposite JAWS. We had one goal, and one goal only: Eitan would finally ride the Flying Dinosaur.
As soon as we arrived, we stopped dead in our tracks.
“CLOSED.”
The Flying Dinosaur was closed for maintenance for the next two weeks.
You have got to be kidding me.
Here we had a child who worked so hard to convince himself to be brave, only to lose the opportunity entirely. Eitan was devastated. First, he cried and demanded justice. Then he got angry. Very angry. The kind of angry where a child says things no child should say to a parent and later regrets every word that came out of their mouth.
I stayed with him while Chaim took the other boys on Jurassic Park the Ride. Thirty minutes later, Eitan was still unrelentingly furious. This time because I would not concede to us returning in two weeks after the maintenance was completed. Aside from the fact that we would be in Tokyo by then, sometimes saying no is the most important thing we can do as parents. This was one of those times.
We slowly made our way out of the park, this time with Eitan trying to disappear on us so he could exert some autonomy. Just like what happened in India at the Elephanta Caves, we gave him a wide berth without ever losing sight of him. Space and time often come before recovery and repair.
Chaim and I decided we needed to get some kind of food into everyone before the rest of us had our own meltdowns. We spotted the only Baskin Robbins in the park and decided a double scoop of ice cream was exactly the kind of lunch that could work for us.
When he finally calmed down, at least an hour later and only after a double scoop of Baskin Robbins had leveled out his blood sugar and brought him back to his senses, Eitan apologized for what he had said and acknowledged that his reaction had not been okay. And with that, we were able to move on with our day.
Amichai convinced me to go on Dream and Backdrop with him. In an extraordinarily big brother moment, he invited Eitan to join us so Eitan, who had never intended to ride either attraction, could still face his fears. As Amichai reflected, “That was the real goal of the day anyway, right?”
After a few minutes of hemming and hawing, Eitan drew in a deep breath and agreed. Then, in true Eitan fashion, he turned to me grinning and said, “We will just need to come back to Japan next year.”
I think I told him if he paid, we would happily go.
Backdrop and Dream were intense rides that allowed each passenger to select music to listen to during the ride. Eitan chose “Happy” by Pharrell. The combination of music and adrenaline completely transformed his mood. He could not stop beaming afterward, repeatedly shaking his head, exhaling, smiling widely, and saying, “I can’t believe I just did that. It wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as I thought it would be.”
We eventually met back up with Chaim and the twins to visit Nintendo World again. We went straight to Donkey Kong only to find there was now a two-and-a-half hour wait. We explained what had happened the previous day, but the employees did not care. Rules were rules and we did not have express passes that day.
Everyone was disappointed, but only Matanel wanted to wait in line for a ride where he would “get shot out of a cannon.” I stayed with him while Chaim took the other boys to explore the rest of Nintendo World. Matanel and I had a great time hanging out together in line. Just as we reached the ninety-minute mark, he realized he had to pee. Badly.
We left the line for the bathroom and did not attempt to reenter. He was crushed but handled the disappointment well. Like Eitan, he decided he would return one day and finally go on the ride.
The two of us headed back to Jurassic Park World and went on Jurassic Park the Ride again. Even though Matanel had done just fine the day before, he was nervous about riding without me sitting directly beside him. His concerns were not unfounded. My eyes bulged when I realized he had been seated next to a very large man whose legs prevented the safety bar from coming anywhere close to Matanel’s lap. Luckily, I ended up sitting directly behind him. Right before the drop, he grabbed the bar as tightly as he could and I grabbed his shirt and arm just as tightly. We were completely soaked by the end, but no one fell out.
Meanwhile, the other boys had gone to a show Chaim had absolutely no interest in attending. He waited outside enjoying some much-needed downtime. Somehow, his timing was off, which almost never happens, and he became convinced he had missed the boys after seeing a massive crowd exit the theater. He spent several frantic minutes searching for them before eventually discovering they were exactly where they were supposed to be because their show had not actually ended yet. Turns out, multiple shows were happening concurrently and he had confused another audience for ours.
We left the park around 5:30PM for dinner at Sushiro. Thankfully, ordering took only five minutes this time. Sufficiently fed and leaving on a high note, we walked to the subway to begin our multi-train ride home.
Our timing coincided with rush hour. As we waited for our second train, I became acutely aware of how densely packed the platform had become. Weirdly, despite the intense attention devoted to everything having its place in Japan, and the perfectly ordered queues at bus stops, this was not the case for the subway during rush hour.
As the train arrived, I noticed the gap between the train and platform was wide enough for someone’s foot to slip through. Especially someone as small as Matanel.
Everyone surged toward the doors. Matanel stood directly in front of me. I knew I needed to watch him carefully because he does not always pay attention to his footing and, given how small he is, could easily be trampled. But I also had to respect his growing independence when he insisted he had boarded plenty of trains by now and could manage on his own.
He probably could have, had he not been jostled at the exact moment he lifted his foot from the platform onto the train.
For a moment, everything stopped. Time slowed down. I felt like I was in a movie.
Somehow, I simultaneously noticed Matanel’s foot disappear through the gap and the collective gasp of the crowd around us. People clasped their chests, covered their mouths, and leaned away as I flung my one free arm under Matanel’s armpit while he caught himself with his hands on the train floor, his entire body dangling between the train and the platform. Then I had him up and in my arms before I even realized what I was doing.
Maybe it lasted three seconds. Maybe longer. It certainly felt longer, though Chaim insists it could not have been more than a couple of seconds.
The moment I had Matanel safely in my arms, the crowd shifted aside. Suddenly there was space everywhere. People made room for me to sit while I sat there shaking, blinking back tears, exhaling repeatedly, and refusing to let go of my son. I could feel the adrenaline coursing violently through my body. It took everything in me not to completely break down sobbing.
The other boys did not really know what to do with themselves. Nervously, they laughed. Even Amichai said he nearly had a heart attack. But because they had not yet experienced enough truly terrifying moments in life, they tried reassuring me that I was overreacting and could calm down. Chaim quickly stepped in to tell them I was not overreacting and that I would calm down when I was ready.
Before I was ready to let go, Matanel lifted his head from my shoulder, looked at me, and quietly said, “That was really scary, but I’m okay.”
Thank God.
I was not okay.
The adrenaline lingered for hours.
When we finally got home, we had a second dinner and then the boys went to bed. Chaim started his work calls. I called my sister and then my mother.
What struck me most was how quickly Matanel recovered. Long before my nervous system settled down, he had already returned to himself. We could have posted about what happened on Instagram, but I was not ready to tell the world.
Over a year later, I still feel my chest and jaw tightening as I relive the experience in writing.
