Thursday, July 4th 2013 - Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jog

We got up early this morning to see the R family off to work/daycare. R and his family were excellent hosts. Although my friend R can come off at first as a little stand-offish and tough, he is really kind and thoughtful and both he and his wife went out of their way to make sure that we had everything we needed, helped us find things, and spent as much time with us as they could. And of course his daughter is 1000% adorable (she should really be on TV). R has created a wonderful home for himself and he should be very proud of his family and life in Japan.

We watched this program nearly every morning of our trip and I may never get the song out of my head . . .

After the R family left, we showered and ate breakfast (R - we restocked your frosted flakes, sorry about filling up your trash). Then we dashed out to do some last minute shopping at the shopping center near their aparto. We wanted to be out the door and on our way to the airport at 11:30am, so we figured that we'd leave early and hit the grocery store first (as clearly that would be open first) and then off to the other shops. Also, because I had been saying the night before that despite it being the rainy season, we've really only had 3 days of rain, it had started raining, so we made excellent time. Good thing since everything was closed. Nothing opened until 10:00am, including the grocery store and the bakery (how does a bakery stay in business if it doesn't open early in the morning?!?!) So that ate into our carefully planned last-minute-shopping time.

By the time we finishes shopping and got all our bags frantically repacked, it was noon, so we were only running a tad behind. We stopped in at Lawsons for our last conbini lunch for the train ride back to Narita Airport, which was a touch sad. We stocked up on curry pan (for the plane) and then I found a yummy chahan (fried rice) onigiri (rice ball), Mc got a tray of yakisoba (fried noodles that you often get at festivals), we got Red chicken (5 spicy chicken nuggets that are delicious!) and cheese chicken (same, only not good), Mc got macaroni salad in a pouch (he used the chopsticks they gave us, but I think you could probably just squeeze it into your mouth, like macaroni salad Gogurt), I got chocopan and he got a ring cake. (Eating this was spread out over waiting for the first train, then on the second super long train, then on the plane, lest you think we're ridiculous with our conbini feast.)

This was on the train platform to the airport. I wonder if the lear section is next to the women's car . . .

Finally at the airport, we cashed in our Suica cards (you can return the train pass cards and they will give you back the remaining balance plus 290¥ of the 500¥ you paid to purchase the card, TOTALLY worth it for the convenience of not having to figure out individual train tickets) and returned our rented phone (this took 8 seconds, we handed them the phone and pouch of accessories, they found our name on a list and highlighted it, and we were off) and went to the 4th floor for our last-last minute shopping.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - Utilize the airport. If you ask one of your friends where you can find some specific thing in Japan, it is likely that they will say, "You can probably just get that at the airport." And they are right. The 4th and 5th floors of Narita airport have souvenir shops that carry many traditional items as well as fancy omiyage (snacks you bring home for people) and humorous items too. Whatever it is you are looking for, you will likely find it here (although maybe not as much variety - for example, if you want a tea set, you might only find 2-3 different ones, so if you see one you like while you're traveling, get it). And here is the astonishing part - you will find it for reasonable prices! I know, madness. So, if at the last moment you realized you forgot to pick up a present for someone, just get to the airport early! Just don't go through security, once you're through, there are only a very few shops and they are PACKED.

Mc and I finished our shopping, checked in, and made it to our gate just as it started boarding. Now I am freezing on the airplane, sitting next to my love, another unforgettable trip added to the list. Sayonara, Japan! Maybe again in another 10 years, ne?