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?

Monday, June 17th 2013 - Jetlag vs. Sightseeing

Monday we did not leap out of bed. When you are going to be in a place for a reasonable chunk of time, bolting upright at 6am to go sight-seeing will wear you out pretty quickly, especially when it's 85 degrees and a billion percent humidity. Plus, nothing in Japan really opens till 10am. We slept-in (which, when you are jet-lagged means waking up randomly and then repeatedly attempting to go back to sleep for a little while until you finally decide to give up) and made breakfast (another benefit of staying with friends - food in the house, no foraging first thing in the morning in a strange land!) and rearranged the contents of our suitcases.

*SuperNova Travel Tip - There is no cure for jet-lag. People will tell you that the secret is to stay up for 3 days straight or drink the juice of an disenchanted banana and your jet-lag will disappear, but the fact of the matter is that when your body thinks it's 2am but the sun is up and you are eating lunch, that's going to mess you up. My best advice is to start following the local schedule immediately (if you usually go to bed at 10pm and it's 10pm, go to bed and take something like Tylenol PM to help curb the waking up repeatedly) and then be prepared for jet-lag sneak attacks (this usually happens several days into your trip, when you think you are over jet-lag; you're going along merrily and then you are suddenly so tired you pass out wherever you are at 4 in the afternoon). Give in and take a nap. DO NOT go to sleep (i.e. any time longer than 2 hours)! Another benefit of staying with people is that you feel guilty if you sleep during your entire stay with them and you get yourself up, which is good because then you don't end up losing whole days to jet lag. DO NOT LET JET LAG WIN!

We eventually decided to head to Asakusa and only had to return to the aparto twice for forgotten items ("Do you have sunblock? What about the camera? . . . "). Before we headed into town, we decided to see what shopping was available near R's station and on the way stopped at Lawsons (a konbini, short for "convenience store") for some lunch. I encouraged Mc to try a curry pan (an unsweetened donut with curry inside instead of cream or jelly; it is way more awesome than it sounds), which left Mc addicted to curry pan and calculating the volume of our suitcase to see how many we can bring home (I can't find them in Oregon. I almost feel guilty addicting Mc to things I know I can't get again back home, but . . . 'tis better to have loved and lost . . .).

SuperNova Travel Tip: Convenience stores in Japan are AMAZING! One of the things I miss the most about Japan are the konbinis. Konbinis are safe, clean, and stocked with delicious, fresh food! If you cannot find a good restaurant or just want something quick, stop in at any one of a number of konbini in Japan (Lawsons, 7-11, Family Mart, Newdays, yes, most of the names are in English) and get an excellent meal of anything from sando (sandwich) to sushi to bento (lunch box) to mystery pan (pan = bread, although I call it mystery pan because a good deal of the individually wrapped bread in these stores has a filling, and since I don't read Japanese and they don't always have a picture, it's generally a wild surprise. Once, I got corn and mayonnaise filled. That was a rough lunch . . .). Definitely try the food in the warmer by the counter, croquettes and man (steamed bun with various fillings, my favorite is pizza man), you will not find any hot dogs rotating indefinitely here, unless you count oden (fish balls soaking for whoknowshowlong in uncovered tepid water), and I do. The people at the counter are very nice about you pointing to which thing you want in the warmer and grunting. They'll even offer you the appropriate eating utensil (yes, in Japan they consider a toothpick an eating utensil; there was a tiny holster for one in our Red Chicken box).

R had said something about being able to walk to Asakusa and since Mc and I both enjoy walking while traveling (you often see things you would otherwise miss) we figured we would walk towards the next train station towards Asakusa and see how we felt. First of all, turns out it is really far between stations. We walked for about 40min. before finally getting there. Secondly, the walk along train tracks is not very scenic or shady, so we were just this side of sweat-soaked when we finally arrived. Thirdly, we went the opposite direction of Asakusa. This, of course, was not how I wanted Mc's first day in Japan to go, but it's good to set the bar low. At Kita-Senju station we decided to use trains and subways (which are air-conditioned), going back and forth through Minami-Senju (R's stop) approximately 37 times before we got to Asakusa (not to be confused with Akasaka).

*SuperNova Travel Tip: Be careful when exiting a train/subway station. Most stations have several exits (very few have only one) and going out the west exit instead of the east exit can be the difference between a 2 min. walk to the site you wanted to see and finding yourself stepping out onto the moon. Once you pass through the ticket gate, look up. There will be lots of yellow signs, written in English complete with arrows, listing which exit is which direction. If you are at a station for a major site-seeing location, that place will usually also be on the sign also, letting you know which exit you actually want. I should say that the signage in Japan is a touch lacking at times and I have been betrayed by signs in the past, but at least you can say you made the effort.

Huge lantern in Kaminarimon, "Thunder Gate"

Asakusa is a good place to start sight-seeing in Japan because right outside the station there is a huge shopping street full of little stands selling all sorts of Japanese trinkets and foods and then at the end there is a huge red lantern (part of the Thunder Gate) and Senso-ji (Buddhist temple) to explore. It's a good dose of traditional/commercial Japan right out the gate, and there is plenty to see without it taking up your whole day. Mc wanted to do one of the fortunes at the temple and the ones here were in English. So, he put his 100¥ in the box, found the corresponding drawer, and pulled the worst fortune you can get. It said things like, "Your wishes will not come true. The lost thing will not be found. The person you are waiting for won't come . . ." FORTUNATELY, the Japanese have a handy little system for dealing with bad fortunes. You just neatly fold up the fortune into a long, thin rectangle and tie it to a fence designated for this purpose and the temple will deal with the badness while you walk away footloose and fancy-free.

Mc found a man making taiyaki at one of the many stalls and got his first real made-in-Japan taiyaki (fish-shaped cake filled with custard cream), which was fresh and hot and the highlight of his day. After you are through with the shrine area, make sure to go around to the other side of the station so you can see The Asahi Beer Hall, on top of which is the golden Asahi Flame. I believe that the Japanese had intended this to look like a flame blowing in the wind, but gaijin (foreigners) almost universally think it looks like a golden poo. A popular picture to take is to stand so it looks like the "flame" is coming out of your mouth.

Asahi "Flame" (the Tokyo Skytree is to the left)

After taking pictures, we went back to R's place to take a nap. By the time we woke up, R was home with little Now-chan and we spent the evening chatting and playing and R made us a delicious dinner. After dinner, Mc and I walked back to the shopping center because I had packed yoga pants for pajamas which was insane. I needed shorts and wanted to go to Uniqlo (cheap clothing store in Japan). On the way back, I wanted to take a shortcut and said, "Let's walk down that alley," and Mc looked at me and said, "That's not something you could usually say." Welcome to Japan.