Japan 2018: Across the World...

Obligatory plane selfie :)

We've made it back to Japan, just 18 months since the last trip too! (Bonus!!!) Last Fall Charlie suggested we make another Japan trip sooner than our usual two years because the kids we visit here (now 6, 5, & 2 years old) are growing up so quickly and we love spending time with them & their families (and all of our friends here, too!). So here we are :)

Not that it wasn't very difficult to hug Brendan goodbye Tuesday evening knowing I wouldn't see him for nearly 2 weeks. He's in his second year at the University of Rochester (after transferring from community college last year) and already very engaged with his classes this semester- he's a chemistry major and loves it. Practically everyone we know in Rochester is looking in on/after him (thanks guys!!!!!) so I'm not really worried.

And, fortunately, our travel was pretty easy this time. The only hitch came right at the beginning, when the taxi to the airport that Charlie had reserved for 5:30 am Wednesday arrived before 5:00 am, and then disappeared about 5:15... huh? He called & they had the pickup as 5:00 am- O.o  Luckily, the next taxi arrived in 5 minutes so we were out the door on time.

We decided to switch some travels things up this time. After many years of flying Delta out of Detroit (6 of the last 7 trips to Japan) we thought we'd try Japan Airlines this time, although they connect in Chicago, which is not my favourite place to fly from (too big!). We flew American to Chicago & fortunately we were going west, because Hurricane Florence was playing havoc with the east coast flights already. We had a few hours layover in Chicago then boarded the flight to Tokyo Narita Airport and took off around 12:15 pm. It's a 12-hour flight from Chicago (11 from Detroit), but the time passed quite uneventfully. We noticed pretty quickly that the JAL plane Economy Class seats were just as roomy as the ones we pay extra for on Delta. On the downside, they don't offer vegetarian food, or barely any choices meal-wise (chicken or beef teriyaki were it), but we had food with us and there were plenty of side-dishes, and both the hot & cold green tea was really good! Charlie watched movies & I read a book (a whole book) on the flight and we dozed a bit, and then we were landing at Narita.

Charlie's first bottle of milk tea of the trip

The other change this time was that, for nearly every trip we've taken a limousine bus from Narita to our hotel in Shinjuku. We'd have to wait around for about an hour for the bus to leave, but the ride was good- only took about an hour- & the ticket prices did not change in 10 years (Japanese economy ftw). But last time we were here, they added an extra stop to the ride home, as they had finally finished the Shinjuku Station expansion and bus terminal (which was just a huge hole in the ground 9 years ago) and so the limo bus made a long stop there, right across the street and 5 stories up, from our hotel, adding about half an hour to the trip. So we thought we'd try taking the Narita Express train to Shinjuku Station, which we use to get back to the airport at the end of our visits, into Tokyo. Upon arrival & finishing customs, we found the train quickly & the line to the ticket machines wasn't very long at all (the line to the live person selling tickets was crazy). Fortunately, the ticket machines have an "English" button, and we remembered how to use the machine, and the tickets were slightly less than the limo bus! Twenty minutes later we were on the train- score!!!

Crunky for the train ride!

We came into Tokyo a little earlier than usual, but it was cloudy and at this time of year, it got dark more quickly. I love the ride into town- the countryside small towns & rice fields changing slowly to suburbs, then the big city. This is our first trip in autumn, although it's almost as warm as summer (ok, Rochester summer), so we saw harvesting activity in the rice fields for the first time. When we got into Tokyo we got a glimpse of the Tokyo Skytree Tower, which we plan to visit today.

Then we were off the train and looking for the signs to the Southern Terrace, where our hotel is. It didn't take much time at all. One thing about starting out in the same place every time we visit Japan is the nostalgia of seeing familiar places & noticing changes- which restaurants are still here, which are new, that sort of thing.

After checking-in and washing up, we went looking for dinner. By this time we'd been up for 26+ hours straight, so not feeling adventurous :) There's an Italian restaurant in the same building as our hotel that we go to every visit, and after checking out a couple new places (not much veggie food or fish for me) we went there. Had wine with dinner with the hope it would help with the sleep disruption. We had yummy food and I made myself understood in Japanese (woot!) then back to the hotel for showers and sleep.

I went to bed around 8:45 pm Tokyo time (7:45 am Rochester time- we are 13 hours ahead now) and we both woke up at 3:00 am, wide awake. Sigh. So we had tea (all the Japanese hotels provide a hot pot for boiling water & a selection of tea) and pastries (Charlie hit Panera before we left Rochester for the plane food :) and went back to sleep at 4:00- the usual routine. And we were up at 7:30, on a drizzly day in Tokyo, ready for pastries from the awesome French bakery just down the way and my first Starbucks Soy Match Latte (soooooo much better than in the US!!) of the trip.

I will leave you all with the first foodie photo of the trip- our yummy breakfast :)

From the top, a ham & cheese croissant for Charlie, a matcha pastry and scone for me, and the legendary Japanese Starbucks Soy Matcha Latte. And some critters saying "itadakimasu" ("I will partake", which is what you say before eating a meal here). We all enjoyed breakfast very much! And today we will buy our train tickets for the journey to Osaka tomorrow, & visit the Tokyo Skytree!