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Japan – Day 25 (Back to America…)

I woke up a bit earlier than usual and after caffeinating myself I pulled everything I’ve accumulated over these past 2 months out of my bags and spread it out on the bed. Then I started to re-wrap and pack things up for the long trip back to the good old U.S.A. I bought more than I had originally planned, but all things considered, I didn’t buy that much. Mostly smaller items. I did have to offload my old shirts and a pair of pants due to weight restrictions, but I’ve lost a little over 4-inches on my waist and the old stuff doesn’t really fit right anymore anyway so it was no big loss. After checking out of the hotel and leaving my bag, I strolled down to the Tokyo Pokémon Center and picked up a few things since I had about 3,500 yen left to get rid of, then got some lunch at the restaurant next to the hotel.

I picked up my bag and walked over to the Narita Express Bus to the airport. My flight wasn’t until 6:20pm, but my anxiety was out of control today for some reason about this flight, so I arrived around 2:30pm and sat at the gate reading my book and scrolling through the endless void that is the internet. It was kind of a sad flight because I really didn’t want to leave Japan, plus my seat wouldn’t recline at all, and my row was one of the few rows that had a middle seat occupied so I couldn’t stretch out. I still managed to nap a little bit during the 14 hour flight, but given the time difference not sleeping isn’t a bad thing. I left at 6:20pm Friday the 6th in Japan, and landed in Chicago at 3:00pm on Friday the 6th so hopefully I’ll sleep well tonight!

Being in Japan all this time really makes me notice just how dirty Chicago is. After getting through customs I went to the bathroom and half the stalls were clogged and backed up with toilet paper and piss, and even the one I picked that wasn’t clogged was still filthy with toilet paper all over. You just don’t see that out east. I went to the taxi stand, and the taxi that pulled up made me glad I got a tetanus shot earlier. His check engine light was on, there was a thick layer of dirt and grime over every surface, rusted metal was visible everywhere the plastic had been damaged, his seats were being held together with duct tape…literally, it was disgusting. In Japan and Thailand the taxi drivers all have new cars and wear suits and driver hats and get out to open the door for you and have umbrellas to keep you dry, the customer service is impeccable. So now in Chicago, I just tried my best to not touch anything…but hey, I’m back even if it’s just for a couple days!

I had left the condo basically empty, so I had to run to the store to get a shower curtain liner, plastic dishes and silverware, some basic toiletries, foods and snacks for the weekend. One good thing about being back is I’ve had my DVR recording all of my shows while I’ve been away, so I have a lot to catch up on! Plus, I’m back where hard cider is a thing so yeeeaaaahhhh! Rick and Morty Season 4 and Redds Wicked Apple!

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Japan – Day 23 (Tokyo)

For some reason I woke up early all by myself before my alarm even went off today. That’s fine, because I wanted to get out early to Tsukiji Market. That place was a BLAST back in the day, super fun, but you have to get there early. Except when I got there only the outer market was open, the inner fun part was shut down and I found a sign that said it had relocated to a brand new building in another area. After looking it up, turns out the old market shut down last year…I can’t say I blame them, that place was madness and chaos and fun and health code violations and an accident or fire waiting to happen, but that’s why I liked it so much! I guess the new place is super modern and all of the 100 year old charm is gone, so I didn’t bother heading across town to see it. Instead I picked up a couple things from the outer market then went back to the hotel to shower.

Once I was clean, I headed to Kabuki-za Theater to see a Kabuki show, something I had wanted to do when I was younger but didn’t have the money for. The full show can take around 4 hours and I didn’t want to dedicate that much time, so I opted for one of the longer opening segments in the morning. It’s not the flashiest segment, but you do get into the story and it was an opportunity to see if I could figure out what was going on with my limited Japanese refresher. I was able to figure out the gist of it, the rest I asked one of my English speaking neighbors who paid for a translator box.

After the show I hopped on a train to Gotokuji Temple, a temple with hundreds of beckoning cats (maneki-neko) and cat themes carved into the old historic structures. It was pretty adorable, so SO many cats! Sunset was approaching by then and since it was a clear day I wanted to get up high to watch the sun set behind Mt. Fuji. I went to the Shibuya Scramble building, but there was a huge line for it, so I jumped on a bus to Roppongi Hills instead and ran up to their observation deck. I hung out up top until after the sun set, and watched Tokyo light up. Once it was dark, I went back down and walked around the Roppongi illuminated streets and garden, then stopped at Hard Rock Café for my pin and to get a salad because for some reason I was craving a salad and no Japanese restaurants have them. At least not like the ones in America. Japanese salads tend to be made of mostly cabbage and snotty runny dressing. While eating, there was a bit of an earthquake, but although the Japanese folks didn’t seem to notice my foreign friends and I certainly did and eyed each other while it was going on, then laughed about it after. I was debating on whether or not I wanted to check out more Christmas lights or maybe go to Akihabara, but it was almost 8pm by that point and I had been up since 6am so I decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. I have one more full day tomorrow, and most of the day on Friday to wrap things up!