Last day and thoughts.

 We packed really quick and had breakfast before heading out   I wish we planned for 5 hours at Haneda   Not 3  so if you go  plan for more   

We boarded a luxury Uber   I say boarded because it felt like a flight   

Ok   I know   Stupid details   We made it to our flight finally, almost running like crazy people   What? I had last last minute shopping to do. All the yen is gone   I didn’t get ice cream   Just saying  

We dream of Japan for a few reasons.  mostly, the precision and order.  I think for the Japanese, it feels like a prison but for a traveler, it's calming.  We love the way things are made and handled.  Kenny wishes he kept a list of the things he found interesting.  First there’s the kindness of the people.  Always welcoming of the visitor.  Always running to help you.  Often going out of their way.  We sometimes felt embarrassed.  If you want to go hide, I’m not sure Japan is the place for you because you are seen. At the same time, it’s super quiet in many ways.  Like the metros and elevators. People are almost silent.  

I will miss the Japanese tv a lot.  I think I watched at least 1 hour every night.  I loved the shows.  And i had a running commentary in my head.  My favorite show was one were they took clips from all over the world and made fun of it.  I laughed so hard.  

Konbinis - I don’t know how many times we said, if only our 7-11’s were like this.  I plan on making somethings at home: onigiri and egg salad sandwiches.   I want to do my own high tea one day….anyone want to come?  I will do it alone but more fun with others. I have promised Kenny some grilled onigiri.  

We love eating at tiny hole in the walls and we did really great with this.  Some incredible people.  I don’t want fish for a very long time…though I’m sure my nephew has a few places to take me to.  

I realize we didn’t do SOOOO much.  But how can you?  It’s like when people come to NY, how can they see or do it all in a few days?  Like I said to Kenny, it’s fine, we’ll do it next time. 

Btw.  I got a text message from my guy Teiji this morning saying that the tempura place called him to thank us.  He was so moved that now he wants to go himself.  That’s awesome.   I wish I had exchanged numbers with my old guys in Hakodate.   They were just so cute. 

So…that is it.  I’m out.  12 hours….6 movies. Maybe 7.  Guess who’s already asleep?? Lol.  (I’m not spell checking this one cuz I’m tired!) 

Funny signs

So I obsessed over bathroom signs. 

This is less made for American than for other visitors who love to squat.  Please don’t squat on our bathroom seats.  

Instructions.  Because …well. You might need them. 

Not even in English.   This is because in the other Asian countries, you are told to throw the toilet paper in the waste basket.  I remember this from China and I remember thinking, over my dead body.  

How many more ways can they say it?

Who wants plumes??

I got nothing. 

My view at one of our morning markets.  Not a sign but really odd. 

 

Ice cream

 In all it’s form and glory, in no specific order and I think I missed some pics like my first first melon one!!

There is nothing like Hokkaido milk.  We had yogurt drinks and ice cream galore.  I don't think we realized how good it was until it was over.  Tokyo was ok, but it wasn't Hokkaido, though I imagine that's where they get their milk from.  just not as fresh maybe.  

Last full day.

 How the fell did we get here??? You all think I’m bad, Kenny’s already depressed.  He’s stressed about going back to reality but thank hod we have my nephew staying with us as on Tuesday.  

So I really wanted to visit this coffee guy.  Walk 15 minutes and he’s closed for the day.  I translated his signs which basically said, I’m 80.  You guys made me  social media popular and now I can’t keep up.  I want to continue working for a long time so I’m going to raise my prices and reduce my days.  For now.  That was the gist of it.  So back to 7-11 we go.  We spend the day in Ginza.  The Main Street gets closed to cars and pedestrians can freely walk it.  We had a few last places to hit and ended up with multiple bags.  Tomorrow will be the fun of packing.  

It rained today too so  pics were not on my mind.  The rain was sweet and gentle like Japan.  We did make it to a soba/ramen spot in the middle of an alley.  I was showing Kenny, look it’s literally between these two streets, but I don't know if it's in the building or between the buildings.   But we found it.  Stood on line to get a ticket.   They gave us an umbrella and this was the point were the rain was getting heavier.  We then ordered and paid for the food on a machine, got tickets, came out and went in the “I have ticket” line.  The whole place was super tiny.  I barely took pics. 

I'm not sure if this pic does it justice but buildings on both sides.  the place is where all the people are gathered. 

So this thing happens, we sit down to eat, I snap a few pics.  And then (unless we are served slowly) all the food comes out.  I smell it and I’m just all in.  Then, if he remembers, he’ll say “hun, take a pic”.  Today, the rain, the multiple lines, the food smell.  Lol., all you get is my half eaten bowl.  But that was unreal!!  I didn't think I'd find a miso ramen place we can eat at and then i wasn't sure i'd like it.  But wow.  

So let me cut to the chase.  Our last meal.  Sushi no midori.  How we love thee. (That’s literally the full name, with how we love thee, officially! 🤣) 

This eggplant oshinko.  With the mustard and the grated ginger.   You just can’t imagine it.   This was everything.  We could have walked away at this point.  But we didn’t. 

This egg dish is huge and filled with morsels of mushrooms and that edamame like pea.  So good. 

I’m kinda laughing because I love Ikura and tuna here but not so much in NY.  On the other hand, the yellowtail in Japan was really not great.  So I guess that’s the compromise. 

Goodbye Tokyo

Last haul

Tokyo Birthday

I’m exactly where I want to be when I turned 50.  And I’d be remiss not to thank the guy who made it happen. We usually vacation in July and the last time we did August was literally our honeymoon, 18 years ago.  So i'm not sure if god intervened or the stars were aligned or Kenny was in a good mood, but this happened.   It was quite the perfect day.  It started with a text to my mom:   

This lady waited so long to go to the hospital that I was crowning and the nurse wouldn’t help until the doctor got there. She was begging the nurse to catch me and was trying not the push.  Of course, I was in a rush to get out!!

We started off as we always do, at Lawson.   This time we got coffee, egg salad and onigiri.  Yup, I got the Ikura onigiri.  We headed to do some shopping we missed yesterday.  

But first a stop at a random bakery. 

We shopped and this lovely man, Teiji, helped me make my dinner reservation.  So excited. He was great.  Then back to Ginza to a pen store.  

I was getting grouchy by now because suddenly it’s late and we didn’t eat and shopping kinda sucks. So I quietly took Kenny to a cafe….a little simple cafe: 

We didn’t want to eat much because of dinner but I needed  Mont Blanc.   So we were chatting with our waitress.  Telling her how excited we were to have their dessert.  We ordered a tea pot and the dessert. 

Our waitress then said she got me a birthday gift.  

I didn’t want to drink it. 

So this is what stupid happy looks like. 

This chick, with a simple little move, made me cry.  It was so sweet and she was so sweet and made my day.  

After this we went back to the room to prep for dinner.  Tempura in Japan is an art form. And I really wanted good tempura, not the tendons we had been having. We promised the restaurant and our shop friend we would be on time.  Showered, changed and ready to go. 

Tenmo tempura is a family owned little place.  Father, mother and son.  This man was making tempura for 40 years.  His father made it and his grandfather made it.  His son was learning. 

Grandpa's pic

And then this happened:

Plate ready to go. Btw, he put new paper 3x through the meal. 

Spring onion, i think. 

Fresh bamboo shoot, oddly delicious

 

Big mushroom, tasted like meat. 

Shitake, my fav!!!

Edamame, i think.  Or at least some kind of pea.  

You think it's an egg?  It's an onion. 

Such good fish.  

Shishito Pepper.  

This is a mix of fresh egg and veggies, kind of a pancake in essence.  Delicious ending. 

Meet the Mosaburo family. 

I got a gift here too but I didn’t open it.  

Do you know what very happy people do?   They go sing.  

At Vigo Karaoke - part of the Big Echo group. 

There are videos that you shall never see! But invite us to karaoke and we will definitely go. Funny side note, this was both of our firsts with Karaoke so we had nothing to compare it too.  The room was great but the video on the screen was odd.  And the music was hard to sing to.  Regardless, when we got there, I immediately said 2 hrs and Kenny thought 1. Of course we did 2 and when we were almost done, we were both sad that it ended.  So. Much. Fun.

Did you think my bday day ended???  It did not.  Not without our regular nightly ritual. 

That’s truffle chips, baumbuken and ice cream. Just in case you didn’t know. 

And that’s how I turned 50.  With lots and lots of sweets, some beer, amazing food and good times (minus the sweating, feet hurting, grouchy from Shopping part).