Sunday Evening 3/26/2017

It’s Sunday evening here in Tokyo. I almost can’t believe that this time tomorrow we’ll be on our way home to Kaua’i. What a great time we’ve had! We’ve thoroughly enjoyed each and every day, and seen and done everything we wanted to see and do. The only thing we could want more of is time with our son, daughter-in-law and beautiful grandchildren.

The New Sanno Hotel has been an absolutely fantastic place to stay. Our room has been exceedingly comfortable, with every amenity imaginable, and we’ve loved being able to have our son and grandson come over to swim a few times this week. Having a Navy Exchange on the property has also helped us save, and let us indulge our son’s love of Diet Coke!

I’m ending our vacation with a trip to the local police station. It was raining this morning when we were walking to our grandson’s soccer practice, and as we walked along the street I saw something shining on the sidewalk and bent down to pick it up. It was a thin silver ring, like a wedding band, but as Brett and YaYu had gotten far ahead of me at that point I put the ring in my pocket and kept going. I thought about putting it back, but then couldn’t remember where on the street I had found it. But, as the day went on I was feeling badly about having it, and this evening looked inside and saw a very tiny ‘Chanel’ marked inside as well as some numbers. I plugged it all into Google and voilà – there was the ring on the Chanel site! It is made of platinum, and has a retail value of more than $1530!!! Yikes! So, after we check out of the hotel tomorrow morning my son and I are going over to the local police station to turn the ring into lost and found because I know someone here would do the same if I lost something, even if it was just a cheap plastic umbrella. You just don’t take things you find here and keep them.

There will be absolutely nothing to eat in our house when we get home to Kaua’i, so we plan to stop at Pono Market in Kapaa on the way home from the airport to pick up a few things to eat, as well as find something to put in YaYu’s lunch on Tuesday when she heads back to school. Brett and I will be heading to Costco, Walmart and Big Save on Tuesday to do our monthly ‘big shop’ and replenish our fridge, freezer and pantry for the month.

This evening I am:

• Reading: I’m ashamed to say I haven’t picked up my book even once this week. We’ve come back to our room every evening and collapsed.
• Listening to: We had our grandson here at the hotel with us this evening, but he’s gone home to bed because he has to be up early to go on a field trip tomorrow, and the room seems quiet and empty without him. Brett and YaYu have fallen asleep, and I’m about to drop off.
• Watching: We haven’t watched very much TV here, although there are plenty of channels available. I’ve actually missed seeing any Japanese TV – it can be very wacky (along with completely unintelligible).

  

• Eating: Since last week’s visit to the curry restaurant, we’ve enjoyed tonkatsu (pork cutlets), Chinese food in Chinatown, shrimp & vegetable tempura for dinner one evening, as well as those only-in-Japan treats. YaYu was determined to have ramen here, and finally got to enjoy a big bowl of the stuff at a stand/restaurant when we visited Asakusa to see the Sensoji temple.

  

• Happy I accomplished last week: We got to babysit our grandchildren not once, but twice, this past week, and we got to take our grandson out to lunch one day. He also spent this evening with us at the hotel, which was a delight. For fun we ordered from room service (very affordable at the hotel) which he thought was a lot of fun. This week we got to walk the Ginza in Tokyo and shop at Ito-Ya, the famous paper store; visit Tokyo Station and the surrounding area; spend a full day in Yokohama and tour the Cup Noodle Museum as well as visit Chinatown and the Takashimaya department store at Yokohama Station; visit the Meiji Shrine and Harajuku; and go to Nakamise and the Sensoji temple in Asakusa. In other words, we did everything on our list except visit Kamakura, which we decided would just be too much this time. We have one more task tomorrow morning besides the visit to the police station – a trip to the bakery to pick up some raisin bread to bring home. Otherwise we’re packed and ready to go. Our plane leaves at 7:00 p.m., so we will catch the express train at 3:30-ish to be out to Narita by 5:00.
• Looking forward to next week: I’m feeling very sad about leaving Japan because I know it will be a couple of years before we can get back, and our grandchildren will grow and change so much before we can see them again, but at the same time I’m looking forward to being home on Kaua’i again, enjoying the memories we’ve made and some of the treats we’re bringing home with us. I’ll also be announcing the first of three Japan-related giveaways on the blog later this week!

  

• Thinking of good things that happened: We enjoyed treating our son and family to the fabulous Sunday champagne brunch at the New Sanno this morning, and then having them stay for a swim this afternoon. We will actually be leaving Japan this time with money in our travel account. The only souvenirs we’ve bought for ourselves have been edible except for the omikuji (amulets) Brett and I bought ourselves for good fortune and luck at the Meiji Shrine, and a small Inu Hariko, my favorite Japanese folk character, that I found at a folk craft shop near Sensoji. He’ll go on my bedside table when we get home. We also found two more flavors of KitKats yesterday, raspberry and green tea, when we stopped in a couple of convenience stores on our way back to the hotel to look for something else – we’re now up to eleven different flavors this trip! Other than a couple of rainy days we’ve enjoyed great weather all week, although it’s been quite cold at times (for us).
• Grateful for: Once again we have been so thankful for our son’s and daughter-in-law’s help with translations and getting us around all this past week. We could have managed on our own, but not as smoothly or easily as it’s been with their assistance. They’ve also bought many of our train/subway tickets, taken us out for several meals, and helped us experience things we would have otherwise missed.

  

• It’s so Japanese-y: Vending machines (jidō hanbaiki) are everywhere in Japan. Everywhere. You will find them on street corners in residential areas, in busy train or subway stations, outside convenience stores and supermarkets, inside department stores – everywhere. Most sell drinks such as hot or cold coffee, juices, energy drinks, or water and tea, but you can also find machines selling beer, whiskey, sake, magazines, cigarettes, umbrellas, neckties, hot noodles, books, ice cream (including ice cream cones), crepes, fruits and vegetables, eggs and well, just about anything you can think of. It’s just part of life in Japan. Many vending machines that sell drinks in plastic bottles and cans have a recycling center either built in, or right next to the machines. You’ll never see a bottle or can just thrown into the street.

That’s all for this week! It’s back to our regular routine next week, but even though we’ve had a wonderful trip I’m sort of looking forward to regular again (whatever that means). How was your week? What good things happened for you?