Mar 28, 29 and 30

March 28

We left SFO at 4:40, or at least that was when we were scheduled to fly. Didn’t leave until about 6:00 pm. Matt and I ate at the “budget” international Capital One lounge as the nice ones were closed to Priority Pass members for the afternoon. Lots of weird Chinese food and cookies. We packed stuff in our bags to take with us on the flight as ZipAir does not feed you and we didn’t want to spend money on weird airplane food. That would not be the Southworth way, and I’m ok with not doing it as well. But it meant more weird white bread/coleslaw sandwiches and cookies on the plane. 

March 29

The flight went uneventfully, but felt really long. Got to Tokyo at about 8:00 pm on March 29, and through customs and then about an hour an a half on the train. We were all hungry and wandered about a bit trying to find something to eat. Ended up buying a bunch more junk at one of the million little snack shops in Tokyo. Caught an Uber for the last mile to our AirBnB as we were all exhausted. When we go to the room, the host had failed to provide the code to get into the apartment. We tried to call and text but couldn’t get an answer. After about 45 minutes of trying everything we could, some people from inside let us in, after we showed them our receipt. Finally in the room, we fell into bed. With the help of Ativan and Melatonin, we slept well. 

March 30

Got up and met Mohan and Dan at 9 am. Busy day planned. We stopped for coffee and.a croissant egg thing that was absolutely delicious. Headed to the train with our destination the Imperial Palace. Walked around the beautiful grounds and then headed to the train for Ueno Park where the Cherry Blossom Festival is taking place. Stopped on our way to have coffee and then stopped again for lunch - ramen noodles. Nothing can prepare you for how different it is to eat here. The restaurants are so different and the way you order in the ramen restaurants feels really complicated. I would never be able to figure it out without Daniel. Thank god for someone who speaks Japanese. 

Ueno Park was just extraordinarily beautiful. The trees were all in bloom and the place was mad with people. We walked all around the park, including visiting a shrine and wandering through an outdoor food court. There is nothing here that is anything like home. Well, we did see some roasted corn, but it ended there. It is so interesting seeing all the different street foods and everything is delicious, even though so unlike anything you’ve ever eaten. We had some fried squid and some weird bean paste fried sweets. 

After the park, we headed to the Tokyo National Museum. It was interesting but I could have skipped this one. But part of the tourist drill so we wandered through. At one point I felt so tired, I just wanted to lay on the floor and sleep. 

After the Museum, we saw the Lightning Gate - I think, shrines and pagodas. Wandered through yet another food court. People everywhere but so cool. Loved seeing all the different foods. 

We have tickets to go to the top of the Sky Tree where we can see the lights of Tokyo but our entrance is at 8:30. So we went in search for a restaurant to have dinner and sit a while We have a lot of miles on our feet by now. Found a really amazing restaurant on the 6th floor of a building overlooking the river. The restaurants was really hard to find and nobody was in there but us. Looked like it only sat about three parties at max. The chef prepared food just for us and we shared several dishes while relaxing and looking at the sunset and the beautiful lights of Tokyo and the riverboats. Such a fun experience.

Finally time to walk to the Sky Tree. Another amazing cultural experience. We wandered around for a bit in all the shops in the Sky Tree. Went into this Sweets shop that had 100s of snack type foods and not one is something you would ever see in the states. Everything looked so good. 

The view of Tokyo from the top of the Sky Tree was absolutely gorgeous. This city takes your breath away . 37 million people. A city that truly never sleeps. What a priviledge to be here.

A long train ride home and I fell asleep on Matt’s shoulder. SOOOOO tired. But we slept well again. Tomorrow is a rainy day. We will make the best of it.