Day 20 - It's over already?

Our last full day in Japan! Rob and I were a couple doors down from our original hotel room, so it was funny to see this view as we exited our door.


I was determined to do three things on our last day. Go to a bookstore, a fabric store, and a last trip to Muji. Luckily, we could do all of these things in Ikebukuro (the neighborhood next to where my mom grew up), so we headed out.

Rob took off on his own and went to see the view atop Sunshine Building.



Mama, Huay and I started off together at Junkudo, billed as “the world’s largest bookstore”. I was only interested in one floor (the craft books, of course) but it was quiet and relaxed, with a huge selection. After that we headed to Kinkado, a store that has clothes, other merchandise, and fabric. Kinkado is store that my mom has a connection with as the parents of a school friend of hers owned it, and she remembers when it was a tiny store in the same location.

There’s a pedestrian street in Ikebukuro called Sunshine Street. It’s nice to walk around and not worry about which direction traffic is coming from.


Our last stop was going to Tokyu Hands again.


But this Tokyu Hands is special, because on the 8th floor they have “nekobukuro”, a place where you can pay about $5.00 to spend some time with some purebred cats! Most of the cats were shy, but it was a fun way to experience some more “only in Japan” moments.



For lunch, Huay requested that we go to a “kaiten zushi” place, or conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Luckily, Ikebukuro had quite a few, so we went into a quieter restaurant for a delicious lunch.



The only downside to our day was that Rob was feeling quite ill. He decided to “do as the Romans do” and wear a face mask.

Why do I have to sit next to the freak?

I spent the afternoon taking a nap (by now my brain was completely fried from transitioning between Japanese and English), while Mama, Huay, and Rob explored more of the area around our hotel. We then made a mad dash to the Ginza Muji (which is huge!), where I gave everyone 40 minutes to do their shopping. By this point in the trip, I was so attuned to Japanese punctuality I had everyone quaking in their shoes. Huay almost didn’t make it, but she was only 5 minutes late.

Our last dinner was spent with Uncle Mimichan, who asked us to meet him at Shibuya next to the Hachiko statue. Well, I think half of Tokyo decided to meet there that night! Quite the crowd and it was fun seeing all the youngsters in their getups.



We had a very nice tonkatsu dinner, then headed back to the hotel. Luckily, our flight didn’t leave until early afternoon and Mimichan drove us to the airport, so our final day wasn’t as frantic as it could have been. However, Rob and I had to buy one more bag for the stuff we bought in Tokyo, and Mama, Huay, and I completely forgot about the “no liquids in carry-ons” rule and all had stuff confiscated. It’s not a trip until someone gets in trouble at the airport!

We landed in LAX seven hours before we left Tokyo (isn’t time difference crazy) and remembered to take one final photo.


Well, that’s it! I hope everyone had a fun time reading about our trip. I asked my other travel companions if they had anything they wanted to say on this final post, and here are their thoughts.

Mama

Thanks Mari, Rob and Huay for being great travel companions.
Thanks to Mari for her good research and planning.
I saw places with a different viewpoint, enjoyed the beauty of Japan, and had a great time with family.
When we are traveling there are so many things we can feel and touch. It's so much more than seeing them on a screen or looking at pictures. Now I want to explore, experience and discover more great places.

(The best reward that came from this trip is that Mama wants to travel more. Isn’t that great?)

Rob

I just want to thank Mari for this trip. If it wasn't for her, I probably never would have gone to Japan and I certainly would not have done all the amazing things we did on this trip in particular. My favorite part of the trip was getting to meet Mari's and now my extended family. The memories are running the streets with Mimichan, laughing with Kanchan and Kouichisan, and exploring Mashiko with Miyuki and Kinta are unforgettable. I could never have planned and coordinated the trip Mari laid out for all of us, the time and effort she put into it is immensely appreciated, thank you so much.

(Isn’t Rob sweet? Really, I wasn’t trolling for compliments, he’s just that nice!)

Huay

If you want to get away and get a different take on life - Japan is a great place to go. I enjoyed the sense of peace and the cultural appreciation of age and beauty in a country that really felt like another world. Traveling with japanese speakers was an amazing opportunity. I'm so glad I went with Mari, Mieko and Rob - I felt like I got to see and have a much richer experience because we got to meet with their family. I miss real japanese food. I miss looking at fabric and gardens and shopping. BTW, went to Mitsuwa for some japanese groceries and discovered that one regular piece of mochi is 300 Calories. (AAAGH!) Which is why I put on some weight...

(Huay is very tiny so don't listen to her talk about her weight gain - I'm sure it was minimal!)

(Hopefully, over the next month or so, I'll post links, travel tips, and our itinerary. So much of what I found was via the internet and not travel guides (which for Japan are woefully lacking) that I think it will be helpful even if you're not traveling to Japan.)

I decided to blog about our trip in detail because I wanted our family members who weren't able to come to experience it with us as much as possible. I hope everyone else who were reading along were able to enjoy it as well, and maybe are inspired to take a trip to Japan one day. It really is an amazing place to travel, between the food, service, and beauty, Japan is ichiban (number one)!