Sunday: Asakusa Monday: Shinagawa Aquarium

Sunday was a short day for Art and me. 

It began with a happy reunion with Keola who came down to see us along with Tif and KC at breakfast before Sarah came down with our sleepy grandsons.

When I hugged Keola, it seemed he was taller and bigger than I remembered from three years ago. It was funny that Art told me the same thing later.

But no, Keola said he was just the same.

After breakfast we took the train together to Asakusa, but I was too exhausted with too little sleep and too much anxiety for two days to stay for the entire day. 

However, while in Asakusa, we stopped at the UNIQLO store where Tiffany bought little shoulder bags for herself, KC and me. 

I'd told her earlier that I needed to find a small bag since I forgot to bring a bag to carry my essentials in. This was perfect and you could order a little embroidery to personalize it. KC chose that bear. Tif chose the cherry blossom and I chose the little Mt. Fuji to commemorate this trip. 

(Correction: Tif said she and Kalani had been planning on getting these bags before they left Chicago because she'd read how wonderful they were and that it was only at this location that you could get the embroidery done in hours instead of days. 😂 )

Art and I returned to the hotel in the early afternoon. I had just been to the ER with vertigo the week before and now was still feeling some of the symptoms. The stress of mom's accident added to the exhaustion. 

Meanwhile, Tif, KC, Keola and family continued on to Asakusa's Sensoji Temple. The grandkids loved getting a fortune (omikuji) there.

Concerned about my health difficulties, Tif bought a charm (omamori) for good health and gave it to me when they returned.

That symbol on the omamori, by the way, is not a Nazi swastika which turns the other way. 

It's been a peaceful Hindu and Buddhist symbol, way before Hitler appropriated it and changed its direction.

Meanwhile: The report from my brother, Dennis was that mom was already insisting on going back out to the street the following morning to do her daily street cleaning. 😲 Dennis stayed with her to make sure she didn’t show any ill-effects. He wondered why neither of us had inherited her ability to heal. 

Monday: We met Tiffany and KC for breakfast. Sarah would then join us with 7 year old JK, followed soon after by Keola and 5 year old RK. I could hardly believe that RK, who would be entering kindergarten in September was already a wonderful reader. His brother was also an early reader. 

It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel to the Shinagawa Aquarium. We saw a fun dolphin show and had lunch at the Aquarium restaurant. 

The boys absolutely LOVED seeing all the beautiful creatures that live in the ocean. 

16 year old KC was very indulgent of her young cousins and a good sport in allowing them to have nearly all of our attention. Art and I were thrilled to see what a lovely, graceful, kind and really smart young woman she was growing to be.

We made a stop at DAISO which is a favorite 100 yen store for all of us. Japan has a lot of 100 yen stores which would make everything in the store about 70 cents. Another favorite of ours was Seria. I was glad I had lots of luggage space. (In the end, we really didn't buy very much anyway and there was lots of luggage space left.) 😄 Not so for our kids.

Dinner was at Kura Sushi. We loved that restaurant at the Omori Train Station. 

The little plates of mostly different kinds of sushi are less than $4 each, lots under $2. For the 8 of us that evening, our bill was less than $80. Absolutely incredible! 

What the boys especially loved was being able to send down our emptied little plates. For every 5 plates, you MIGHT win a tiny prize. It does encourage you to eat more than you intend, but so much fun!

It was definitely a fun day! I was taking meclizine for my vertigo which was dissipating. Thank goodness! Our sleep schedule was slowly adjusting to the time difference.