Leaving for Japan

Forgive me for all the details I'll be writing on my following posts. I record minutiae because I just can't remember our trips unless I record them to jog my memory.

April 8th, 2025 Tuesday
Honolulu to Tokyo

Our van was in the shop because the starter thing was not working AND the air conditioning was dead. We have a wonderful auto repair shop master mechanic who said he would keep the van while we're gone and work on it. 

We worried that our rather large box of omiyage (gifts to relatives), 2 suitcases, a carry-on and two backpacks would not fit in our Prius. 

But they did. 

Thank goodness!

My brother drove us to the airport in the morning after we sent mom off to her Day Care on the Handi-Van.

And then it was time to board our ANA flight to Tokyo's Narita Airport.

I always get a sort of weird nervousness when I look through the window and see we are leaving the island.

Art just looks at it as the start of another adventure.

It was fun to see Pokemon characters used to show passenger safety information.

A friend of ours mentioned how much her family enjoyed seeing The Wild Robot so I decided to watch it and LOVED it.

Also watched Moana 2 which was so so. Then I watched Wicked again and enjoyed it.

There was quite a lot of turbulence at the end of the flight and it was the worst landing ever! 

April 9th, 2025 Wednesday

We landed at 2:43 PM (Tokyo Time) after an 8 hour flight.

The immigration line to enter the country seemed to stretch forever.

We even ended up talking to a couple of guys from the Big Island and another couple from North Carolina who had retired and were traveling the world together.

We found the Takkyubin package delivery service (Yamato Transport) at the airport and sent off boxes to my aunt in Sendai, uncle and cousin in Tokyo. Incredibly, they would get the packages we sent the following morning. The cost of this service is incredibly reasonable.

We also sent our suitcases to the distant Kobe hotel where we would be meeting our tour group in 4 days.

It was 7:30 PM by the time we got to our Toyoko Inn hotel. It's known to be a businessman's hotel with VERY little amenities.

The rooms are extremely small, but the rates are very reasonable.

We were so tired by then that we just went across the street to a convenience store and picked up some bento dinners.

It was fun to see the different religious books that were on display in our room. Well... at least I know two of them are religious. Not sure of the others.

April 10, 2025 Thursday
Hokusai Digital Exhibit

Got up at 7:30 AM. The melatonin I took the night before helped. Otherwise, I'd get up at 2:00 AM. 

As I said, a businessman's hotel is no-frills. Breakfast was miso soup, rice balls, and a beverage (tea, coffee or juice). 

Art loves Japanese woodblock prints and there was a Hokusai digital exhibit of his prints being shown at the Tokyu Plaza. We've been to a number of digital art exhibits. This one was OK.

Next on the agenda was shopping. Our granddaughter had a variety of cosmetics she said she was interested in when we asked her to give us a list. Trouble was trying to find these items in the huge Don Quijote store in Shibuya. It's over twice the cost if you bought them in the U.S.

Mari noticed I was looking rather lost and helped us find everything we needed. And since the items together cost over 5,000 yen, it was also tax free.

The rule is:  Purchases at the same store on the same day must total at least 5,000 yen. That's about $35.00.

After making those purchases, we stopped at Ohana Donburi (Flower bowls) and bought some unagi donburi (grilled eel over rice bowls). My bowl is on the left. Art must have been hungry and bought the seafood donburi.

We were told that we would be changing rooms the following day. 

DisneySea would be our next destination.