Today was our last day in Japan (we leave tomorrow). I really have mixed emotions about leaving. I love Japan so much that it is never easy to leave. But here are some positives of going home:
1. On Tuesday when we get home (our flight gets in pretty early in the morning), we are just going to spend the whole damn day lounging around and watching TV. And playing with Jack and Moxie.
2. There's a bottle of Black Rabbit Red in the wine rack (that sounds pretentious -- it's just a little six-bottle rack on our microwave cart). I'm opening that bad boy.
3. Real Diet Coke!
4. Everybody speaks English! And those who don't are statistically likely to speak Spanish, a language in which I can get by!
5. American TV! I'll admit it, I like TV. I like to unwind with it in the evening. And the TV in our hotel gets like 12 channels (one of which I swear is a math teaching channel), and of course it's all in Japanese. It was cool a couple of nights when there was sports on it (American football played in Japan one night, and another night, figure skating). I don't want to give the impression that I wanted to watch a lot of TV here ... I was just looking for 30 minutes of mindless entertainment at the end of the day.
Anyway ... today we mostly shopped, and we were just about 100% successful in that. We started out at a fantastic little shop called Blue and White. Seriously, if you are ever in Tokyo, go. The lady who owns it, Amy, is super cool. The stuff she has ... it's all handcrafted, and it's all beautiful. I got a gorgeous (cashmere?) woven shawl that was a splurge and is not the kind of thing I would normally buy for myself. But it's so soft and beautiful ...
We were also hunting for some manga books for Charlie. Not only did we (eventually) find everything we were looking for, but it was even just 105 yen a book. (We were looking for the Japanese editions of "Chobits" and "Outlaw Star." Thank you, Book Off -- that's where we found everything, in two different branches. None of the manga shops was at all helpful.)
We made our third attempt to visit the Tokyo Skytree, but it has only been open since May and it's still super popular. When we got there, they were no longer selling tickets for today at all. You can make a reservation online, but only if you have a Japan-issued credit card. Sigh. We did find a Totoro shop in the mall there, and I bought a couple of adorable Totoro chopstick rests.
After that, we went back to the hotel to regroup, and then headed out for dinner at a shabu-shabu place. It was yummy. We went back to pack (which was kind of daunting, honestly), and then out to wander around and find the Zenkoji Temple, which is especially beautiful at night when all of the lanterns are lit. Apparently at midnight on New Year's Eve, the Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times, for the 108 sins of mankind (I have no idea what those would be, but I hope talking at the movies is one of them). We didn't last long enough to find out.
We went to Taito Game Station and played the arcade version of Mario Kart (complete with steering wheels and gas pedals). It was fun. We were back at the hotel before midnight, because we're old. :-)
Overall, it was an amazing trip. I'm so glad we got to come. I really don't want it to be another seven years before we can get back.
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