Home at Last 4-9-26

​Our flight yesterday was just short of 9 hours on ANA.  

Their business class seats are different from any that I have ever used. Half the seats in business class are facing towards the rear of the plane and the other half are facing towards the front of the plane we happen to be sitting in seats out or facing towards the rear, and I thought that was weird, but being out not if they’re more a crash, facing towards the rear might be better. 

The other thing about the seats where that each seat was like a cubicle, which could be closed off from the aisle with a sliding door. The stewardess could see over the top of the sliding door, but it provided some sense of privacy and perhaps a slight noise dampening.

The food on the flight was very good.  You could choose either a continental menu or a Japanese menu, and we chose the Japanese menu. As I said before, the food was good, probably better than the food on any other flight we’ve been on.

We weighed ourselves this morning, and I was pleased that I only gained 2 pounds. I had been concerned that because of all of the good food on the cruise, that I would gain 5 pounds.  If we had weighed ourselves when we got off the ship, we probably would have showed a higher weight gain.  When we were in Tokyo, we walked a lot and ate more reasonably.

We decided that we are not ocean cruise material because the food at all 3 meals are good, but after a while, we seem to not be hungry when it's mealtime, which is uncomfortable. I think this is because there is something about desiring something when you don't have it all the time.

Thoughts about Japan:

We always end up buying clothes when we go to Japan because they have materials and styles that we prefer over US made clothing. On this trip, I found a long sleeve shirt that feels nice to wear, looks good, is stretchy, stays cool, easy to dry, and UV resistant.  Best of all the price was $15!

We seem to gravitate to Uniqlo, where I bought a couple of Airism T-shirts that feature odor control, stretchy, and keeps you cool.

I also bought a stainless steel toenail clipper that is very sharp and looks nice, as well as a little nose trimmer, also made out of stainless steel.

Going Home 4-8-26

​

The Suica card is a Japanese debit card used for transit (metro, buses, trains) as well as some shops and restaurants. We each downloaded them to our Apple wallets and loaded them with 1500 yen ($9.47).  I figured that we would have to add more yen before leaving Tokyo. In Tokyo, have only taken 2 short round trips, so we still had yen on our cards as of this morning.  I used it to buy breakfast today at the local 7-11 store, but still had about 900 yen left.  

Yesterday I had bought a long sleeve shirt that I really liked at a clothing store in a nearby mall, so we went back to that store to buy another. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to use the balance of my Suica card as part of the payment.

In Japan, convenience stores like 7-11  & Lawsons have really good food. I read that Japanese people go to these stores not for convenience items, but for their food. There were 2 convenience stores within 2 blocks of our Airbnb in Tokyo, so each morning we would buy our breakfast from them to eat at our room.  Here is 1 shelf at one store:

We went to Narita Airport, arriving around 1:00 pm.  We checked our bags, went through customs and immigration and were in the Ana lounge by 1:20 pm.  We were pleasantly surprised that the Ana lounge was almost empty, and the food was good, better than in any lounge we’ve been in. Here is a photo of the lounge.  You can see the back of Marge’s head towards the back of the photo

Tokyo 4-5-26

​We docked at the Tokyo cruise terminal this morning on a cold & rainy day.  Late in the morning, we took a taxi to the Tsukiji outer market.  I hadn’t planned on going there because I had been told that it was crowded, but I figured the weather might keep some people away.

Despite the cold and rain, it was crowded at the market. I took this photo just as we entered the other market - once we got in there it was packed.

I would hate to have been there on a nice day. 

We had lunch in a sushi bar that I found on Google Maps.

We ordered the Takumi shown below, plus an order of Marge’s favorite, broiled eel, and a roasted salmon collar for me.

With my beer and Marge’s sake, the total was 6850 yen, or $43.  It was a very nice lunch at a reasonable price. The taxi ride to and from lunch was a bit more than the cost of lunch.

I have Apple AirPods Pro earbuds that are supposed to translate live, but I found that most Japanese people we dealt with at restaurants or bakeries speak enough English for us to manage, and the earbuds aren’t yet good enough at translating live conversations.

Tomorrow am, we leave the ship for our Airbnb in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo where we will stay for 3 nights.

Ikeburuo is a neighborhood that our friend Susan showed us years ago.  We like it because it’s not as crowded as more popular areas of Tokyo, and is full of little shops and restaurants.  It also has a department store with a food floor full of goodies. In Japan, big department stores have a food floor, usually the basement floor.

Tokyo - 4-5-26 & 4-6-26

​In Tokyo, I booked 3 nights at an Airbnb studio in the Ikeburo area, which our friend Susan Greening introduced to us about 4 stays ago in Tokyo.  We like it because it has a transit station, the Ikebukuro Station, and is full of eateries, bakeries and shops. Not unexpectedly, it has gotten more crowded.

In my list of eats were fluffy pancakes, and sushi.

For a late morning snack today, we had the pancakes, and they were more decadent than I had anticipated:

It was very good, but not something I could eat very often for my health.

Another dish I had read about was Omurice, which is a soft scrambled/custardy omelette draped over chicken-ketchup fried rice.  We were in a Tokyo mall and stopped for a snack.  I ordered their version, which was pretty good:

For dinner today, we went to my favorite sushi place in the world, Sushi no Uetsune - less than $20 for 9 servings:

At Sea 4-3-26

​Today was entirely at sea, since the ship decided to skip our last stop before Tokyo, in order avoid bad weather by arriving in Tokyo a day early. I had thought we would experience rough seas, but that has not materialized and the forecast is for decent weather between now and when we dock tomorrow morning in Tokyo.

Even though we did not get off the ship today, I was able to walk over 12,000 steps, principal by doing laps around the walking deck.

For dinner tonight, my entrée was Beef Bourgignon, one of my favorite French dishes.  I order it whenever I see it on a menu, including in Paris. This version was the best I have ever eaten!

The beef in the dish was very flavorful and most importantly, it was so tender that I could cut it with my soup spoon.  This photo doesn’t do it justice. The waiter said that the beef had been simmered over four days.

Kobe 4-2-26

​Today we landed in Kobe.  As usual, we took the shuttle bus to a downtown area, and walked a covered shopping mall. 

This mall seemed like the longest one we’ve been to. My iPhone showed that we had walked 10,500 steps, or about 3.9 miles today, all at the mall.  

Normally I don’t like shopping malls, but the ones in Japan are more entertaining.  All of the merchants were in small shops, and many had English explanations about their wares, or, in the case of eateries, pictures.

As usual, our 1st stop was a small shop were I bought a manju (sweet rice cake):

It was worth the calories!  It was so good that after lunch, on our way back to the shuttle bus pickup, I bought another to bring back to the ship.

We stopped for lunch at a place that served Kobe beef. My Kobe beef dish was served with a shrimp croquet.  

The beef was ok, but I think my taste buds are shifting to pork.

We stopped at a shop that sold knives and small tools, where I bought a toenail clipper and a nose hair trimmer, I think both are made of stainless steel. Not the most glamorous items, but the craftsmanship are what enticed me:

For dinner, we decided to eat in the main restaurant to see what we had been missing the past few nights.  

We both had an excellent pea soup.  

We shared a Caesar salad, which had too much dressing. 

Marge had a rack of lamb but she didn’t care for the sauce:

I had sweet & sour pork, but I only ate a few bites because I had some of Marge’s lamb.

For dessert, I had a very good coffee & chocolate trifle:

One thing that detracted from our dinner was that we sat next to a group of 4 people which included a loudmouth woman who had an opinion on everything. I had my Apple noise cancelling earphones, so I put one in my right ear to dampen the sound.

During dinner, the ship announced that  we would skip the next port, Nagasaki, due to poor weather concerns that the Port of Tokyo might close if we tried to dock at our normal date of April 5.  We will dock in Tokyo a day early and will be able to remain on the ship until April 5.

So we will be at sea the next 2 days in rough weather.

Kochi 4-1-26

​Today we docked in Kochi.  Late am, we took the ships shuttle to town.  It was raining, but there was a big covered mall near the shuttle stop so rain wasn’t a problem.  We walked to a large food mall filled with food booths.  Our 1st stop was a small booth that served zenzai & tea:

For lunch, I had a bowl of ramen and Marge had spring rolls: