It is Friday about 530 am here in Tokyo on my very last day here. We will be checking out and heading for the airport soon and it will sayonara to Japan (for now anyway....).
Yesterday was our last full day in Japan and it was a holiday. It was Showa no hi (Emperor's Day). It was the beginning of Golden Week although this year it is a "split" holiday week with Thursday being a holiday, Friday being a workday and Monday -Wednesday next week being holidays again. Emperor's Day celebrates the birthday of Emperor Showa who died in 1969. The other holidays during Golden Week are: Monday May 3 Kenpo kinenbi (Constitution Day) to celebrate the day the post war constitution was put into effect in 1947. Tuesday May 4 is Midori no hi (Greenery Day), this used to be celebrated on 4/29 until 2006 when they made that date Showa no hi. Midori no hi is dedicated to the environment and nature. Before it was declared a holiday of its own, it was a holiday due to a law that declares a day falling between 2 national holidays is also a holiday. Wednesday May 5 is Kodomo no hi (Children's day). Tengo no Sekku (the Boy's Festival) is celebrated on this day with families praying for the health and success of their sons by hanging up carp streamers and displaying samurai dolls which both symbolize strength, power and success.
Well, for our Emperor's Day celebration, guess what... we met at Starbucks... routine but good and then I talked Karen and Michelle into riding the Yurikamome train with me and getting off at every stop to take pictures of the station art. And you thought I wasn't a fun person. We first rode it toward stop 1 (Shimbashi) - we live at stop 11 Daiba - and got off at stop 2 Shio dome so I could get some better pictures of that cool "steam punk-ish" clock. It is even cooler close up cause it has feet on it like eagle claws -- kind of reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle. We met another co-worker Jeff for coffee at ... wait for it... Starbucks. He took a picture of the 3 of us which I will need to remember to get from Karen. Then you guessed it back on the train to get the pictures of the rest of the stops... Excitement overbounds when you hang out with me! But as I look at the pictures, it seems in the excitement of train hopping - tee hee tee hee - I missed the sign at Telecom Center... hmm, maybe I can talk Michelle into getting a shot of it for me....
My favorite station's art is at the end of the line - Station 16 at Toyosu. It is called Mizu-ni-amayrou monyou. Amayrou is a fictitious dragon. Surprise, Dot picks the dragon! According to the sign, it says that people thought dragons went up into the sky and made it rain. And it is also said to be a sign of luck that brings good fortune.
As we read the signs for each of the stations, it seems most of them are patterns that are meant to bring good luck and fortune which makes sense, who would want to put bad luck signs up, especially in train stations that are fully automated!
At Toyosu we went to the mall at Lala port (yep that's its name) and walked around and then went to lunch. We then headed back home, this time in one complete train ride. I think the girls were relieved. Michelle got off at her station - Kokusai tenjijo seimon, by the office and we headed back to Daiba for a bit.
I got back to the hotel and took some pictures of the room - guess I should have done that the first night but... including the toilet which has more bells and whistles than I know what to do with. Even the public toilets are fancy. Except for the one in the train station which was just a hole in the floor - granted it was a porcelain hole in the floor, but hole in the floor it was.
This apparently is the way the maid wanted me to arrange my stuff in the bathroom, because every time I moved it she moved it back! After a day or so, I gave up.
We also had the funky electric tea pot/water boiler which is actually pretty cool after you figure out the Japanese directions.
I packed up everything but what I needed for last night and today. I just piled everything on the bed and threw it into the 2 suitcases. It is amazing how much faster packing goes on the way home when you really don't care what gets wrinkled and what doesn't. Pretty much everything is going to get pulled out of the suitcase and thrown into the washer when I get home anyway, so... Pity the customs inspector who goes through my luggage if they decide to open it.
Hung out in the room for a bit and then, you guessed it, met with Michelle and Karen for one last run at Starbuck's in Aqua City. Walked around the mall a bit - one last look see - and then we said good-bye to Michelle. She is here in Japan for another 3 weeks (total of 6) before she gets to go home to the UK. We will miss her company, she is great and was a godsend to us on our first days here.
Although yesterday did not seem very exciting or busy, I was exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open past 9:30! Of course once I shut the lights off and actually tried to go to sleep it was a different story.... I had set the alarm for 745 just in case but as you can see I was up much earlier than that.
Well our plans for today are to check out at around 8:30 this morning -- yes, you actually have to physically check out of this hotel! In fact, at 10 days we had to go down and present our credit card and pay the bill for the first half of our stay!
Then we are going to catch the 9:10 bus from the hotel to Narita Airport. That should get us there between 10:30 and 11:00. Yes it's true, our flight does not leave Narita until 3:30 but thank goodness Karen and I are of the same mindset about airports... would rather be AT the airport early and ready to board than to be running late and miss the plane. We figure we can eat there and maybe do some really last minute shopping!
We should be landing back in LA on Friday at around 9:30 am -- which is totally freaky since we are leaving Japan on Friday at 3:30 in the afternoon! Also it is only like a 10 hour flight home rather than the 12 hour flight here -- sounds like some pretty strong tail winds to me! Of course by the time we get through customs and back out of LAX traffic, who knows what time I will get home.
Speaking of home.... wonder if my cats will remember me?
So this is my last post from Japan, she says with just a little bit of a tear in her eye. I will probably have one more post after I get home - probably not til Sat Ca time since my body will think it is 330 am Sat when we land! -- and then we will end this chapter in the book of my life.
Sayonara
dot
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