Chasing the Sun to Japan!

According to foursquare, I haven't checked in with T for a year, which is so hard to believe! I was so happy to see her Thursday night at EWR. She helped me pack. I packed soooo much and somehow she was able to get me to consolidate. K's sister Liz picked us up in the morning to get back to the airport. After a terrible egg breakfast at Ruby's Diner (don't go!!!) we got on our 14-hour flight to Narita!

Too bad we had the rudest and loudest flight attendants! This was definitely not Singapore Airlines. Where are the hot, calm stewardesses?! We just got a bunch of cranky ones. Anyway, we got our complimentary Nobu sake despite them (it was eh) and watched a lot of classics on the way there. Picked up some Japanese (oishi!) or nihongo and arrived at Narita before sundown. Great views of Alaska on the way to mark half of the trip. And it's also worth noting that all 14 hours were spent in daylight as if we were chasing the sun.

After a 2-hour car ride, we get to our hotel the LANI Rosemary Shiosai in a small town called Maruyama. We had a traditional room, which meant we would sleep on the floor, and have to bathe in a shared shower. Yup, shared shower. I had to shower next to a Japanese woman on a stool with a bucket next to a hot bath. 

But we had a toilet ensuite and this toilet has changed our perspective on America. America has such boring toilets! At the airport they had fancy toilets and we were so happy to have it in our room. Bidet (2 settings plus one where you can choose intensity) plus seat warmer. It was just missing some noise making capabilities. We decided this was the way to live. For the first time in our travels, going to public restrooms became a delight!

Minako had taken us from the airport to the hotel. She is so sweet because she arranged dinner, too, with many of M's former colleagues. We were rushing so we didn't hit the ATM at the airport. However, by the time we got to Unajin restaurant, food had arrived and there were about 10 other people waiting for us! We had to do formal introductions at the end and K was falling asleep at the table. We also started noticing that K and my names were difficult for the Japanese to say and T's name was so easy! That became one of our favorite things about introductions. When we got back to the hotel, some of our hosts felt compelled to make our beds/mats for us "traditional Japanese style." Wait, they paid for a massive welcome dinner and made our beds?! Way too kind!! We would have insisted no to both but we had no yen and we were just so tired from the travel, the bed situation would have been a mess. After an incredible meal of salads, yakitori, tofu, yams (oishi) and more, we fell asleep with our bellies very full.