#room4two

Goodbye America, Hello Japan!

Things are about to get real for me. We’re leaving the comforts and securities of the motherland to venture out to a place of complete vulnerability on our part. We don’t speak Japanese and we can’t read Japanese (despite Matt being half Japanese),so we are really starting out far behind the curve here folks. As we got on the plane in Hawaii, I loaded my newly purchased Catnapple bag with as many diet cokes as I could possibly carry on because Japan is Diet Coke free. You heard me right, it’s a real bad deal. These folks have a thing against aspartame for some reason. I mean, don’t mind the fact that it’s probably terrible for you, so they just aren’t having any of it here. Smuggling in as much as I could to get me through as much of this leg of the trip as I could is my plan. Once I run out, I’m going straight to beer, as that seems like the next safest option. Don’t be fooled, the Japanese do not judge day drinking, in fact, they seem to support it. It’s 8:20 am and we are currently boarding the bullet train to go to Kyoto for a few days and I noticed many people packing in beers for breakfast. Now that’s a new take on “eating your wheaties” if you ask me.

Quickly, it became clear that I was definitely the minority on the plane as we took our seats. My fair skin and blonde hair aren’t a discrete feature on an Asian airliner. I knew then, that everywhere in Japan was going to be just like this experience. I suppose the positive is that with my bright purple coat and my very distinguishable blonde hair, I won’t get lost in the crowds of people. Matt was right, the seats and entertainment on the plane were stellar, the service top notch, and the food, well a bit odd, but I committed to trying everything once (who knew that concept from childhood would re-emerge again) on this trip. I’ll either come out of Japan loving the food or I will have lost 10 pounds (either wouldn’t be a bad thing). We’ll see what happens. If the rest of Japan is going to be like our experience on the plane, then I’ll take it, otherwise, I’m just going to stay right here on the plane.

After just over eight hours on the flight, we arrived in the airport where Matt’s aunt and uncle picked us up. Matt’s mom and her sister immediately started talking in Japanese and it hasn’t stopped since! One 70 year old Asian lady is hard enough to wrangle, so you can only imagine two of them! I think they were super excited to see each other since it’s been around 15 years since Matt’s mom has been back to Japan. I mean, you’d think with FaceTime and Skype these ladies would “see” each other regularly, but no, the only thing Matt’s mom has learned to use the internet for is shopping on Amazon and binge watching Turkish soap operas on YouTube. While they were immediately starting to catch up, Matt secured us a pocket WiFi for the days we will be here, because I’m willing to take daily shots of my smuggled Diet Coke to make it last, I just can’t make it without the internet, it’s like the one last thing keeping me connected to the inside and outside world.

The thing I am most excited about throughout this entire journey is for Matt to be able to meet his extended family (his aunts/uncles and cousins) and to be able to see where his mom and her family grew up, as the family still owns and maintains their childhood home. About two years ago, Matt and I had discussed how we would like to get to Japan with his mom before she is unable to travel comfortably (it’s a 14 hour flight from OKC). Six months ago Matt’s mom found out that his cousin was going to be getting married in January and the entire family was coming. So, just like that, we started planning this adventure with our resident interpreter, Kinuko Jorgensen in tow.

Matt filled you in on all the fun things we have explored the last few days, which has been a unique experience to say the least. I’ll be honest, Japan is one of the cleanest, safest, most advanced places we’ve ever been (these toilets guys, I’m ordering one the minute we get home), but it’s been somewhat hard for us as Americans, as there is just not a lot of things in English anywhere and the public transportation, although abundant, is extremely confusing to navigate, even more so with such a significant language barrier between us and them. Thank goodness for the itranslate app on the IPhone, as we’ve been able to navigate our way around (if that’s what you want to call it, more like barely making it, but it’s worked) when Matt’s mom isn’t with us. I highly recommend it for anyone traveling where interpretation services will be needed. You just speak slowly into it in English and it gives both a written and spoken response translated in to whatever language you need it in. So, you can show it to someone or they can listen and usually between those two things, you can get what you want or need from the conversation.

As mentioned before, the whole reason we came to Japan now is because Matt’s cousin is getting married. We’ve been to a lot of weddings, but this was a real fancy wedding that clearly did not include a rehearsal because everyone (in the wedding party) has a personal escort who tells them what to do when, on que. This is a western style wedding (this seems to be popular here) that is held in a real elaborate hotel. What was different was that since there is not a rehearsal, the customary approach is that the bride and grooms families get together about 30 minutes before the wedding and introduce each person one by one to the other’s family. Once again, we can’t understand a thing going on, but we follow along and attempt to do what the others are doing. The wedding and reception last from 1:30 p.m. to about 8:30 p.m. and included two formal wear changes for the bride and groom, a six-course dinner (with different drinks at each course), and lots of meeting people from both sides many times throughout the night. I can now see why everyone needs a personal escort, it’s really a lot to keep straight. Not much is different in the wedding ceremony, nor all the other hub-hub that goes on with weddings, but thankfully we’ve attended a few in our time to know at least what is approximately going on since again all of this is in Japanese. So, as you will see from some of the photos, these additional people are Matt’s aunts, uncles (their spouses) and one set of his cousins. Matt’s mom is one of 6 kids. Her oldest brother is deceased, the next big brother unfortunately couldn’t make the wedding because he is in the hospital (he’s 77 and just had surgery), and then you see her next biggest brother (gray/white hair-he’s 73). I can’t pronounce or even try to type his name, but I can totally see where Matt gets his happy personality from, as this guy is a hoot! Matt’s mom is child number 4 and then her younger brother (dark hair) who she reports is very serious and her younger sister (in the kimono-her son is the one getting married) is the one that tries to keep everyone in the family in line. It’s been great getting to see all of them together. There are more family events scheduled for later in the week, but for now we’ll leave it at that. The wedding was beautiful and we all had a great time.

On Monday we went out and explored the Ginza area of Tokyo. This area is made up of high-end designer shops all put into these large multi-level malls. So imagine a Dillards store, but instead of different departments in one store (the different areas, men’s, women’s, etc. are all on different floors), it’s different designers in little booth spaces on each floor of the store, so more like a trade show set up if you will. We did some shopping and then headed over to the Canon store, so that Matt could get all of his camera equipment cleaned and serviced (as it is about half price to do it here then at home). Matt’s mom went along with us (you all should know she likes real fancy things-must be where Matt gets it from), as her interpretation skills were likely going to be needed at the camera store. We had a fabulous day, walked about 10 miles total, so I’m hoping that off sets all the sweet treats we keep picking up on every corner from these great little vendors.

Since we’ve been here, we’ve eaten just about every type of Japanese food. We’ve had sushi, ramen, soba, tonkatsu, yakatori, etc. We really wanted to go to one of the authentic yakiniku restaurants where you grill the beef there at your table over hot coals. About 8:00 pm we ventured out to find this place we found on the internet (mind you we can’t read any of it, but we were just taking a gamble hoping it was good), as it was about a mile walk from the house. We show up, they are very confused as to our lack of Japanese skills, but don’t fret the itranslate app came to the rescue once again! This place (which is down a dark alley with nothing else around it with nothing in English anywhere in sight, so we knew this place was going to be good) is apparently famous for feeding sumo wrestlers, so yes, we are definitely in the right place! We made it through this amazing meal with lots of patience from the owner and wait staff who were just so very accommodating to us. They sent us home with some little gifts from the restaurant and I think thoroughly enjoyed the experience with us just as much as we did. We even got them to take a picture with us! Follow up to this experience with Matt’s mom translating: we found out this place truly is one of the best places to go, so despite the little language barrier, Matt and I still were able to navigate our way to great food! Who knew?

We left Hawaii on a new airline, Japan Airlines (JAL), and after never flying on a non-US airline we were unsure of what to expect. Japan Airlines did not disappoint. JAL operates a 777 from Honolulu to Tokyo. The plane is massive, I believe the larger “Economy Plus” seats we had were still 2 x 5 x 2 seating arrangement, meaning, the planes is 9 big seats and 2 aisles wide. The cleanliness and service on this flight is something I don’t think I can go without mentioning. The plane was extremely clean and although it looked like it was put in service somewhat recently, it was not new at all, just very well maintained. The service was also something that was very good, even for us English speaking travelers. Most of the flight attendants spoke English well enough to take care of anything you asked them for and were able to take care of us just fine. We flew into Narita Airport, one of the major airports for the Tokyo area. We managed to locate my mom (Kinuko or Kim, as we will refer to her in the rest of the posts) wandering around the baggage claim area soon after we arrived. We directed her through the baggage claim and customs process on our way to the main lobby to meet up with my aunt and uncle. They were able to spot the three of us and graciously welcomed us to Tokyo. They had transportation already arranged to get us to the center of Tokyo where they live.

The drive back from Narita to Tokyo was similar to what you’d expect coming into most large cities, lots of tolls and traffic. Most of the transportation is similar to ours in the US, but not the same, and of course, everyone drives on the wrong side of the road here. They all have vehicles where the driver sits on the right hand side as well. We’re currently staying in an extra home my aunt owns just a couple miles from the middle of Tokyo. The homes are nice, but everything is a bit miniature compared to American standards. The rooms are a bit smaller, the doors are much shorter, and just everything is about 4/5th’s the size. It all works quite well until you hit your head on a door frame. My mom decided to come back over for my cousin’s wedding, so we decided this would be a great time for us to come as well, mainly so I could meet my extended family here in Tokyo. The wedding is a few days off, so we’ve got a couple of days to be the non-Asian tourists, as the rest of the family is busy getting ready for the wedding. On Friday we we headed out with my mom (Kinuko) and her sister to the “Skytree Tower,” which is the largest tower in Tokyo, quite a bit larger than the original Tokyo Tower. Crazy thing is my aunt lives here and had never been. I guess the notion of being a tourist in your own city is a concept understood worldwide. After a trip to the top for some 360 degree breathtaking views of Tokyo, we ate lunch in one of the restaurants in the lower levels before heading over to see the Senso-ji temple. My aunt drove us to the Skytree Tower and then dropped us off in front of the temple because she needed to head back to get a few things done in preparation for the wedding. We’d need to navigate public transportation back to her home, this ought to be a fun…with Misty being a terrible navigator and, well my mom not being here in at least 15 years, we hoped this process went well. Glad I marked a pin to the place we are staying, just in case we needed to find another way back home. We had a great visit to the shrine and the shopping area directly in front of it. It’s filled with shops selling everything from incense to put at the shrine to foods and random waving cat souvenirs. The shrine itself stands at the end of the long shopping area and stands prominently over the surrounding area. People were making offerings in the form of coins thrown into this box that looked like it had an odd corrugated thing on top where the coins would fall into the collection area. Basically, you would wait in line, throw your offering into the box, say a prayer, and exit to the side so that the next person could do the same. The more formal area behind the glass (inside the actual temple) was also available and there were several people inside as well saying prayers at the shrine. We left the temple and sampled several things, such as Mochi, rice crackers, and other great Japanese treats from the vendors on our way back.

After making it back, we met up my aunt and uncle for our first trip to one of the conveyer belt sushi restaurants. Now there are many ways to get sushi here in Tokyo, but the place we had dinner was probably the most fun. I’ve gathered this is not the fanciest way to have sushi, but probably the equivalent to a casual family restaurant, maybe like a Cheddar’s sushi restaurant if that makes sense. The reason this one is the most fun, is because the chefs stand in the middle of the restaurant and put sushi on a little conveyer belt that moves around their area. As the sushi (and other goodies) come by and you see something you like, you just pull it off the conveyer belt and eat it! It might sound a bit mundane, but it’s pretty entertaining, at least for me. Ha!

The next day, my mom informed us that she had gotten pretty worn out on day one and would rather rest and help her sister with things around the house for the day. So, Misty and I headed to Shibuya on our own. We figured most of the areas had enough things in English that we would be able to get by pretty easily. This was true for the most part except for one little hiccup in the beginning where we had to transfer from the bus down to the subway station and must have been looking quite lost. A rather quirky man (carrying a mini-poodle) approached us asking us if we needed assistance and proceeded to help us understand what we were doing wrong in the best broken English he could muster. As we were following this guy around the subway station, he escorted us all the way down to the turnstile where we had to put our tickets in and made it into the fare payer only area. He gets an A for effort and an A+ for helping two wandering souls.

As we finished up the specific London activities that had to get accomplished, we started checking off more “Matt-ish” destinations, as this started with the Ace Cafe. Admittedly, the night we went here it was pretty slow, just a few motorcycles outside, but on certain evenings there was evidence that there are hundreds of motorcyclists and car enthusiasts who frequent this place. This is a long time meeting spot for motorcyclists, dating back to when there was actually a rockers vs. mod culture here. Mind you, now, and for the last many years, it’s really just been a cafe. Now, not to bore you with a ton history on the establishment, as that information is readily available anywhere on the internet, I do want to say that this place has oddly good fish and chips. In fact, I guess I haven’t been to a place in London yet that has what I’d call “bad” fish and chips. No Long John Silver’s here!

Next stop was to Harrod’s. Now we arrived a bit early at this well-known shopping destination, the crowd was gathering outside like it was some type of show or concert, not just a fancy department store. As the doors (flood gates opened), people shuffled in, us as well, and we saw what all the spectacle was about. Everything you could possibly want, albeit at inflated prices, was here. We browsed several of the floors of the store before deciding we could live without most of the things here except for maybe some coffee/tea and a small snack before heading to our next destination. Here’s where things get a bit crappy for me. I purchased a donut as I tend to, one in every destination we go to, and promptly walked literally five steps to their coffee and tea bar to order a mocha and revel in my 4 pound (about 6 US dollars) sprinkle donut. We ordered tea and coffee and waited. As our server brought my coffee to me he informed me that unfortunately the pastries sold at the counter (literally less than five steps from his bar) were not for consumption inside the store and that I could not consume them while drinking his $8.00 mocha. Get bent. I was inexplicable angry at this poor guy who, although was probably just following some bureaucratic rules made by someone in a suit who flew into their helicopter pad (yes, there is one on top of Harrod’s) from time to time made up on a whim. This was insanity. I angrily finished my coffee and we went outside (this explains the donut photo from MIsty’s last post). I finally got to eat my donut in the shadow of Harrod’s. I’d love to complain about the donut, I’d love to say it was the worst donut I’d ever purchased and that the $6.00 price tag was inflated nonsense, unfortuately, I cannot. The donut was spectacular. I think it was more akin to a Bavarian cream filled sprinkle cronut. It was awesome, but still, screw Harrod’s rules. They don’t sell cars or motorcycles, so they won’t be missing much business from me anyways, but it’s still a stupid rule.

Our next destination was much more accommodating to my tastes, as we went to the Brooklands Museum. Brooklands in the oldest purpose-built racetrack in the world. They have many exhibits ranging from old open wheel cars to Formula 1 and an aviation section documenting the aircraft built here when the field turned to aircraft manufacturing during the war. They even have a Concorde exhibit. Next to Brooklands is Mercedes-Benz World. This place seems to be more of a branding exercise for Mercedes as they do have multiple dealerships in London, so I think it’s more about the racetrack and skid pad in front. They have several classics here including a pristine 300SL and a Grosser. The last stop this evening was Rules restaurant. I’m still not clear if it’s just a Bib Gourmand or actually has obtained a Michelin Star Rating, but I’d think between the level of service, the history, and the food, it probably deserves one if it doesn’t have one. The restaurant is the oldest in England, originally an oyster house, now serving “Authentic British Cuisine” including the venison I ordered. I must point out this was the best venison I’ve ever eaten, albeit the only venison I’ve ever eaten. If all of it tastes like this I do understand the frenzy that happens back in Oklahoma when bow season opens! Since we were in England we had to sample the sticky toffee pudding. It was also something to behold. I’m sure I’ve gained 10lbs on this trip and I’ll be back on eggs and chicken when I get back, but for the moment, I couldn’t pass up the pudding in the oldest establishment in England. It was worth it, but that’s not ice cream in the photo, it’s cream cheese. It took me a bit by surprise, but the velvety sourness of the cream cheese mellowed out the rich sweetness of the pudding quite nicely. Deliciously good, all of it, including that damn Harrod’s donut.