Category: Travel

Christmas is traditionally a day for fried chicken here in Japan, but our festive meal was sushi! We got to the Sushiro in Shibuya upon opening, and I had a hamburger sushi in my mouth only moments later.

KLS had all manner of items, from snow crab leg nigiri to seared shrimp to mozzarella tempura and she loved it all. Better yet, we didn’t have to clean up!

Christmas in Japan is always a bit strange since the day is just like any other, and even when I wished a few store clerks a happy Christmas most either ignored me or seemed bemused 🙂

We shopped and managed to cross an item or two off our ‘bring it back home’ lists. We ate some heavenly candy apple (above) and eventually found ourselves back at the ‘medal games’ we dabbled with yesterday, where we unexpectedly won a criminally large jackpot. A shame it wasn’t real cash, but these games are fun as I’ll reveal in a post before this trips up.

Since we’re operating on only about a half-dozen hours of sleep in three days it’s time for an early bed. Tomorrow brings a change in location and the start of a week of rest and relaxation. I’m looking forward to it!

After hardly any sleep, a hearty McBreakfast and a stop at the JR Rail ticket office to spend a kings ransom on premium Shinkansen seats we went to the main Tokyo post office where I bought all their stamps.

I’m exaggerating of course, but I did buy 110 different stamps – some in multiples – which should be enough to mail over 130 postcards. Putting aside the cost of the cards themselves (which I have yet to buy), I think this may be a record even for me 🙂

Then we shopped and had lunch and shopped and spent a great deal of time in Game Centers. It was raining but it mattered little since it was hardly cold for winter.

Some quality UFO Catcher wins happened, one of which due to sympathy on the part of a helpful and funny employee who seemed quite amused by me!

We also ‘discovered’ medal games, but they deserve (and will receive) an entry of their own.

It’s too late now for an old fool that has hardly slept for going on two days. I better go to bed so Christmas can be as full as today 🙂

Those were my words after checking in and walking out of the hotel. Somehow, I always end up back in Japan.

The flight was hell, as always. Turbulence was slightly worse than usual, food was inedible and the in-seat entertainment options of no interest. KLS enjoyed her food though, which was good. In total it took us about 24 hours to get from our house to our first Japan hotel, and it was a relief to check in.

It’s late and jetlag is extreme so we didn’t do much beyond grabbing a quick dinner and stocking vittles at convenience stores. The true holiday starts tomorrow.

This time we made a ‘bingo card’ for our own amusement. We’ve decided on prizes if we complete 3 or more lines. Can we do it? I’ll let you know 🙂