Robot Claw

I noticed the above magnet on the inside of my room door:

I recall the first earthquake I ever felt in Japan was when I was staying in this very hotel about six years ago. Afterwards I went down and asked at the front desk what happened and they just smiled at me 🙂

Today I shopped in Ikebukuro, which has become a traditional ‘first day’ experience these past four or five Japan trips. It started raining and I bought an umbrella, but by lunch the rain had become torrential and shopping became a bit of a challenge!

I bought many things, but they can wait for future posts. I also put a bunch of money into crane games and gacha machines, and the above was my first win (it only cost ¥100). I think it’s a stuffed oyster and I hate it, but if anyone wants it let me know.

And if you’re wondering why I even won it, as I walked past the machine I saw one of them was within an atom or two of falling and knew I could easily win it… so I did!

I had dinner at Sushiro. Once again I had ‘hamburger steak sushi’ which KLS thinks is an abomination but I think is delicious! By this point I was extremely tired, sore from carrying heavy shopping bags, and my shoes were saturated. It was time for a bath, to do the laundry, and for an early bed to catch up on the sleep lost last night!

The flight was tiring and uncomfortable, but the most notable was that ANA now uses Pokémon for their safety videos 🙂

The fruit meals were up to their usual standards, especially the super fresh watermelon and strawberries. I was given two on the flight, each more or less the same.

And then I was in Japan! The above is my hotel room view of Ueno station. I’ve stayed in this hotel before, albeit not since Covid. The entire room is smaller than my bathroom at the Sheraton but I’ll be comfortable here.

I went and ate my favourite meal at an ungodly hour, then spent a bit of time unpacking. I didn’t get to sleep until after 1 am.

But now I’m up heading out to see what’s going on in Tokyo (I’m sitting on a Yamanote line train as I write this). I look tired don’t I? Maybe that’s because I am 🙂

In a few minutes I’ll board that plane and fly to Japan. I’m very exhausted after this past fortnight but I’ve got 10 flying hours to relax and that should be enough to raise my stamina to 200%!

What will I see and do in Japan? Watch this space to find out…