To Japan?

30 Jun 2025

Today, unlike most of my travel days, started after the sun was awake!  I mean, we still woke up around 0530 and left the house shortly after 0600, but the sun was up!!!  Such a treat to not be driving in the dark AND there wasn’t nearly as much construction as I expected- just 2 little blips which, with the sparse morning traffic, meant I got to the airport before my 0800 goal.

It took a whopping 15 minutes from the time I joined my PreCheck line to the time I sat down at my gate.  One of the quickest security experiences I’ve had a in a long while (I wasn’t even randomly selected!).

Unfortunately, the morning’s efficiency didn’t last…

My plane started boarding on time, then paused and deplaned everyone.

Shoot.

There was something wrong with one of our cargo doors and we’re going to be delayed until they can fix it.  No ETA.

Fortunately, I don’t have a connecting flight, so as long as this plane eventually leaves, I’m good; unfortunately, I only have a week in Japan, minus travel/fly-time, so more like 5.5 days; losing even these few hours is a bummer.

So I grabbed a snack:

and hunkered down, hoping the problem could be fixed quickly, and tried not to look at the status board, which kept pushing our delay longer and longer…

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Finally, almost 2 hours later, we finally left MSP!

Farewell, Minneapolis!

The 12 hour flight actually went by fairly quickly- I watched a movie and ate some lunch:

Caught a short nap (the middle seat was empty so I had plenty of space to sprawl, but it’s hard to sleep when you’ve only been up for a few hours), ate a warm chocolate chip cookie (so gooey!!!), and tried (unsuccessfully) to nap again, but gave up and watched movies until meal #2:

and before I knew it, we were landing in Tokyo!

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1 Jul 2025

While the immigration line was quite long- like a dozen and a half rows of people winding back and forth (think, world’s worst game of snake), it did move quickly and gave me time to get my eSIM activated.  Having a local SIM card worked quite well in Australia, so I’ll continue to do that on my international trips.

Last time I was here, I just bought single tickets to ride the train to and from my excursion, but it makes sense to get an actual transit card for this trip that I can reload as needed, and while they do have a “Welcome Suica” card for visitors, I learned that I can also just set up a digital card on my phone and reload it on the go with my credit card (instead of topping it off with cash at either the train station or a convenience store), so that’s what I’ll be using to get around on this trip!

I did wander around a bit at the airport trying to find somewhere to exchange money- I like to have at least some local currency on me, but the exchange counter I used last time was closed.  It took longer than I wanted to spend here- I need to make it to my first stop before 5pm, but I eventually found an open counter and this cool sign:

but, we’ve got shrines to visit, so… onward!

Tap-and-go entry to the train station on my phone worked great, or so I thought… when I tried to exit, it wouldn’t let me through.

Shoot.

Maybe it read my credit card instead of my IC card?  Maybe I tappity-tapped on the wrong spot?

I couldn’t get the fare adjustment machine to work (which is what you’re supposed to use when having card issues), and there was no one manning the station, so I couldn’t ask for help, so I just tapped and ran really fast before the gates could shut.

Maybe it read?

Probably not, but I didn’t know what else to do.  Will definitely make sure my card is open and reads correctly on my return trip.

A short 5 minute walk later, I found my shrine!

This is Haneda Shrine:

and they have the cutest! omamori:

I saw a picture of that little plane charm shortly after my first trip and knew I’d have to stop and get one the next time I was in the country.  I also got my first goshuin (red stamp seal):

I bought a special book to put them in, and learned the proper phrase to ask for one, “goshuin o onegaishimasu” (I would like a goshuin stamp please).  I was really nervous- this was my first real Japanese interaction- and definitely stumbled through it, but it was either close enough or the fact that I also presented my book got the point across.

The woman at the booth rapid-Japanesed at me and I froze.  Like, deer in the headlights, my mind went totally blank, I couldn’t even remember the phrase I learned for “I don’t understand”, frozen.

Luckily, one of the other workers noticed my panic and Englished enough for me to figure out that I needed to pay then take a number and wait while they stamped my book.

I had every intention of taking a shot from outside the shrine, showing how it’s just nestled in amongst the high rises of the city, but my first interaction left me a bit shaken- I recovered enough to ask for and purchase my airplane omamori (both the amulet and 2 charms, one for me, one for Jill), but totally forgot about taking pictures, so enjoy this shot I snagged from Google:

Then hurried back to the train station- I still have 3 hours of travel to get to my hotel in Osaka, including about 2.5 hours on the Shinkansen/bullet train!

My digital IC card worked just fine this time, but I struggled getting tickets for the Shinkansen- my credit card wouldn’t work in the app and the kiosks kept running me in circles, so I had to wait in a rather long line for an actual person to help me out.  It took almost a hour from the time I got to the station to the time I boarded the train which, unfortunately, means that my other stop- a visit to Montbell (the REI of Japan) in Osaka- will have to wait for another day.

Walking and eating is frowned upon in Japan, so after I got my tickets, I picked up a snack and sat at my platform watching the other trains go by:

These rice triangles (onigiri) were top of my list of foods to try while I’m here and this one did not disappoint! The flavor was listed as kelp, but it tasted like an ocean BBQ and I absolutely loved it! It’s going to be pretty hard to not just get one of these for every meal. The juice was grapefruit, but a very light grapefruit, not bad, would probably drink again- mainly, it was cold and I needed that- it’s HOT here! Like, low to mid 90s (33/34°C) and humid, and it’s supposed to be like this all week. Maybe not great weather for the hiking I had planned, but a nice excuse to keep trying fun drinks!

I sat on the Mt. Fuji side of the train, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mountain, but it was cloudy and rainy in the short stretch Mt. Fuji is potentially visible, so no dice. I did get some nice views of the sunset though:

My train had this fancy, stainless bathroom:

(I struggled to getting the door to close- apparently you have to hold the close button until the door is all the way shut, can’t just press it once?)

Each row also had a power outlet:

Unexpected, but there were several people working on laptops, so I guess if you’re using it to commute and want to get work done, they’d come in handy.

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It was dark when I finally got to my hotel. I’m staying at the same place as Jill+family, but they’re out on a food tour right now and I’m more than ready to crash- my short plane nap was not long enough (I may have fallen asleep on the bullet train, waking up to the announcement for my station).  Quick room tour:

This little shelf by the bed was perfect for charging my phone, though my favorite feature of my room was that switch labelled “foot”:

which turned on a light in that little mouse-hole shaped opening- perfect path illumination without ruining your night vision!

It took me longer than it should have to discover the bathroom light switches are outside the bath:

Japan has wet baths, so outlets/power are outside the room.  Makes sense, but sleepy me did not make that connection so I just left the door open.  The benefit of having my own room 🙂

I ate the snack I picked up at the local 7-11:

The roll was weird- it was covered with a melon-flavored… shell? but soft, like the roll, and filled with creamy melon filling.  Not bad, would be better if I actually liked melon 🙂

The juice on the other hand- YUM!  I like lychee, and this was so cold and refreshing!  Would definitely drink this one again.

Jill+family were still out on tour, but I was exhausted, so I ran tomorrow’s route to get a departure time, shared it with the group and we decided to just meet up at breakfast while I called it an early night.  A long, but successful, travel day!