I can’t live in denial any longer: we are leaving Tokyo. I thought I could stay longer if I pretended it wasn’t happening, but that plan doesn’t seem to be working. We are booked to fly out in three weeks, and Michael is already home and moving back into our house.
So, I’ve been working on my list of things to do before I go. Some items are fast becoming habit. Take karaoke, for example. A few months ago it was something I’d been hankering for, but there was no real urgency. Now, every opportunity for karaoke simply must be taken. I’ve had several Ladies Nights, with more to come, dragged Michael up there on Date Night (in preference to a Love Hotel!), am trying to squeeze in a night with the kids and, who knows, I might even go solo by the end. Karaoke is good for the soul. Mine, anyway.
Other things on the list, some already ticked off as you’ll see by the photos:
- Watching sumo wrestlers practice at their stable (no, I didn’t make up that word but it does make me wonder about the collective noun for sumo wrestlers – a herd, a bloat?). The sweating and grunting and heaving is much more impressive up close.
- Hiking in the glorious Kiso Valley, the old highway between Tokyo and Kyoto. Done.
- To visit a bento factory. Sadly, will probably remain unrealised. Don’t they ever have open days, like at paper factories and canneries back in Australia?
- To be an illegal entrant in the Omotesando Halloween parade, tick.
- Korean bath at Adam & Eve, scheduled.
- Buying plastic food at Kappabashi, at around 5,000 yen it’s the most expensive bowl of udon in Japan.
- Showing my sister Hayley around – any 24-year-old really should get over here right now if at all possible. We had a great time in Shibuya bar crawling on bikes, not quite as cool when you have a baby seat on the back, but we did our best.
- Winning a six-pack of beer in a public game of jan-ken-pon (paper scissors rock) – still not sure if I cheated, but just happy the crowd didn’t turn nasty. One of those times when being a foreigner works in your favour.
- To pass the Level 4 Japanese language exam – scheduled for next Sunday, but by no means guaranteed.
- To visit Tokyo Disneyland – it wasn’t exactly on the top of my list, unlike some other people in my family, but it had to be done all the same.
- To cross Tokyo Bay on a ferry then take (what seemed to be) the oldest cable car in the world to see the biggest buddha in Japan.
- To drink a kaki (persimmon) cocktail in peak season – tick…and tick, they were delicious.
- Being treated to the ultimate in Japanese customer service at a high-end ryokan (Japanese inn) in Nikko.
- Bending our minds at every museum imaginable – Edo period, fire, earthquake, kite, art, emerging science, space, open-air, sumo, folk crafts, with Hiroshima to come…
- To buy as many vintage Japanese dresses as possible before I get on the plane. In process.
It has been an amazing time and I’d do it all over again. Expect one more sayounara post before December is out and after that, it’s curtains. Here are the visuals:
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