Japan – Tips, tricks, and trackchasing
Japan is one of my favorite countries to visit
From the Circle City to the Enzo Circle of Japan.
My trip to Japan followed an enjoyable and successful trip to Indianapolis. My grandson Mitch joined me in Circle City for the Big Ten Basketball tournament and other fun stuff. With him heading back to Texas, it was time for me to head toward Japan.
It pays to have status.
To get to Tokyo, I would have to connect in Dallas. My layover in Dallas was five hours. Because I have status with American Airlines, I was able to use the top-of-the-line of their two Admirals Clubs at the DFW airport. That’s a nice place to hang out if you have a layover, and it’s also nice to have status.
Hyatt, here I come.
I would be in Tokyo for six nights, staying at Hyatt properties for five of those nights. I flew to Tokyo in coach. From Dallas, that’s a 14-hour flight. I don’t mind flying coach. If it’s free, I would love to fly business class, but I don’t think business class is a good financial value, so I never pay for it.
Take the train or Uber?
I arrived in Tokyo later at night. I can navigate the train system in Tokyo just fine. However, with lots of heavy luggage and after just completing a 14-hour flight, it seemed like taking Uber would be a heck of a lot easier. It would also be a heck of a lot more expensive.
Taking an Uber from the Tokyo Haneda airport to my Hyatt Regency Yokohama hotel cost me ¥ $10,000, which is about $70 U.S. I could have ridden the train for ¥ $1,000 or less, which is about seven bucks! Nevertheless, I thought Uber was a good choice on this particular occasion.
I’ve been to Tokyo seven or eight times. I’ve been there quite a bit in the last five years. There are many things to understand about a trip to Japan that could make your trip much easier. I’ll tell you about some of them.
You gotta have this.
I highly recommend the Suica card. This is an app that you get on your phone. You add money to it with your credit card. It’s all perfectly safe. The Suica card is very popular all over Japan.
Then, as you visit Japan, especially riding its extensive train system, you simply tap your phone showing the Suica card, and you pay for things. The Suica card is Japan’s version of Apple Pay.
Two airport choices in Tokyo.
Japan has two major airports, Haneda and Narita. I would arrive using Haneda and depart using Narita.
Japan…home to really nice folks.
Japan is one of my favorite countries to visit. The people are nice. They go out of their way to help you, although they don’t speak much English. They are a respectful population and well-groomed. The entire country is spotless. You could eat off the ground if you wanted, but why would you want to?
Trains make you walk more.
When you go to Japan, especially in the bigger cities, you must ride the trains. The schedules are convenient. They are always on time. Surprisingly, when you ride the train, you will walk a lot. Many of the train stations are large. You can easily walk miles every day.
The train system can be confusing. The signs don’t offer much in English, and the written Japanese language is unintelligible to most English-speaking-only people.
Your friend, Google Maps.
That’s where Google Maps comes in. You will need Google Maps on your phone. Once you understand how that works, the train system will be easy to use.
Oops. Not for me.
I have stayed in Hyatt hotels in tens of foreign countries. Whatever the local cuisine, Hyatt always offers a good Western breakfast. That was not the case with the Hyatt Regency Yokohama. They didn’t offer bacon, eggs, or potatoes. That wasn’t particularly good for me.
Being lost is the best.
I’m in Japan to see racing on two different days. On the other days, I’m up for seeing whatever I can see. Oftentimes, it’s nice to be lost so that I get to see what I wasn’t expecting.
I don’t ride city buses much.
To begin the day, I hopped on a bus. I tapped my Suica card on my phone at the reader inside the bus and grabbed a seat. I was riding the bus to a train station, the Yokohama train station.
However, when I got off, I saw some cable cars operating. That looked like fun. I bought a ticket, and they gave me a key card for the ride.
I had not planned on this.
I was touring now. When I got to the other side, I saw a vast shopping mall with a sign that read “cinema.”
When I’m traveling outside the United States, I love seeing movies. The process is usually a bit different from how we do it in the U.S.
I made my way to the cinema wing of the shopping mall and asked if they had any English-speaking movies or movies with English subtitles. When I describe the conversation, please don’t think it’s anything like it might be in your hometown. It isn’t.
Nevertheless, the woman understood enough of what I was asking to make a recommendation. She pointed out the movies from a list written in Japanese that would fit the bill for me. I had no idea what movie she was talking about, nor did I care. I just wanted to experience seeing a film in Japan.
I did notice that the show had started 10 minutes earlier than when I bought my ticket. That was OK. It was 10 a.m. Movies had begun playing at this theater complex at 9 a.m. That seemed early for a Thursday. Later, I learned that today was a holiday. What holiday? Japan was celebrating the first day of spring.
The ticket seller escorted me into a dark theater where the movie was already playing. When I bought my ticket, there were only four seats available. She walked me up about midway in the theater and deposited me in a seat next to the wall.
Wicked!
The movie I was about to see was “Wicked”. Wicked has been playing on Broadway for quite a few years. The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles. That made it easy for me.
I didn’t know if Wicked was going to be my type of movie, but I found it very entertaining. In most foreign movies I’ve seen, something happens that’s a little bit unusual compared to the American experience. Today, I noticed that virtually none of the theatergoers left their seats until the very last credit played.
Japan is mostly inexpensive.
I find most things inexpensive in Japan, relatively speaking. The Japanese yen, Japan’s official currency, has suffered against the strong US dollar.
I’m up for the unusual.
Following the movie, it was time for lunch. I was in a vast shopping mall and soon found a Korean restaurant. This was one of those eateries where they have a small stove on top of your table, and you cook the food yourself. Although I couldn’t read the Japanese Menu and my server didn’t speak virtually any English, I was able to point out what I wanted from pictures on the menu.
I selected raw sirloin steak as my main entree. I got two pieces, each about one and a half inches square. I laid them gently on the portable Coleman-type cook stove in the middle of my table. It didn’t take them long to cook. That sirloin steak, along with a bowl of rice, set me back about $30 U.S.
More fun stuff!
Following lunch, I noticed a giant Ferris wheel called the Cosmo Clock 21. The wheel is 112 meters tall! When it first opened, it was the tallest wheel in the world. Now, it is the 23rd tallest Ferris wheel in the world. One revolution takes about 15 minutes. This was part of my combination ticket with the cable cars, officially called the “Yokohama Air Cabin,” so I hopped on. We did one complete circle on the wheel. This gave me a great view of this part of Yokohama and, believe it or not, the Pacific Ocean.
These unexpected diversions were starting to put me behind schedule. I wanted to visit a unique Tokyo store that I’ve visited a few times.
Don’t miss this.
The store is called Yodobashi Camera, but that’s sort of a misleading name. This store has nine floors, jampacked with all kinds of electronic goods and home goods. Cameras are probably less than 1% of their business. I never have enough time to see everything I want in the store.
If you come to Tokyo and you like buying stuff, please go to the Yodobashi Akiba store. Yodobashi has several stores in Tokyo, but Akiba is the biggest and the best, in my opinion.
I had just enough time to take a cursory look at their luggage and computer case departments. I knew I would be revisiting, but I had a much more important agenda item to do at this point.
Never be afraid to ask questions.
I am never bashful about asking people for directions or help. I know that men have a reputation for not wanting to do that, but I’m not that kind of a guy.
My friend, Gakuto.
A couple of years ago, I met a Japanese man on a bullet train. I had some questions about how things operated. He helped me out. His name was Gakuto. From that initial meeting, we stayed in touch.
Last year, I joined Gakuto, my son J.J., and his friend for a dinner of sushi in an upscale Tokyo restaurant.
Just a few weeks ago, Gakuto and his wife, Megumi, visited Southern California to see Disneyland. They had enough time to come down to our house and visit. We then went out to lunch at one of our most authentic Mexican restaurants in the area. I didn’t expect that Gakuto and Megumi were able to eat Mexican food all that much in Japan.
Tonight, they were going to treat me to dinner in Tokyo. I’m not a sushi fan, so they had a fried veal cutlet restaurant in mind.
Meeting at the train station, where else?
We met, where else, at a train station, right next to Yodobashi Camera. If you’re in a foreign country—and by a foreign country, I mean a country that doesn’t speak English and maybe doesn’t have its signs in English—getting the chance to go out to dinner with a local couple has to be a trip highlight.
A most unique experience.
Most Japanese restaurants are small. They might only seat 10 or 12 people in some cases. To my way of thinking, it’s not easy to recognize these restaurants just by walking down the street. Many Tokyo restaurants don’t take reservations, either. It was nice to have the local knowledge of these two people. They made my evening extra special.
At the first restaurant, we were seated at a counter. I ordered fried shrimp, which looked a lot like shrimp tempura to me, and fried veal cutlets. All of this was served with white rice and Miso soup.
Megumi.
Megumi is a beautiful, quiet, and reserved young woman with a wonderful smile. She doesn’t speak much English, so Gakuto translated for us. They are such a nice couple. They brought Carol and me gifts from Japan when they visited San Clemente. They gave me even more gifts tonight.
Time to go pubbing in Tokyo.
Following dinner, we went to what Gakuto called a “Japanese pub.” We had a little private room where we drank sake and ate ice cream! What a fantastic evening. Carol and I will meet these two in a few weeks when we return to Japan. I can’t wait for that.
Shohei!
You may have heard of Shohei Otani, the most valuable player in the National League last year. He plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His face is all over Japan, representing a myriad of products. I think I took at least six or seven photos of him in different ads.
Don’t go to Japan without your phone.
Be prepared to use your phone in Japan. Why? You’ll take lots of pictures for sure. But, if you’re like me, you’ll use your phone for Google Maps to get around. You will likely need an external charger to get yourself through the day. Photos and using GPS take a lot of juice.
Following dinner, I showed up at Yodobashi again. They’re open until 10 p.m. I bought an external charger for my iPhone 16. Be prepared. Yodobashi has literally hundreds of sales people, probably on every floor! But, they don’t speak much English. Prices are good at Yodobashi. Remember to bring your passport so you don’t have to pay about 10% in tax.
I like buying gifts for others.
Just a few days ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers played a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome against the Chicago Cubs to start their regular season. Stores, including Yodobashi, were selling a lot of MLB merchandise. I picked up some souvenirs for J.J. who is an avid Dodger fan.
I took several photos of all of the merchandise at Yodobashi. Not only do they sell many different items, but they have tons of inventory on the items they carry. Yodobashi – Akiba is a tourist attraction!
Don’t miss the eighth floor. There have to be 20 different high-quality restaurants up there. Each one looks fantastic, and it’s difficult to choose where to eat. I had lunch there today.
Cherry blossoms!
Japan is noted for its cherry blossoms. I was there from about March 20 to March 27, just a couple of days before they were in full bloom.
I went walking in Ueno Park, which was recommended as the best place in Tokyo to see them. The trees were mainly bare, but the buds were just about ready to pop open. There is a beautiful lake in the park. Lots of tourists were in pedal boats enjoying the day.
You can’t miss these.
Tokyo probably has more convenience stores than any place I’ve seen. They go by three brand names primarily, which are 7-Eleven, Lawson’s, and Family Mart, with 7-Eleven being the largest. Visiting the stores for a snack or even a meal was quick and easy. I’ve done that many times.
One of my favorites at these stores is pasta with garlic and sausage. The stores provide microwave ovens to heat everything on the spot. Often, I can find a place to sit down, eat in the store itself, and enjoy whatever I want.
Don’t even think about it.
You should know this: There are almost no trash cans in Japan. One of my tour guides told me that years ago, bombs were placed in the trash cans, and the government decided to remove them entirely. You will have a very difficult time finding a trash can in Japan.
This could come in handy.
Most train stations have lockers. These lockers are for you if you’re carrying something you don’t want to carry around a train station all day. You can use one of these lockers and pick up whatever you stored later in the day.
Don’t laugh. Can you do this?
Have you ever rented a car? Don’t laugh; some people haven’t. Have you ever rented a car in the United States? Have you ever rented a car in a foreign country? Have you ever rented a car in a foreign country where they drove on the left side of the road? Have you ever rented a car in a foreign country where they drove on the left side of the road and the road signs were virtually unintelligible like they are in Japan? I’ve done all that, but I only did it in Japan one day previously. On this trip, I was going to rent a car for two days in Japan.
Just to make things go a little bit easier, I picked up my car on Friday night. I was going to need it on Saturday and Sunday.
Toyota Yaris.
I rented from National Car Rental, which in Tokyo also goes by Nippon Rental Car. They gave me a Toyota Yaris, which is a small car but big enough. I’ve rented the Yaris a few times in Europe.
The car is a right-side steering car. It is meant to be driven on the left side of the road. The turn signals are on the opposite side of the steering column. The gearshift is operated by my left hand. It’s all a little different but doable.
Chaos!
There was a little excitement when I went to park the car at my Hyatt Yokohama hotel. They had one of those elevators where you pull your car into the elevator. Then they spin it around and move it to wherever it ends up parked.
When the rental car guy gave me the car and explained all the details, he never gave me the key. Obviously, the key was in the car when I drove it back to the hotel. Nevertheless, I couldn’t find the key at the hotel parking garage.
This circumstance created a lot of excitement and drama with the hotel parking staff. They couldn’t find the key either. Finally, after 15 minutes of looking, the key was found in the passenger door. Wild.
Apple Car Play…don’t leave the rental car lot without it.
Once again, Google Maps came to my rescue while driving in Japan. I ensured my car had Apple CarPlay so I could see a map on the car’s video screen. I think just about anybody will have to have Google Maps and be able to use Apple CarPlay to navigate the roadways in Japan.
I deserved to be honked at.
I was a little tentative to begin with. Getting out of Yokohama was a challenge. I only got honked at once. I imagine it takes quite a bit of poor driving to get a Japanese person to hit the horn. It was deserved, and I wasn’t offended.
Let’s go trackchasing.
I had a two-hour drive to Motegi Mobility Resort, an auto racing track in Motegi, Japan. This track is famous and has hosted World Formula One events in the past.
Do this.
I was lucky that I paid two dollars a day for the privilege of having an electronic toll pass. There are many toll roads in Japan, and the toll pass allowed me to drive through the toll gates. Everything is handled electronically, and I will settle up later. If you rent a car in Japan, make sure to get a toll pass.
Not proud of my lunch.
I did stop at one Japanese highway rest area. They had all the accommodations and items in stores that you might find in a European Highway rest area. The U.S. is way behind other countries where you are likely only to find a rest area with toilets. I couldn’t resist buying a pretty good-sized cheesecake. That was lunch for me. Folks, that’s how I roll on these trips.
Track #3,062. Motegi Mobility Resort.
With Google Maps, I was directed flawlessly to the race track. I bought my ticket from a lady who spoke little English. At that point, it seemed as if I was good to go.
This was a lucky find.
The Honda Motor Company owns the Motegi Mobility Resort racetrack. When I parked my car, I noticed a massive museum of sorts called the Honda Collection Hall.
I love car museums. No admission was charged for this one. I rushed through, seeing everything I could see and taking pictures of most of it.
Today’s race would take place on a very large road course over three miles long. The drawback to road course racing like this is that you can’t see all that much of the racing. That was true today.
Although I had purchased two different types of “tickets” at the main entrance, I needed a third ticket to get into the grandstands. I think the total charge was somewhere around $40 U.S. When I am confronted with last-minute information like this, I have no choice. I have to accept and pay.
The Motegi Mobility Resort racetrack would be lifetime track #3,062 for me. Think about that. Every one of those more than 3,000 tracks comes with its own story, just like this one does. This would be my fourth track to see in Japan.
The weather was perfect, but the racing was barely good. I was able to explore every nook and cranny of the facility, which is what I like to do.
Danica Patrick won her first and only IndyCar race at Motegi. NASCAR Cup racing held exhibitions at Motegi in 1996 and 1997.
Lunch at Motegi.
Lunch was some kind of meat spread over noodles and rice. My drink looked like a limeade with a massive dollop of vanilla ice cream in it. All good and inexpensive.
I know a Hyatt when I see one, and this was no Hyatt.
When I travel, I prefer to stay in Hyatt hotels. However, I was pretty much in the middle of nowhere today. There were no Hyatts, but there was a Hotel R9 The Yard Sakai accommodation.
I was intrigued when I found this hotel on Expedia.com. I would be literally staying in a metal storage unit. This is likely the kind of temporary housing you might find at an oil refinery in North Dakota. It had everything I needed, just on a much smaller scale.
The cost of my storage unit was a reasonable $50. I love staying in places like this just for the experience. My travel has little to do with the destination; it is 100% about the journey.
Bordertown.
Right across the street was a small hamburger-type diner. It was operated by two young Japanese people who owned the place. Their cheeseburger and milkshake combo was outstanding. The restaurant’s name was “Bordertown,” which seemed sort of English-oriented, considering we were in Japan and the owner-operators were Japanese. These folks were entrepreneurial. The place only accommodated about 10 people but they were selling their own branded shirts and hats.
Track #3,063. Tsukuba Circuit.
The following day, I was off to the Tsukuba Circuit in Shimotsuma, Japan. I had discovered this race track randomly during some of my preliminary research.
The track website was so difficult to read in the Japanese language that I couldn’t tell for certain if they were racing today or not. Since this track was only an hour from yesterday’s track in Motegi, I figured I could drive over and find out. If the place was totally deserted, I would simply return to Tokyo.
Off I went in my Toyota Yaris using Google Maps and passing by one rice paddy after another. When I arrived at the Tsukuba Circuit, I saw I was in luck. They were racing.
I’ve seen racing in 89 countries and have been to 100 countries. In most of those countries, something other than English is the local language, which makes all kinds of things a lot more difficult than if I were simply visiting Canada.
For me, it’s all about the ambiance.
For the next several hours, I walked around the facility, seeing as much of the place as I possibly could. There were several different classes racing. Each race, except for the two-hour endurance race, ran for a certain number of laps ranging from 10-20.
Tsukuba Circuit was completed in 1970, making it one of the older tracks in Japan. The track record around the 2.045-kilometer track is 49.445 seconds, which is an average speed of 238.253 kilometers/hour. I was told that Roger Penske raced here back in the day.
My highlight at the Tsukuba Circuit.
A highlight of the day was having lunch in the racetrack cafeteria. Once again, I had no idea what any of the items written in Japanese on the menu were all about. The woman running the cashier’s desk at the cafeteria only spoke Japanese. She pointed to one of the lunches being served to another patron. That looked good to me. That’s what I ordered.
The entrée was some sort of meat, probably pork in a brown gravy with rice. Miso soup was part of the offering as well. It was all good. There weren’t very many people in the cafeteria who looked like me. I liked that.
In the entire hobby of trackchasing, of which there are hundreds participating, no trackchaser had ever come to the Tsukuba Circuit. It was a nice feeling to be the first and only.
I’m not gonna lie. This was tough.
Tonight was Sunday night. Getting back into Tokyo at the end of a weekend involved quite a bit of traffic. I also needed to fuel up the car before I returned it this evening, which would be difficult.
Everything that seems easy when you understand the local language and customs is precisely the opposite if you don’t. I discovered that several gas stations recommended by Google Maps were closed on Sundays.
To solve that problem, I exited a few miles from the rental car return location. I figured I would find a station if I drove long enough on surface streets. I had to drive quite a long time before my theory worked.
I’ll talk to strangers!
When I did find a gas station, it was one of those fully automated stations. There were no employees whatsoever. Remember, I’m that guy who is perfectly comfortable asking strangers questions. I also do that with picture taking. I’ll ask anybody, “Would you mind taking a picture of me?” I’ve only been turned down one time. The young lady told me she was too busy. I won’t hire her.
Yes, in a word, problematic.
Tonight, I pulled my car up to the gas pump. I soon discovered that I had absolutely no idea how to operate anything. That was problematic.
It was my good fortune that another motorist soon pulled up to the other side of the pump. Out came a fellow dressed in full Muslim gear who spoke perfect English. He helped me operate the gas station pump. I thanked him profusely. Then, I was off to my rental car return location using local streets. I had to pay attention.
Returning the car wasn’t going to be easy either. Google Maps had me driving up and down one lane roads (alleys!) in the middle of Tokyo with only a few inches of clearance on either side of the car. When I got with about 500 yards of the return location, I basically was directed in circles without finding where I really needed to go
.
I called the rental car company. A guy tried to direct me, but it was difficult.
Highly recommended.
When I travel, I use the AT&T international calling plan. They charge me $12 a day for a maximum of 10 days in one month for full phone use. I’m talking about unlimited Internet and Google Maps connectivity, phone calls back to the United States, and phone calls within the country that I’m visiting. I think that’s a tremendous value. This makes foreign travel about as easy as it can be. When my plane lands in a foreign country, my phone starts working immediately.
It took some doing, but I did get the rental car returned. They figured out that I had used about $28 in tolls. Soon, I was good to go.
I had to get a bobblehead!
My Japanese friend, Gakuto, told me that when he left the airport a couple of days ago, he was able to buy a Shohei Ohtani bobblehead figure at the Haneda airport. Back in the States, that’s a very valuable item. I thought maybe I could pick up one myself and would spend the better part of the next two days trying.
Random info.
By the way, my Toyota Yaris gave me 16.6 km/L. I drove the car 394 km in total. So far, I’ve been too lazy to calculate miles per gallon, but I think the car was good on gas.
My rental car return location was near the Haneda airport. With the car returned, I grabbed an airport limousine bus to a different Hyatt hotel, the Hyatt Regency, Tokyo Bay. I had stayed there before. This hotel is slightly off the beaten path, but I thought it was better than the Hyatt Regency Yokohama, where I stayed when I arrived.
I’m not a big tour bus guy.
Tomorrow will be my last full day in Japan, so I thought an all-day tour of something might be a good idea.
I am not a traveler who has depended upon formal organized tours, but I will do them occasionally.
GetYourGuide – recommended.
A few years ago, I discovered an app called GetYourGuide. I highly recommend It for several reasons.
They have an app that works on my iPhone. I can use the app, and GetYourGuide will tell me about all of the major attractions in whatever city I might be visiting. They’ll also explain small undiscovered touring opportunities that normal tourists would never be aware of.
I figured I had all day on Monday, so I might as well go for an all-day tour of something. GetYourGuide recommended a 10-hour bus tour to visit Mount Fuji, one of the top attractions in Japan.
I once saw Mount Fuji while passing by on a bullet train. A tour might give me a better opportunity to see a great view.
I think GetYourGuide actually has touring prices that are less than you might find in most other places. Today’s tour for 10 hours was only about $60 U.S. That seemed super reasonable.
If you’re not early, you’re late.
We were required to meet the tour bus guide just outside Tokyo station, one of the larger train stations in Tokyo. I got up extra early to make sure I was on time. Ultimately, fifteen tour passengers were never able to find the meeting spot, so the bus departed without them. If you’re not early, you’re late.
Just lucky, I guess.
I would say the quality of the tour was marginal. Our tour guide, who was a young man from China, told us that Mount Fuji can only be seen about 120 days a year because of the cloud cover. Luckily, we had some views of Mount Fuji from different spots during the tour that were generally clear enough to see it, but not picture postcard worthy.
The tour bus stopped several times at some nondescript Japanese spots. From my point of view, these places seemed more like tourist traps than anything else.
Being able to see Mount Fuji when you come to Japan is a good idea. Spending a day on a tour bus might be just about the only way to do that, but also eats up quite a bit of time.
I’m a Bose guy.
I got back into the city at about 7 p.m. I wanted to go back to the Yodobashi Camera Akiba store. I was hunting for a pair of Bose Ultra headphones I had seen.
I first found them at the store a couple of days ago. Because I wasn’t carrying my passport with me, I couldn’t qualify for the 10% price reduction by not having to pay taxes. Tonight, I had my passport.
I bought the top-of-the-line Bose headphones at a savings of about $70 from the price offered on Amazon. I was happy with the price savings and with the idea that I was buying the best headphones available. I use my headphones on airplanes nearly 100% of the time to watch Netflix movies on my iPad. When I’m flying, good-quality headphones are important for me.
Giving gifts rocks my world.
While at Yodobashi I bought Carol some upscale cosmetic creams and lotions. They wrapped everything up in plastic like you would have done at a duty-free shop at the airport. They assured me this would get me through airport security. The best I could do was take their word for it.
Gotta get that bobblehead.
I was still on the hunt for the Shohei Ohtani bobblehead. Yodobashi didn’t have any, but somewhere online, it was mentioned that a Tokyo sporting goods store might have one. I walked about a mile and a half to get there, only to find out that they didn’t have them. As I continued my walk, I found another highly rated sporting goods store. They didn’t have them either.
Then I started taking trains to get back to the hotel in Tokyo Bay. It was getting late. I would end up walking eleven miles on this day. That’s a lot of walking for me.
I got bitten.
While on the Mount Fuji tour, I felt something biting my legs. I always wear shorts wherever I go. I want to be as comfortable as possible. The bites, from whatever source, would cause some issues later.
Carol always says, “Bring an umbrella.” I never do.
I was only 20 walking minutes from the hotel when it started to sprinkle. I didn’t have an umbrella because I don’t carry umbrellas because I never need them.
The light sprinkle turned to light rain, which quickly became steady rain and then heavy gully washer-type rain. The lightning and thunder were impressive. I had now been walking for 20 minutes in heavy rain and was drenched to the bone.
When I returned to the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay, every employee went scurrying for towels to dry me off. The Japanese people will do everything they can to help you. I had not found the bobblehead. Carol and I often say, “No good deed goes unpunished!”
I don’t give up.
I really wanted that bobblehead! Gakuto had found his bobblehead at Haneda airport, but I was flying out of the Narita airport to get home. Nevertheless, I took a bus to Haneda first to check things out and then another bus to Narita for my flight.
Haneda didn’t have that bobblehead today, either. Sold out. They had other merchandise but no bobblehead. Bummer. It was what it was. Now it was time to take another airport limousine bus from Haneda airport to Narita airport.
Do this.
If you’ve never been to Japan, or even if you have, the airport limousine bus is a great way to get to the airport or from the airport to your hotel at a very reasonable price. I think an hour’s bus ride only costs about $10 U.S. They will store your luggage in the belly of the bus on a high-quality Greyhound-type bus.
It was time to head back to the States. I had booked a special flight that would take me from Tokyo, Japan, to Xi’an (pronounced “Salmon”), China, and then to Los Angeles.
At the last minute, I learned I could standby for a non-stop flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles for only $140. If I did that I would simply walk away from the ticket I had connecting through China. It would’ve been easier to fly 10 hours from Tokyo to Los Angeles than to fly five hours from Tokyo to Xi’an, China and then another 12 hours to Los Angeles.
Sometimes, it’s not good to brag.
However, I had already bragged to everyone that I was going to be connecting in China. I figured I had to live up to my promises.
In less than two months, I plan to be in Tokyo for a couple of weeks with Carol. Shortly after that trip wraps up, I’ll be back in Shanghai, China. I tell people I like to take the “trip of a lifetime”… every month.
When I attempted to clear Narita’s airport security, I had a problem with the cosmetics I had bought for Carol at Yodobashi. Apparently, the bag-sealing idea only works if you are buying something at the airport.
Not at all what I expected.
The cosmetics combination that I bought Carol had four different bottles. Three of them were over the 100 mL limit. The TSA agent told me I had a couple of choices. I could toss everything, or I could check this small cosmetic box as a bag with my airlines.
I checked out that option. I had already checked my 22-inch rolling bag with the airline. Yes, the agent told me I could check the cosmetics as a bag, but it was going to cost $200. I had already paid $200 for the cosmetics themselves. Checking a small box of cosmetics didn’t seem like a good choice.
Someone along the way someone said that I could buy a series of small clear 100 mL plastic bottles to help solve this problem. Then, I could transfer the cosmetics into those bottles and that would pass muster. I did precisely that.
However, some of the cosmetic lotions were so thick that it took me forever to transfer the contents from the original bottles to the new plastic bottles. I probably spent a half hour doing that. I’m not sure I transferred all of the goods from one bottle to the next, but I did the best I could.
Then, with the original beautiful cosmetic bottles now virtually empty, the TSA wouldn’t let me take those bottles past security. This all ended up being a poor experience. I was disappointed in the Yodobashi sales personnel, who told me that I wouldn’t have any problem clearing airport security with their packaged cosmetics.
This was my first experience with this airline.
Connecting in China for four or five hours wasn’t so bad. I flew on Xiamen Airlines. They did a reasonable job. They’ve been in business for 40 years.
Clearing transfer passenger customs in the Xiamen airport was easy enough. It was funny to see six or seven Chinese people all trying to look at my passport at one time.
Airport lounges can be a great thing.
I love using Priority Pass lounges and airport restaurants whenever I can. The Priority Pass lounge in the Xiamen airport was just as lovely as any PP lounge I’ve seen anywhere. The place was huge. That was helpful because I still needed to complete my daily four miles of walking.
Of course, Carol’s cosmetic gift purchased in Tokyo was virtually ruined. I had to buy a similar gift in the Xiamen, China, cosmetic duty-free store. That one got home in good shape.
The 12-hour flight from China to Los Angeles was uneventful. It was nice to be back home after being gone for a couple of weeks.
A 16-hour time zone change will take some time to get used to.
The time zone change from Tokyo, Japan to San Clemente, California was 16 hours. It took me a few days to get back on track with that.
It wasn’t long after I was home that I was back online researching more international trackchasing/touring opportunities. I am incorrigible.
You gotta have goals, right?
I have committed to trying to take a 10-14 day trip every month for all of 2025. For the first three months of the year, I’ve done that with Australia, New Zealand, and now Japan. April will be reserved for Western Europe, and potentially a wildcard country I have never visited before. We’ll see.
This issue had to be dealt with.
I told you I got some mysterious bug bites on the Mount Fuji tour. When I got back home the pain in one of my legs was severe. I had been on some long flights. I’ve heard about people getting blood clots in their legs from those long flights.
I didn’t want to risk anything, so I elected to go to the emergency room at our local hospital. Those folks in the ER do a great job. They keep the hospital cold, and they told me they do that to reduce the incidence of germs.
For more than three hours, they ran me through all kinds of tests. They did a chest x-ray, blood tests, blood pressure tests, urine test, and a sonogram. I am up for any test that might help.
When things were all finished, a Japanese doctor came in to give me the all-clear. There were no blood clots. I guess the leg pain came from the bug bites. I had been allergic to bee stings in the past.
The doctor couldn’t resist asking me questions about Japan. He and his family were going there for a one-week vacation. I told him he would be just in time for the cherry blossoms. With that news, the doctor frowned. He told me cherry blossoms would bring more tourists (true) and increase congestion.
That reminded me that not everyone likes what the next person likes. True enough.
Did you pick up any useful tips? I hope so.
Randy Lewis
Sayonara from Japan.