3/10-3/11 Went to Tokyo and Home

My last day in Matsuyama...

...for a few weeks.

Because now I could enjoy my Spring break, I was going to be going home to America. Around noon on the 10th, June came and picked me up before taking me to the Matsuyama airport. When we got there, we went upstairs to a restaurant called Kadoya (it's a local chain with really good regional food). I had my "last" taimeshi meal, and per June's recommendation, a hojicha ice cream waffle. They were amazing! She told me that this is where she takes her family every time she drop's them off there. Then I went into the check line, and waved "see ya later!" to June. 

I boarded my plane at about 2:30 PM, and I arrived at Tokyo Haneda Airport an hour later. My classmate (who I stayed with when I first got to Japan), Nathan met me there and we went back to his place to drop off my stuff. First we had to go way underground in the airport to get to the train, then we took the train about an hour to his neighborhood, and then we got out of the station to book a cab. It's SO annoying that there is no Uber in Japan. You can only book through a taxi service on the GO / Taxi App. So we book one, an older guy pulls up, we put my luggage into the tiny van, and he drives us half a mile to his apartment. From there, we go up the elevator and put my 2 bags into his room. I felt so jealous cause his apartment is about twice (or more) the size of mine.

From there we went out to eat dinner with his other foreigner classmates, which are mainly Americans. The Americans found this barbecue spot where they can get really good deals, and are now known (for better or worse) by the owner. We all sat down, and they're all talking and having fun. I think there were about 6 other people. They were telling me about how they go on trips together all the time and explore the largest metro area in the world. I thought about how different it was from my experience, because at their school, all of the foreigners take classes together, without needing to know Japanese, and are kind of kept separated from the Japanese students. At my university, I am the only student whose first language is English and I take classes wi Japanese students.

When we were all full and done, some of them decided to go out for karaoke, but Nathan and I were tired so we went back to his apartment to sleep.

3/11 (Landon's birthday)

Today was my flight back home, but not yet. Since I was in Tokyo, I used the opportunity to visit somewhere I've been wanting to go for years. The Koenji-Hikawa Weather Shrine! Back when the movie Weathering With You came out in January 2020, in my broken high-school level Japanese I tried emailing the shrine asking if I could purchase any omamori. They told me that if I wanted to, it had to be through bank transfer because I was abroad. So, I never messaged them again. Now was my chance to go visit. In Japan, they put up lollipop-ghost looking things called teru-teru-bozu which are supposed to make rain go away. But it is the only shrine in Japan dedicated to the weather, and I want more rain. They had some memorabilia from the movie and book, but not too much. Enjoy the pictures below.

While walking through the area, we walked through a shopping mall and checked out a lot of capsules in search of my dream Honda Super Cub, but no matter how many we saw it didn't work out. One of them was pharmacy themed because the gachapon capsules look like pills. Even the staffmember was dressed with a lab coat on. One of the other stores at a Perry the Platypus alarm clock, which I forgot existed. For the low, low price of $125.

By 6PM I was far away at Narita Airport, and I had a last meal of curry udon before Nathan waved me through. Before my flight I decided to buy a green tea, and as I was sitting down thinking about how Ohtani Shohei is marketed on literally anything and everything in Japan, I turned my bottle around and guess who I saw. I boarded around 8 but it wasn't until around 9:30 that we took off. I took a melatonin, and then I was California Dreamin' for a while. I slept for about 2 hours, then I ate, then I watched 2 or 3 movies, and I touched down in Giants Town.

I think I arrived around 2:30 PM in SF, after a roughly 10 hour flight. My parents were there dying to see me and to show off their brand new Tesla. We stopped to get me a too-long-awaited In-N-Out Burger, and after a while I was home. It felt great, and it felt better with Pedro, who didn't even recognize me.