Day 3 - Akihabara & Airi Sensei!

Our first full day in Japan, we went, per Ryan's request, to Akihabara (the electronics district). Unfortunately, we went a little too early, as at 9:30am, almost NOTHING was open yet... It's funny, everyone has this vision of Japanese working day and night, seven days a week, and it's really not what I see. I think Americans work as crazily or more. And I believe research supports this theory. 

Generally, I find businesses to open around 10 and closing by 6 (small mom and pops, anyway...and there are far more survivors of that in Japan, thank goodness).

Yes. The spam musubi has gone international, and I am here for it. Did I get one? I did not. I get plenty here, thank you. I got much better stuff.

Paid to get the coolest fortune ever! This machine had a woman in kimono fetch a fortune scroll from the temple and hand it over to you...except this fortune was not very kind. In fact, it was downright insulting. I wanted my $1-2 back, but apparently machines don't do refunds...so we had to settle for kicking it and running away.

Lively, adorable Akihabara...even when everything is not open yet.

Sounds weird, but it's not when you live in the sticks...but one of the coolest things I like to do in Japan is go to the basement floor of department stores and look at all the fine foods offered. Pre-COVID, it was a fun way to try foods you'd never ordinarily want to commit $10 to doing so...but this is how I tried natto and many other cool foods. I'm also a sucker for a few pastries on any trip, as we don't really have them here on island. I'm not a sweets person, but who doesn't appreciate French-style baking? Only an animal, that's who.

After cruising Akihabara and having lunch, we took the train about an hour out of town to meet Ryan's Japanese tutor...a delightfully sweet, charming young teacher named Airi. Airi sensei has a gaggle of students (many of whom are Ryan's peers) who study Japanese at all levels, remotely...via Zoom. Airi suggested a tea shop that was pretty much my idea of heaven. It was like sitting in an arboretum (which I have developed a fondness for, thanks to my brother's love of agriculture)...while being served high tea.

Once we were done socializing, we left Ry and Airi to do their first in-person lesson. Their second one will be this month with Airi comes to visit the island. While they were engaged, Rich and I cruised the department store above the tea shop to enviously stare at their wares.

Once they were done, it was already evening...so we parted ways after Airi walked us over (Ryan's request) to Uniqlo. In my opinion, it's the largest Uniqlo I've ever seen. Rarely do you see a retailer the size and scope of Uniqlo (which has gone worldwide) occupy an entire building this size. Needless to say, it was pretty cool. As much as I love the quality and pricing of the brand, it's never suited my style...so I've yet to get anything there. Rich and Ryan do on the reg though. Love seeing this brand go global, just like SuperDry has. That brand is def more my style, but not so much their price point...haha.

Dinner was at one of our favorite places, initially introduced to us by my SIL Mika, who is from Kyoto. Kura Sushi is inexpensive kaiten sushi, which also offers fun desserts, udon, etc. I wouldn't say the other foods outside of sushi are special, but they thankfully tick of my boxes, as I'm not a fan of very many types of sushi. I have the sushi palette of a 3-year old child, specifically, a male child, as I suspect they are more dramatic and picky in their distaste of anything exotic, so I'm going with male toddler. There are four plates acceptable to me- corn salad, inari, spam musubi, and sea chicken (tuna/may). Otherwise...it's udon (thick noodle-filled soup) and mille crepe for me from Kura!

I carefully placed two spoons here to give off the appearance of me sharing. But those who know me know how funny that is.

We had the WORST luck at Kura on this trip. Even though we ate, let's say, 90 plates of sushi on this trip (15+ plates per trip x 6 visits), I think we only won 3 prizes! You get a chance to win a prize with every fifth plate consumed. There is a counter as you insert your plates into the machine's mouth. Then there is a digital 'game' in which you can either win or lose. Although you'd think the odds would be 50-50 so as not to dash the hopes of 3-year old male toddlers everywhere, it is not. We got three measly prizes, two of which were the same thing. Each time we lost, I told the boys they weren't trying hard enough. They just stared stonily at me in response, probably because the truth hurts. I need new travel partners who like to win.