Days 1 & 2 - Flying to Tokyo & Shinjuku late night

We have returned from another great trip to Japan, and our first since COVID (since the country just reopened to foreigners in Oct). This trip was booked largely to take Ryan over there to practice what he's been learning (language wise), and also to take my parents on 'one more trip' to Japan (since my mother has been in poor health, and we were unsure she'd ever travel internationally again). However, my mother never got better from a mystery* ailment she's had for over a year now...and she was not able to travel with us.

So we glumly set off on our trip as a group of three, instead of a group of five...again. And as such, we went on a trip that had very little day to day activities planned, as we were only going to do what my mother could handle each day...and we assumed there would be many days, most days...that would not go well.

*After a year or two of tests...the mystery was very recently solved! She likely has celiac disease! She cut out gluten, and after a few days...improved dramatically (no more daily vomiting and other mishaps). And now after 5-6 weeks, she's even better and able to take a few steps here and there without falling (that still happens a lot).

So on a Friday at the end of the afternoon, and after a full day of work, we were dropped off at the airport to fly to Oahu. We spent the night there so that we could be able to more safely catch our earlier AM flight to Tokyo. All went seamlessly, and the next AM, we are on our way to Japan.

Disclaimer: We flew a budget airline, and were able to upgrade to lay-flat seats at minimal cost...

The minute we were at Narita airport, I used my first of about 75 toilets on this trip, and

 all but one had a lovely turbo toilet with a lovely bidet. I availed myself of the amenity every single time. And now...we need to get one for our home. LOL.

We hopped a few trains to get into town (Narita is in the sticks, it's so much easier to fly into Haneda!), and by then, we were pretty pooped after a very early AM wake up call in Honolulu, a nearly 8-hour flight, and then another 2-hours to get our wifi routers and catch trains back to the city.

Our hotel was an 'aparthotel' in a pretty good location in Shinjuku, and could comfortably fit us all. It also had a lovely toilet/shower (almost everyone we had was amazing on this trip). The Japanese have great technology and amenities in hospitality.

Once we dropped off our things, even though it was already about 8pm, we headed out to walk around Shinjuku a bit so Ryan could check it out.

The masking game is next level there- you can find a mask in any color to match your skin tone.

The big find of the night was Ryan's favorite treat there, a squeezable foil pouch of vanilla ice cream called Coolish, that his cousins got him into years ago. I think he down about 1-2 of these per day, while we were there.