Japan Vacation

 I've always told myself that I don't like to travel. I'm a stay at home kind of person. Adventure is not in my DNA. 

I lied.

I don't like the physical act of travel. Airports are too big, crowds are too pushy and airline seats are uncomfortable for more than an hour. But I really enjoyed being in Japan.

My visit was curated by my daughter so we went places that matched our interests. We went to anime shops, crane game centers, Korea town. We did karaoke a couple of times and we went to the bougiest place I've ever been: streets of stores with names you only read in Vogue. Places that they would probably spray me with antiseptic if I dared walk through their doors.

(When stores have a bare minimum of items on display, that is Rich people speak for Shop Here. The bigger the brand, the smaller the display.)

We went to the biggest crosswalk in Japan where Mollie and I held hands crossing because it was a sea of people and terrifying. I saw the video billboards looming in the Japanese night including the cat that knocks things off the edge. I walked on Godzilla Street (an actual street). 

My favorite experiences: a skincare shop in Korea-town where a salesman swooped in on me and guided me to a display for wrinkle care. "Wrinkles," he said pointing at my face. Yes, I bought some.

At the drugstore I was alone and suddenly had to pee. Found an employee and used all the words in English bathroom/restroom/toilet. And he pointed at the sign right next to me. I was standing directly in front of the bathroom. :facepalm:

A small jewelry shop that had the kind of earrings I adore and so many of the items were copies of jewelry from K-dramas. So cool.

We didn't take the bullet train but we took lots and lots of trains and I saw train stations that were two platforms only to stations that took up multiple city blocks.

The best thing was that I saw how my daughter navigates the city and her life and I couldn't be happier for her. She's exactly where she should be and it felt wonderful to share her life. I hope I'll get the chance to go again.

What I Ate in Japan

 We went to a cafe that had cat robot food servers. That was fun. We ate chicken and salad and it was fair. 

Ate a local ramen and disliked the broth.

Went to a Japanese Italian restaurant and ate a green salad with shrimp in it and it was so ordinary and crazy delicious. Had some pasta that was too spicy to eat.

Had hot pot. The meat was boring but the seafood was really good. This was a group dinner with Mollie's friends and one of her friends made shrimp paste/potato balls and put them in the broth to cook but they fell apart. That broth was delicious.

Went to a totally bougie place where I had hummus that was amazing. I really don't like hummus but this was fresh and just so good. I also ate Brussels sprouts with tomato and pine nuts which was the best I ever had. Also had zucchini and goat cheese fritters which were tasty.

Had Chinese food that was boring but had the best mango juice I ever tasted.

Had Korean fried chicken balls (good) and tteobokki (Korean rice noodle) which I fell in love with and bought some packs to bring home. (I also made a pack for me and Mollie which was delicious.) 

Honey potato chips. Really addictive. 

Spicy soy noodles and shrimp. Good.

Had a Burger King Caesar Salad. Boring. Had a McDonald chicken fillet with shaken cheese and that was so good.

Had much less ramen then planned. Made 2 meatloaf's. Made some stir fry. Couldn't make lasagna as planned because there were no lasagna noodles to be found. Drank a lot of cold lattes to handle my coffee addiction.