I woke up in time to say goodbye and thank you to Yoichi, before he went off to work.\u00a0 Mio took Arisa to school.\u00a0 Once we were all ready, Kaoru, Mio and I went to the shopping centre.\u00a0 It didn’t open until 10, but Mio wanted the good parking spot so we had to get there early.\u00a0 We went inside and straight downstairs to the food area.\u00a0 Each stand had a staff member standing next to it, and as we walked past they all bowed and welcomed us.\u00a0 I guess during the day they are always busy, but this was “the calm before the storm” so they had to greet us all.<\/p>\n
We then went upstairs to buy some coffee capsules for Okasan and Ottosan – Kaoru had drank a bit when we were there.\u00a0 We also made a few other purchases of some food to bring back.\u00a0 Hope our baggage isn’t over weight!\u00a0 We showed Kaoru the wine tasting as that was still going from yesterday (but we didn’t sample anything) and then we went in to the “VIP Lounge” which Mio has access to.\u00a0 We had a tea there, and then Kaoru and I went off for lunch while Mio relaxed before picking up Arisa.<\/p>\n
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For lunch we went to the sushi train that we had missed yesterday.\u00a0 Even at 11.15 we had to wait 5 minutes to get a table!\u00a0 Now this was a different style of sushi train.\u00a0 The conveyerbelt was going round, but only the ads for what you can get were on it.\u00a0 You had to place your order through an iPad.<\/p>\n
Not sure if I like it this way.\u00a0 You can view how much you’ve had which is useful, and a running total, but sometimes you want to see the food go past and pick one of them.\u00a0 With this interface you have to navigate menus to find the food, as there isn’t even a large, laminated picture of their selection.\u00a0 But we enjoyed some sushi and sake for our last lunch in Japan.<\/p>\n
We went to the bus stop to see if we could pre-purchase our ticket to the airport.\u00a0 It was too late to book it by phone, and you have to sign up to do it online, so we thought this would be easier.\u00a0 But unfortunately we couldn’t – we just need to be there early enough.\u00a0 We also found a Lego City display.\u00a0 Must be a school holiday activity.\u00a0 So I had a bit of a look at that, and then Kaoru and I caught the train 2 stops, and walked back to Mio’s.<\/p>\n
We finished our packing and weighed our suitcases – 60kg, give or take.\u00a0 Fingers crossed we won’t have any problems at check in.\u00a0 Kaoru tried to book a taxi to take us to the bus stop but there weren’t going to be any available – and this was for in 1 hours time!\u00a0 Mio, Yoichi and Arisa were going out to see Yukari and Minami’s dance concert, but Mio thought she would have time to run us down there – it just would have been easier if she didn’t have to.\u00a0 So we waited around the house for a little longer, until Yoichi came home (I passed the time with a last taste of the Ichiro!) as he rushed off to see us before we left.\u00a0 But basically as he walked in the door, we said Hello, and then put our bags in the car and left.<\/p>\n
The traffic was quite bad.\u00a0 We have plenty of time, but hopefully Mio gets back in time to get ready for their plans tonight.\u00a0 We waited for the bus and had no problem getting on.\u00a0 Traffic was slow getting to the airport but we were in no rush so we had a bit of a sleep and passed the time.\u00a0 Once at the airport we went to the Business Class check in counter, which had no queue.\u00a0 Unfortunately the plane is fully booked so I don’t have an upgrade for either of us.\u00a0 However the girl there still checked us in, which was great, and as we were talking I didn’t see her look at the weight of the suitcases combined, so we took it as a win.\u00a0 It’s possible we get an upgrade at the gate (if somebody doesn’t show) but not likely.<\/p>\n
We were a bit hungry, and I found a great place, called “Beer and Takoyaki”.\u00a0 By coincidence, I wanted a beer, and we hadn’t had takoyaki yet on this trip, so perfect!\u00a0 We enjoyed some food and a sit down, and then decided to go through customs and do our last bit of shopping –\u00a0 we still had a few gifts to get for people.\u00a0 Once that was done we walked to our gate, stopping at a lounge area for a hot chocolate.<\/p>\n
We walked to the gate after a last toilet stop, and heard them make a last call.\u00a0 We never heard a first call!\u00a0 The plane was already over half full and it was only just after the scheduled boarding time!\u00a0 We got on (weren’t the last people) and did the flight to Brisbane for Nanna’s 90th.\u00a0 But that’s a new adventure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I woke up in time to say goodbye and thank you to Yoichi, before he went off to work.\u00a0 Mio took Arisa to school.\u00a0 Once we were all ready, Kaoru, Mio and I went to the shopping centre.\u00a0 It didn’t open until 10, but Mio wanted the good parking spot so we had to get … Continue reading