Up at 6am April 24, 2023 to head to airport to Tokyo and on to Osaka - 12.5 hour flight + 3 hours layover plus 1 hour flight plus ride to hotel - we did it!
Delta has a new sky lounge and it's very very modern and I might like the other ones better but I'm not picky - just like to be comfortable!
And lots and lots of planes taking off and landing at Tokyo Haneda Airport. Japan just reopened it's borders to tourists in October 2022. And due to the COVID restrictions this tour we are on was cancelled 2 years in a row so this is our 5th "makeup for covid" tour - all caught up!
This was lunch on the plane to Tokyo - not sure what some of the stuff was and the carrots were good but not really cooked just "firm".
And we landed and were welcomed by this - plus lots and lots of security personnel, and other "helpers" - it was unbelievable but still difficult to navigate because the signs did not help much.
Tokyo Haneda airport public toilet - at least there was a big poster on the wall with photos and lots in Japanese. It apparently does a lot of things so who needs to shower!😊
A takeout board at the Tokyo airport. I must admit that lot of the foods didn't look like my type and I'm not a picky eater.
First overnight done in Osaka, Japan - NOT Osakis, Minnesota😄. Made it through all the entry requirements but we were well prepared! We were up a total of 24+ hours and still going strong. So..tour meetup starts tonight and we got the "notes" - "Toilets in Asia can be part of the overall adventure of learning a new culture and the squatter style is native to Japan" yup fer shur but hoping to avoid that adventure! Ross and I have had "did you see that toilet?" talks. The one in our room lights up, lid rises automatically and seat starts heating when you open the door to the toilet room - interesting. So far all Toto toilets. It's 7pm 4/25 in MN and 9am 4/26 in Japan so 14 hr difference. Tasted a few Japanese bites but opted for Italian pasta bolognese last night - not asking what the meat was! Our room is on the 26th floor and we see many buildings even higher. Osaka population 2.6 million, Tokyo is 14 million but the combined prefecture (city + suburbs etc) is 37 million - WOW! OK enough on toilets🙃
There was a magazine on the Japanese Airlines JAL plane in Japanese but this was actually also in English and I did read the directions that said to remove the firefly squid eyes! I hope I have never eaten an eyeball of anything but I have seen them at restaurants on fish, pig, guinea hen and other stuff other places.
This is a little bit of Osaka near the airport landing but Tokyo is 10 times as large or more.
We are on the 26th floor of 34 floors of the hotel in Osaka and this was the view last night and as you can see there are lots of even taller buildings.
OK - here's the wall control panel for the fancy Toto toilet. Ross comes out of at last night and says "that toilet is amazing" - hmm - are we easy to please, wierd or what the heck???
And we will definitely not be opening this window as I first looked out with the view and thought it was a little balcony and all you would have to do is open the window and step out - NOT!
Beautiful fresh flowers all over in the hotel, outside and I do think it is "bloom time" in Japan and I think maybe the cherry blossoms are in bloom so hope we get to see that.
This was "just a litle area" where you could sit and chat as we explored a couple of the floors. There is a lot of china and art work.
And this really really old phone by the elevators that actually worked when Ross picked it up. I wonder how old it is.
So we get to meet the other tour people tonight as the usual "welcome reception" dinner and it's always interesting and we are getting good and kind of avoiding the nasties. We do have to get a covid PCR test this afternoon before we get on the small ship in 3 days and will be on that 8 nights. If you get covid here you have to quarantine 14 days - fingers crossed!!!
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