The Adventure begins in Tokyo…

Before we left for Tokyo, we had an unbelievably spectacular sunset the previous evening. Mikey, the bear had to come with us. He was a lovely gift from a friend using Michael’s jeans and shirt! He will make us smile and help us remember why we are on this very adventure. Thank you Michael…We’ve missed you for two years now!

The next blessing was flying out of SFO with a lovely view of the city AND Dillon Beach! It looks so different from the air!

When we arrived at Narita, we headed up the ramp, passed people waiting to pick up their wheelchair passengers and miraculously there stood Yo, our Silversea rep with our name on a clip board, yes at the top inside security! He helped me with my rollaboard and guided us through passport, luggage and medicine check (all meds more than 30 days must be declared and approved before arrival in Japan). We both assume Silversea will not start a world cruise in Japan again! Our four pieces of luggage that were shipped in December had to go to Hong Kong to meet our boat as Japan would not allow FedEx to import our luggage into Japan. In just under 30 minutes, the plane arrived at the gate, we went through passport, picked up our other four pieces of luggage, had our medicines checked and bundled into a large Land Cruiser like Toyota for the ride to the Okura. We both called that a record! Here is the view from our room at the Okura hotel in central Tokyo.

The next morning we took our time getting up and then went to breakfast and needed to get movement in our bodies. We started walking toward the area in the photo if you look very closely that seems straight out of Gaudi in Barcelona. We found other than the teamLab Borderless digital art museum (we bought tickets for Sunday morning), there was shopping, a good bookstore, incredible restaurants, a huge grocery store, a large wine shop and more.

We chose asian/Thai for lunch where during the week, you also include the time you can stay at the restaurant. Sixty to ninety minutes is your choice. I guess that is important since we noticed that the open wine and non alcoholic “serve yourself” drink bars were available. Very interesting. We are quick eaters so no problem but I did enjoy a glass of white wine and a flute of sparkling wine before we left and moseyed back to our hotel of course perusing the bookstore. The building next to us had the circle at its apex, Larkin noted the moon shining nearby!

For our evening meal, we went to the concierge where I asked for a Shabu Shabu restaurant. There was one fairly close by but we chose to take a taxi because after dark even though Tokyo streets are safe, it was dipping into the 30’s! Our driver left us off at the high rise building nearby the restaurant. Since we didn’t know where it was, we walked in the lobby. It was around 5:30 and we noted all the people in dark suits pouring out of the elevators, past walk throughs where they ding their cards…it was Friday evening! There was a help desk at this time and the lady at a desk pointed to a far door that led outside and said, “turn right its out there”.

Out there was entering into a world of none other than Harry Potter! Music, lights, decor, a Harry Potter restaurant etc… The Japanese now have a theater that is doing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child all in Japanese. Larkin saw it in London and loved the tech the most. So, I guess if we had gone, that would have been all I would have enjoyed and understood!

We went into the shopping area with many restaurants and found our Zakuro for Shabu Shabu on the second floor with many other restaurants. Only Japanese customers were in sight which always makes me happy. Our concierge had mentioned she would take her family there.

Our friends Tomoko and Minoru met us early Saturday afternoon at our hotel and we all took a taxi to the Imperial Palace and walked around across the moats. As you can tell, it was a lovely day! We walked through the small museum with artifacts donated by various imperial families. It was small but enlightening! I loved two metal sculptures; the one on the right is a Qilin or Kirin which is a mythical beast – a legendary hooved chimera. It is considered a good omen and came over from Chinese mythology. The addition of wings is a rather modern addition. The one on the left is of a phoenix the mythical bird that lives on top of volcanoes and absorb flames. They are a symbol of youth and a sign of peace and prosperity. Note Haru, Larkin’s dinosaur who is on the trip with us and writing his own child’s story. His adventures sound so much more exciting than mine and we’re doing the same things!

We also enjoyed the Sumida Hokusai Museum…all about Hokusai’s art work. He changed his name every so often as he moved and his style of art changed. There were no photos allowed but you would recognize all his drawings like the one above as they speak of Japanese art in the Edo period. He influenced van Gogh and Monet when Japonisme spread across Europe. He created Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji in response to a domestic travel boom. He worked in many mediums and also published “how to” books. This is one of his most famous pieces which is a block print – the waves, two boats and Mount Fuji! After the museum we walked near the closed Edo Tokyo Museum because the Sumo wrestling was starting soon (the next day and we already had plans) and the flags behind our photo is representative of each wrestlers area or who they represent. The tournaments happen three times a year in Tokyo at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the national sumo stadium. Sumo wrestling is the national sport of Japan!

Tomoko and Minoru took us to the Guenpin in Tokyo for Blowfish! We only saw Japanese customers and as always we love a great local restaurant – it helped to have our own interpreters! A person who is the chef has to learn how to deal with this fish, take a test and get a license. We loved it! First the sashimi comes out. Nice flavor, slightly chewy. Next is tempura with again great flavor but you need to beware of bones. Next a basket (yes a basket) is put on the induction top in the middle of the table with a metal disk holding the waxy like waterproof paper down. The water in the basket boils and the server places all the rest of the fish and greens in the dish. When you’re almost finished with what is in the basket they use the little water that is left to put almost cooked rice in and an egg with a bright orange yoke. The flavor was yummy but I was full! Tomoko and Minoru found us a taxi and sent us back to the hotel. We were absolutely too full! We await the time when we break out her chocolates in our suite on the ship!

What an incredible museum teamLab Borderless: MORI Building Digital Arts Building. If there was a museum this exquisite in San Francisco, I’d go see it twice a year. Glad I had my cane as its dark and slow and constantly changing. If you go back to rooms you’d seen before everything had changed. They had a cool room with rotating balls on tracks and rooms with huge squares coming out with changing colors. One hallway saw the unique guys walk through. The next – room was the only seating…a square lump…while we sat and rested, those unique guys followed us into the new room. The creators of this museum are very talented and you want to come back for more!

Our last meal before we left for the cruise ship was incredibly fresh sushi in the Okura hotel. Interesting enough we were still the only foreigners! Our chef was delightful and everyone was friendly. After one last drink in the top floor bar, we headed to our room. As our bags had to be out the next morning, we organized ourselves and got a good nights sleep. The ship awaited us on Monday afternoon after a brunch with the other 180 full world cruisers on the Silversea Dawn.

For those who are interested, we get updates on the fun JJ is having in McCall, Idaho with Paige and of course her poodle Navy. We hope he misses us some!

The ship, Silversea Dawn awaits…