To jump to information about Kit Kats, see the final travel log day below.

Travel Log: Day 66 (9/1), Tokyo Japan

School in the morning, nothing noteworthy. JC tweaked her neck pretty badly, so it was a miserable day for her.

In the afternoon JC and I talked about how we’re going crazy here a little bit, or maybe a lot a bit. I was expressing that maybe I just don’t like it here in Japan. I can’t say why exactly because each individual thing is pretty amazing. The food is great. The people are great. The city is clean and safe. Transportation is incredible. But I’m not necessarily enjoying it. Part of this may be that this is the country I expected to like the most, and we anchored our whole trip around it. I may have been expecting too much. The jet lag for the first week probably didn’t help either, and may have unfairly tainted Japan for me. I’ll try to be fair in my evaluation from here on out, because I really do want it to get better.

JC and I went on a date night to a microbrewery (Beer Club Popeye) that we thought would seem familiar and somewhat Americanized. We were just as out of place there though. Not being able to read Japanese we didn’t realize we needed to order from an app. I called the server over to order our initial round of drinks, which he did bring but was super short and weird about it. After we figured out the app I got why, except I also didn’t get it. The Japanese are too polite for their own good. Just tell me to order from the app, by pointing or throwing it at me. I want that feedback and would feel less stupid about that redirection than discovering it on my own. We ordered our next couple of things through the app and paid through it as well.

Travel Log: Day 67 (9/2), Tokyo Japan

My mood was a lot better today. JC and I focused on getting our Osaka Airbnb booked since we were down to our last good option remaining. We booked it and then bought bullet train tickets to get there. It feels good to have that out of the way and settled. I think mentally it’s allowing me to just settle in to Japan since we’ll be here for a while.

After school we went to the other Lawson down the street, mostly because we think we’re starting to look ridiculous to the employees at our next door Lawson. We found some nice alternative things to eat.

In the late afternoon we decided to go to Akiba again, mainly with the purpose of finding something to eat. We rode the JR system there, just two stops over. After walking around some of the claw machine and video game stores we went to another conveyor belt sushi place. It was good like the first one and equally convenient. The area it was in was floor eight of this giant shopping center. There were many other restaurants on that same floor that look good as well. We walked home because the train station looked very busy.

Travel Log: Day 68 (9/3), Tokyo Japan

School started a little late because the kids always take longer to eat breakfast than we think. We also didn’t get them up until 7:30, and will have to get them up at 7am sharp to stay on schedule.

We ate Lawson stuff for breakfast and lunch, and then went back to the same pizza place we went to previously. Even that wasn’t without hiccups as they didn’t bring the check to us this time, and the lady at the pay thing did something that made me think she wanted to see what type of card I had, but really she was just telling me to tap. The server/cook also poured and filled our water for us which was nice. Especially when we translated a message on the table saying “water is self service please”.

JC and I went on a morning walk, and then another later with the kids. AC dusted off her raptor running that she did so much in Jaco. It was a pretty funny thing to see here in Tokyo where that sort of crazy physical action is so out of place.

It’s hard not being good at anything here. I guess it has to be good for us.

Travel Log: Day 69 (9/4), Tokyo Japan

The school day was typical. I’m feeling kind of off, almost like I have the start of a cold. In the afternoon we decided to go to Akiba once again to get a bunch of different Kit Kat flavors for a tasting competition.

While we were out we ate dinner at another place on floor #8 of that huge store where we had belt sushi. The food wasn’t great, and the service was a little weird in that everything came out at separate times. My food came WAY later than the others. The menu was also full Japanese with no option to switch the ordering tablet to English. It was fine despite all of that. Rolling with inconveniences is something we’re getting pretty good at.

AC won the Kit Kat tasting, getting 9 out of 12 flavors correct. JC was a close second and I only managed to guess four of them correctly.