Japan-2023

Well, our last full day in Japan and a bit of a wash out. Rain all day today and expected tomorrow. We hunkered in most of the morning and then decided we needed to go out. We ended up spending quite a bit of time just exploring the underground terrain under the hotel and in the subway system. It is absolutely amazing how many shops and swarming people are bustling under the Tokyo streets. Then we came back to the hotel and decided to enjoy the indoor swimming pool. Nan typically poo, poos indoor pools, but this one was heated and very nice! Back to the room for game time before our last evening in Tokyo. It has been a wonderful adventure…

We think today is our last day in Tokyo with good weather (we had a very faint view of Mt Fuji from the hotel). With Typhoon Mawar in the area, we expect rain for the rest of the time we are here. So, we made sure we were out and about today. We first headed to one of the best Japanese gadget stores. It is called Hands and there are many stores, but we headed to one of the larger ones. It is six floors (although, each floor seemed to have at least an A and B level, so let’s just say 12 floors. Each floor had a theme. The themes range from pets, to hardware, to crafts, to kitchenware, to umbrellas, to travel bags, to office supplies, to laundry supplies, to you name it! Of course, I managed to find a little something, but we didn’t go crazy. After the miles we walked in the store, we were in need of a rest and some liquid refreshment. We managed to find one of the few cafes with outdoor seating (on the second level) to have a beer! That reinvigorated us to head to the Tokyo National Mus...

We are back in Tokyo for our last hurrah in Japan! We took a limited express train and a bullet train to get here - around 5 hours from where we were. It is very enjoyable to ride the trains and not hard to figure out how it all works.We were actually spoiled because we were met at our train car in Tokyo by our next hotel to escort us to the hotel - nice service! So, we arrived in style and we were upgraded to a room with a view of the Imperial Palace. We actually strolled around the Palace the first time we were in Tokyo. However, the perspective is completely different from here - the Palace looks huge and the gardens are also quite expansive. For being an overcast day, our room was bathed in sunlight and very welcoming. We got a few games in before our dinner in the 16-seat Japanese restaurant in the hotel. It is only open tonight of the days we will be here, so we feel lucky that we were able to get in. And, as it turned out, one of the best meals we’ve had in Japan! It was an Omak...

This is our last day by Ago Bay! While it was lovely on our walk to breakfast, by the time we were done and headed back to our room, there was already a chill to the air. Then, although not in the forecast, the rains arrived. It is still beautiful to see water falling from the sky! Plus, that gave us an excuse for another down day of puzzles, reading, and games. We did force ourselves to go out for a walk after the rains let up. We explored more around the property where we hadn’t been yet. We realize that it is a lot of work to keep the vegetation (a.k.a., jungle) at bay. By then, it was time for our afternoon excursion to the Thermal Springs - one of the highlights here! Then, back to our room for our Cribbage match (J finally won tonight!) before out last dinner, which has been another highlight here - assorted sashimi and Matsusaka Wygu beef with a splurge tonight of ice cream for dessert - wonderful!! The only thing new I can offer is a crab from our walk today…

There is a reason why all of the vegetation here is so lush - it rains a lot! Not a wash out, but a nice gentle rain throughout the morning. So, we had some good downtime with puzzles, reading, and playing Mah Jongg. Then the rain let up and we went out to explore some more. Today, we went to the Marina and to Sunset Hill. A very nice setting on the bluff where we could see a different vantage point of the Bay. Unlike yesterday, where I forgot to mention Nan had a close encounter with a muskrat, no animal sightings today, just the ever elusive bird calls. Back home in time for our afternoon appointment at the lovely Thermal Springs. Today, we wore our Yukata (like a minimalistic kimono/robe) to the spa with our swimsuits underneath. There were two other people in the springs when we arrived, but they left about 20 minutes after we got there. And, the springs have two very large areas where two people can easily make their own space. Actually, each area could probably easily accommodate...

Today was just about a perfect day. We woke up to a cacophony of birds bringing in the new day. Then we had a nice breakfast - N with Western fare and J with Eastern fare. Afterwards, we took a walk to explore our surroundings and the National Park. We walked past the front gate where the guard politely asked us for our room number. He was tickled when Nan could tell him in Japanese! There are a few resorts in this area, so we ended up walking by some tennis courts for another resort and looked for their Garden Pool. It seems that not all amenities have been returned to their pre-Covid state. The pool was closed as were the nearby Aquatic Gardens and the Bask in the Sun Beach. However, we kept walking and we ended up at Sunset Beach. When we checked in, our hotel manager mentioned that this was not a ‘beach’ and it was only for looking at the water. So, we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. He was correct in that it was not what we would traditional describe as a ‘beach’ but...