On our first night in Tokyo we ducked into Fuunji, a tiny ramen place near our AirBnB in Shinjuku. I thought it was good, but I wasn’t sure if this was because it was our first meal in Japan, or if we were just really hungry. Amanda, on the other hand, knew we had found something special. It was the dipping noodles (or tsukemen), not the ramen, that blew us away. It was so good, we went back on our…
We decided to get out of Tokyo craziness for a day trip to Kamakura, known for its abundance of temples and big buddha. After the 1-hour JR ride, we arrived to check out Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. No trip to Kamakura would be complete without a visit to this big guy, Daibatsu. I’d been once before, but had no memory of going inside. We went inside. With a few hours to spare before heading back to the city, we headed to Enoshima Island,…
Today we did a ton of people watching in Harajuku, Shibuya and Shinjuku. Sometimes we took videos of it. People in Tokyo wear some crazy shoes, which makes no sense because they also do lots of walking. We walked through Tokyu Hands department store in Shibuya. It’s a mix between a Home Depot, Michaels and Walmart. If you can dream of it, they sell it. Actually, not entirely true, since I’m in the market for a (sick person) mask with…
After checking off what seemed like an endless list of TODOs, we got the house AirBnB-ready, said all our goodbyes, packed our bags, and flew to Japan. It’s Amanda’s first time in east Asia (India is a world of its own), so she’s getting in her first impressions. Amanda has been feeling under the weather, so we bought her some cold meds from a friendly lady at the pharmacy, along with a few masks. One of our first activities in Tokyo was…
Here’s the rough agenda for the next few months. Countries in (parentheses) are maybes. October: Japan, Korea November: Taiwan, Vietnam December: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia January: Australia, New Zealand February: Thailand, (Burma), (China) March: Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Hungary, (Ukraine), Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland April: Germany, UK, Ireland May: South Africa, (Kenya)
We’re squeezing in lots of kiddo and family time before we leave Seattle. Between the birthdays, Shabbat dinners, and spontaneous gatherings, we’ve been soaking it all in knowing we won’t see these crazy people for a while. I think Amanda and I will have to reintroduce ourselves to Ezra when we return, given that he’s just 14 months old.