March 15 – April 15, 2021
Places we Traveled:
Yokohama, Kyoto, Tokyo, Shikoku
Peaks:
- Went to Yokohama to see the Gundam Statue. It was still too early for Sakura blossoms in Tokyo, but there was no state of emergency in place at this time. We took the opportunity on this quiet weekend to get food in Yokohama Chinatown and explore Tokyo for the first time in months. We happened to be near a Shake Shack at dinner time. So, obviously we had to grab some real American-style burgers and milkshakes for dinner. Just as we started to order our food, an earthquake rumbled through Tokyo. The epicenter of the earthquake was off the coast of Sendai, pretty far from Tokyo, so it was unremarkable for us (and literally everyone around us). It did, however, cause the Shinkansen to pause service for rail inspection. We had to choose between waiting in Tokyo for service to resume, or taking the (much longer) local train back to Utsunomiya. Ultimately, I’m glad we chose the local train because the Shinkansen service stopped for hours. Geez, is this still a peak? Anyway, the burgers were totally worth it.
- Sakura Season! This year we traveled to Kyoto for peak cherry blossoms, because when in Rome right? It is a bit of a trek (3.5 hours by Shinkansen) and expensive to get to Kyoto from where we live, but it was totally worth it. I almost talked Andrew out of it. I’m so glad he won this battle. It was totally mesmerizing to be in the country’s “cultural capital” during peak Sakura season. Also, we saw some of the famous attractions we skipped during our first whirlwind trip to Kyoto, so it was well worth the cost.
- The Olympic Torch ran through Utsunomiya! I don’t really want to weigh in on whether or not this event was wise or if the Olympics should proceed as planned… So, I won’t. I’ve never felt particularly close to the Olympics before, but it was honestly very fun to feel like a part of the excitement.
- We explored the smallest of Japan’s four main islands: Shikoku! Andrew took an extra day off work, and we made it a long weekend road trip. Listen, it may be the smallest of the four main islands, but it is not small. We spent a lot of hours on completely uninhabited, curvy mountain roads. More on that in a separate post to come!!
- Not one, but two (TWO!!) Michelin Star meals. Tokyo is home to the highest concentration of Michelin Star restaurants in the world, it would be a shame not to spend a bunch of money at them, right?
Valleys:
- As of this writing, Japan is the slowest industrialized nation to roll out Covid vaccinations to the population. Only one vaccine is approved for use in Japan. Our friends and family in the US and other parts of the world are fully vaccinated, while we hold our breath hoping that the situation doesn’t take a sudden turn here. We constantly balance wanting to enjoy our lives and have these one in a lifetime experiences with our fear that we could, without knowing it, contract or spread the virus among vulnerable population. In more densely populated cities, frustrations are bubbling to the surface.
- Well, with that weight on our shoulders, we started our virtual house hunt. I cannot recommend trying to buy a house in a wildly different time zone. We woke up at 2am one night to do a virtual home tour with our (very awesome) real estate agent. It is both not fun and it reminds us how little time we have left in Japan.
