Ok, so there are not a lot of pictures for today because we mostly backtracked places we had been in search of a few random purchases. This mainly meant searching for strange flavored Kit Kat bars. We basically ran through the Hamamatsucho, Daimon, Shiba Park and Tokyo Tower areas hitting all the convenience stores we could after we had a quick breakfast.
From there we headed back into the hotel and got finished with our packing and checked out of the hotel around 11am. We took the longer and less stair infested way to the north entrance of Hamamatsucho Station (typically S5 is a shorter walk but there is a huge flight of stairs to get there and no escalator). The ride to Tokyo Station was brief and we searched out the Narita Express. We found the track the car would arrive on in about half an hour before its departure but then found out we had to reserve seats on it so ran back upstairs with our passes and got 2 green car seats with plenty of time to spare. Our train arrived minus our car then they drove up more cars and connected everything together. The ride to the airport was relatively quiet and took about an hour.
At the airport we got through check-in and security then shopped the airport stores for a bit. I bought a bottle of sake at duty free in hopes I could stuff it in my checked bag when I got to San Fran. After shopping we found the bar and burgers and drinks (I had my last large Sapporo draft) and then found the gate (basically next door) and waited out the plane which was arriving and thus departing late. The flight to San Fran was mostly uneventful. I watched Me and Orson Welles, Crazy Heart and Up in the Air through the entertainment system which was again not the in seat types as we were on probably the same 747 we flew out on. I didn't try to sleep on the flight. The meals were bad and we arrived about 45 minutes late or so. There was a spot near the end of the flight where the captain made the crew stay seated for turbulence even though they had to prepare for landing. They got to rush through the final preps in about 5 minutes. We landed nice and easy though.
San Fran airport wasn't tough to navigate. We had to run through passport control which was quick. Then we had to get our checked baggage which I swear was last off the plane. Then I was able to stuff the bottle in my luggage. We checked through customs really rapidly and rechecked our baggage with a bit of confusion on where to do that. Next was the security rescreen. By the time we were at our gate there was about an hour before flight departure so it wasn't long before we were boarding. The plane was full much like the 747 but we departed on time and they even flew with a good tailwind I guess because we came in more than 45 minutes early. It was an uneventful flight even with the person reading the New York Times right next to me that had a picture of a plane crash in color on the front page). They didn't serve a meal and I nodded off at points. The movies were not interesting to me and I did not watch them. The good luck with this flight was our bags were almost first out of the plane. We got outside just as the Flightline van was arriving and it was a pothole filled ride back to Ronni's house where I picked up my car and drove all bleary-eyed to home. I got home at about 9:30pm. Quickly I dumped my stuff down, ate something then went to bed for work the next day.
All in all it was a great trip and though we had some touchy weather we never really had bad weather. The locations we chose were all fun to me. Granted I enjoyed Nagoya a lot last time but others didn't as much, but this time I think we hit the right places all around. The number one best (ichiban) thing about being back from Japan is paper towels in public rest rooms. I was not happy to return to driving and traffic however.
It is my basic plan and expectation to return to Japan in summer of 2012 with the intent of climbing Mount Fuji as the central reason for that time frame. Fuji can only be climbed to the top in the months of July and August. I am sure it will make the Tokyo heat fairly unbearable but I also intend to buy rail passes and travel the country again. At some point in the future I will also have to dedicate a trip to Hokkaido and probably Okinawa as well (though obviously different trips for their distance apart).
The pictures for day 15 can be found here.
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