I woke up at 5am and started through the process of getting ready to meet Daniela at the airport. I found the funky coffee thing they have and made one. I will have to be awake enough one morning to take a picture of it. The coffee wasn't great but it was coffee and I knew I would need some. Though I slept all night I was still tired from the jet lag. I got showered and dressed and headed to the train station. Of course I chose the wrong train station. There are at least 4 train stations here near the hotel, the closest of which is not the one I needed. So I had to exit that train station and reorient. I was supposed to leave at 6am because her flight was supposed to land at 6:45 and it would take about 50 minutes to get to Narita on the express.
I did find the airport and paid the wrong fair (though I didn't know at the time I was short by 200 yen or so) because there was only a machine and no attendant to buy a ticket from. I got on the train bound for the airport which was at 6:38 by the time I was in the right place. A whole 25 minutes later than I expected. The 50 minute ride got me to the airport at 7:30 or so and I was in terminal one correctly but didn't know if her plane was supposed to arrive at the North Wing or South Wing Arrivals gates. I could not find record of her flight because by the time I got to those it was 7:45 and the boards were only going back as far as 7:30. I went to the wrong wing because it is the one my plane exited from but after a couple minutes (knowing that I was over an hour late by this point and not seeing Daniela) I asked information and was told she would be at the South Wing Arrivals gate. I looked around but didn't find her so waited at the entrance and after a few minutes she actually did come out. I was relieved I was not late. I welcomed her to Japan and then after a few minutes we bought train tickets back to Asakusa. We bought some drinks at the train platform. I got a can of black coffee and she tried a green tea cold drink. We only had to wait a couple minutes to board and the train was going soon after.
After a couple of minutes on the train Daniela's stomach started to bother her. I am not sure if it was from the green tea drink or something else but she was worried she was going to throw up. She didn't fortunately and the ride back was uneventful otherwise. She was still not feeling well most of the day after that. When we exited the train it took me a couple minutes to orient myself correctly to the hotel.I am sure I didn't pick the most efficient route but we got there in only a few minutes like we should have. We picked up Daniela's key card for the door and she got some toiletries from the from desk then we got in and she showered after a few minutes. Something I am sure was sorely needed after 40 hours or so of transit. She told me she got out in Mexico City where she had a long layover and met with a friend who took her to the basilica of the virgin of Guadalupe amongst other things. She did not have great flights but they weren't terrible flights.
After she was cleaned up we went out and looked around a bit and eventually found a place to have lunch. It was at a place called Royal Host which Daniela picked sort of randomly. She wanted something simple and easy because she was worried about her stomach. The menu had pictures but was not in English. I had a Japanese curry and a Kirin beer. Daniela had a vegetable soup and then grilled chicken with rice and corn. She had to order the rice special and asked them not to put on something else as well. Fortunately the manager spoke enough English for this to happen (there was a half-gaijin boy working as a server there but he obviously didn't know English). The food was good though I was very hungry by that point and may not have noticed. When we finished I made a point about the country by leaving money in the bin for payment as a tip. Right on cue the waitress chased us down to give it back. I had explained this to Daniela as we were eating. We made them keep it anyway.
We took a track back through the temple. Inside I bought 2 of the deep fried dumplings with bean paste inside that I love from there. I got a cherry and green tea. Daniela didn't try them. We went into the main Senso-ji temple and bought our fortunes. I got bad fortune 52 and she bad fortune 100. I explained how we tie them off at the temple to leave them behind and we did so. She bought a charm for good fortune after that and then we headed back to the room in a non-direct manner where we watched some guys performing with 3 stringed instruments that were really fun and funny. We watched them for a short while. I think they may have played for a while longer because it sounded like we could hear them from the room window which wasn't far from where they were for a while (though we may have been hearing music played from one of the nearby restaurants.
We relaxed at the room for a while and Daniela not feeling well fell asleep. At about 8:30 I got her to wake up and call home (her brother's mother and also an aunt died while she was flying, I know, what unbelievable timing). We had bought a prepaid phone card at a 7-11 in our wandering. From there we got dressed and went out to find food. We walked to a similar spot as the Royal Host and found a restaurant that was a Korean barbecue that Daniela chose (though she didn't know it). She ordered another vegetable soup and had mainly the broth because it had a lot of mushrooms in it and she is anti-mushroom. I ordered the table a pork belly menu for the grill. I had fun cooking it and it was tasty. It was also very filling. I was stuffed by the end. I had another beer which was a Suntory Premium The Malts on draft (the Kirin was better). After dinner we walked to the hotel by way of a 7-11 where we bought some tea and Daniela made some non-green-tea-tea. I went to bed for the night because it was midnight.
The pictures from Japan Day 2 are located here.
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