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The day after skiing, Jonathan and I headed back to Tokyo and stopped by Matsumoto Castle. I still wasn't feeling well that morning. I had wanted to go to the other onsen at the hotel, but I couldn't. Though Jonathan went to the better one that morning for the first time and said that the other one wasn't nearly as nice. So I didn't really miss much, but it will would have been nice.

We ate breakfast at the hotel and I was still nauseous and couldn't eat much. For some reason anything Japanese was sounding really gross right then. So I think mostly just ate some mixed fruit. Even that wasn't very appetizing right then either. It's too bad because the breakfast was really nice and had a lot of choices.

By the time we left the hotel I was feeling quite a bit better. I think actually eating something helped. Jonathan took some pictures as we walked to the station.

 



Yudanaka is a small station, but they play dramatic music when the trains arrive. When you get off the train it sounds like you're arriving at a theme park or something.


We had good timing and were able to take an express train. It was only 100 yen more and it went all the way to Nagano (we would have had to switch once on the regular train) and took about 25 minutes less. Plus the train had the nicer forward-facing seats. Oh and it was Monster Hunter (a video game) themed on the outside. I've never played those games and it's not cute but I still always appreciate decorated trains. I'm surprised it was only 100 yen more.



Forty-five minutes later we arrived in Nagano. We went into a small store in the station so that Jonathan could buy some omiyage to take to school. I typically don't since I have several schools and it's too expensive to buy stuff for everyone. I bought some things for myself though. 


Country Ma'am is a common brand of cookies here and they're tasty even though I have always hated the word "ma'am." When working in stores I hated everytime I was called ma'am. Of course I know they were just being polite and it was better than many other things I've been called in retail jobs. It just seemed like they were calling me old or something, lol. I also was kind of creeped out when people called me by my name. I know it was my name tag, and again maybe they were just trying to be nice, but it was still kind of freaky, haha. And annoying when they didn't even pronounce it right.

Anyways... these were apple flavored and they were yummy. I also got a package of instant soba with Nagano's mascot on the package. Also yummy!

The next local train to Matsumoto wasn't for about an hour. There were several express trains, but we couldn't take those with our cheap (but awesome) Seishun Juhachi tickets.

I was starting to feel hungry and had seen a Lotteria in a shopping building near the station. For some reason anything Japanese was still sounding bad to me. Don't ask me why when I had been feeling nauseous a hamburger and fries seemed good but it was delicious and didn't make me feel bad.

After we finished eating, I went to the bathroom (and got distracted by a few stores on the way). While I was gone Jonathan went to a flower shop right next to the table we had eaten at. He then surprised me with some really pretty flowers! They smelled amazing, too. They smelled just like spring! Really... I have a Bath and Body Works candle called "Spring" and these smelled like that.


These flowers were bought about three weeks ago and most of them have dried out and been thrown away, but the yellow ones still look great!

The train from Nagano to Matsumoto took about an hour and a half (the express trains that we couldn't ride only take about half that time). But it was a beautiful train ride. 



We took some video during our train rides to Nagano and Matsumoto.



Our plan was to put our luggage in lockers at the station, but all of the bigger lockers were full. I was at least able to put my backpack and flowers in a smaller one, but we had to roll our luggage to Matsumoto Castle. 



Matsumoto Castle was built in the 1500s and it's still the original castle (unlike many castles in Japan), though some gates around the castle have been rebuilt.

Of course we couldn't take our luggage into the castle, so we took turns going into the castle. It's too bad that we couldn't see it together, but at least we still both got to go in. 


 


The last staircase to the top was really steep!



I'm glad that we were able to go there because it's kind of out the way from anywhere else I want to visit, but it's between Nagano and Tokyo so it was perfect. When I was feeling sick I thought I might have to take  shinkansen trains all the way back to Iwata the next day and skip out on Matsumoto and Tokyo. Luckily that didn't happen though!

From Matsumoto it took about five hours to get to our hotel in Akihabara. I started feeling bad again towards the end though.

After spending Friday and Saturday in Iwata and Hamamatsu, we headed back out for more traveling. On Saturday we went to Shimoda which is in the southeastern part of the Izu peninsula. I used to live in Izu, but I only visited Shimoda once because even though it wasn't far, there wasn't very direct transportation there because of the mountains. I either had to take an indirect bus route that didn't run very often or take a bus east, a train north, and then a train back south. It just wasn't convenient at all from Toi.

First we arrived in Atami a little before noon. We dropped our luggage off at the hotel and headed back towards the station to find somewhere to eat. We decided to just eat at McDonald's because we didn't want to waste time finding another place and well, it just sounded good!

There was a store near McDonald's with some really cute stuff in the window! I stepped in there after lunch but we were in a bit of a hurry for the train so I didn't have time to buy any of these adorable kitties.




At McDonald's I had a chicken salsa sandwich and a blueberry soda. Mmm!

Then we went to the station and I saw this train and was kind of jealous of the cool seating. Then I realized that it was our train!



Many of the seats sat facing the windows so that the passengers could enjoy the view. We were standing for a little while, but we were eventually able to get a seat. The train got emptier and emptier as we neared Shimoda.

The view from the train is really nice in some areas as it goes along the coast. Here's a video that also has some stuff from the beach later in the day.




 The train had some historical stuff above the windows which I couldn't read and probably wouldn't have read even it had been in English. Shimoda is famous for Perry's black ships landing there. I don't know many details though.


There are several stores near the station selling souvenirs and useful stuff for the beach. Jonathan and I bought a mat and an inner tube. He also bought some flip flops because he had forgotten the ones he had bought just for Shimoda.


We took a bus to Shirahama beach. We found pay showers but couldn't find just a bathroom where we could change clothes (later I found a restroom on the beach that we could have used). So we changed in the bathroom at 7-11 even though I'm pretty sure the sign said not to do that there. 

The beach was pretty crowded, but there were still plenty of spots for us to sit. The water wasn't as crowded and I liked that there were people there because it was lively.




It was such a pretty area! 


It was fun to play with the inner tube. I mostly liked floating around and going out where the waves just gently went up and down, but Jonathan enjoyed going near the shore and riding the waves. 



While Jonathan played in the water some more I walked to the other end of the beach and took some pictures. 




By the time I got back to our spot most people had left (except for people cleaning up the beach and people who worked at the umbrella rental shops). We dried off a little bit, though we didn't dry off much because it's always so humid here. I eventually just had to put my clothes back over my wet bathing suit even though it made my shorts wet and it looked bad, haha.


While waiting for the bus we took a picture of the interesting non-colorful 7-Eleven. I saw another 7-Eleven like this in Dogashima. I wonder why some of them are this color. This 7-Eleven was very interesting because a lot of people just went in there in their bathing suits and there was sand all over the floor.


We were super hungry once we made it back to Atami so we got food from a konbini for dinner. I got chicken and rice and chocolate milk. I get that chicken a lot from Family Mart.


Originally I had planned for us to spend five days in Tokyo, but Jonathan wanted to go to Shimoda so we changed to just spend four days in Tokyo. I had a fun day at the beach so it was a good choice!

I moved out of my apartment Saturday morning. Despite the blackout Friday night, I was still able to get most of my last minute packing done. I woke up early Saturday morning to finish packing and cleaning my apartment.

My IC (a translator/helper hired by Interac) arrived around 9 and we packed my things into her car and waited for some people to come so that I could pay my final electric and gas bills. My IC drove me to Mishima and by 11 or 12 I was on a shinkansen on my way to Tokyo.

It didn't feel weird to leave Toi like I thought it would. It didn't feel like I was leaving. I think that's partly because I didn't have to completely clean out my apartment. When I left, there was still furniture, dishes, cleaning supplies and more. So the apartment never had that bare feeling that most places have before moving.

Earlier in the week higher than normal radiation levels had been detected in Tokyo, but they still hadn't reached dangerous levels. I kept checking the situation and decided that it was safe to go. But I wondered how Tokyo would be. I had heard that at times the streets had been almost empty but I wondered if that was still true.

When I reached Tokyo station there were plenty of people, but the station was kind of dark. They were only using about half the lighting as normal. Also, most escalators were turned off so I had to search around for elevators because I had two suitcases, a backpack, and a shopping bag of shoes I hadn't managed to fit in my suitcases.

I left one suitcase in a locker in the station and took the rest of my stuff to my hotel in Akihabara. By that time I was really hungry and didn't want to search around for food. So I went to a nearby McDonald's. I had a Happy Set, Shake Shake Chicken, and grape Fanta. I was excited because they had pizza flavor for the Shake Shake chicken which I hadn't had before. It was good! :)

I wandered around Akihabara a bit after lunch. First I went into Yodobashi Camera. Like the train stations, they were also reducing their electricity. Some of the lighting was turned off and many displays were turned off, but it wasn't really that different. It was still as crowded as usual.

I went into an arcade in Akihabara. I tried winning a cute stuffed animal out of a claw machine (and failed of course) but didn't play any other games. It was still interesting though.









I got thirsty and bought this grape jelly drink (like chunks of jello in juice). I don't know why I wanted this because I didn't like the aloe jelly drink I tried before, but it sounded really good right then. I'm glad I got it because I actually really liked it!



The Donki store in Akihabara has an AKB48 shop. There was a line to get in and it was ALL guys. I didn't go in, lol.






I stopped in a konbini to see if they had any new flavors. They had Honey Lemon so of course I had to try it!


It was pretty good, but not one of my favorites. My very favorite was peach. I also loved melon and white grape. I don't know why melon fanta isn't sold in the US. I knew so many foreigners who loved melon soda so I think it would sell well here.

Next I went to an area I hadn't been to before called Shimokitazawa. It's a nice area, but not super super interesting. I went because I wanted to go to Kokoro Soup Curry which I had read about online. It's a restaurant that originated in Hokkaido. I never had the chance to try soup curry when I was in Sapporo so I wanted to at least try it in Tokyo.

However, I couldn't find the restaurant. I had found their website online and drew their map onto a piece of paper, but it wasn't very helpful because the streets were at a different angle than the map, so it was confusing. I settled for Mos Burger instead.

I had fun looking around though. I almost thought these mannequins were real!


That night I headed to Odaiba to go to Oedo Onsen Monogatari. It's a hot spring "theme park."

First you go in and pay. The price is reduced after 6 PM so it's only 2,000 yen for adults. Though I remember them only charging me 1,600 which is the price for kids 4-11. I hope there was some special deal that night because if they thought I was some random 11 year old foreign kid there by myself that's just kinda weird.

Anyways, after you pay they give you a wristband with a key. You go to a counter and pick out a yukata. Then you go to a locker room and change into a yukata. Next you enter a room designed to look like an old fashioned festival.



You can enjoy many old-fashioned things such as arcades and Dippin' Dots! Haha. It is a bit cheesy I guess, but it's well done and I really enjoyed it. :)


From the main area you can enter the bathing areas. I went in there and tried all seven of the baths. My favorites were the outdoor ones.

After relaxing in the baths I went back to the main area and bought some green tea Dippin' Dots and ramune soda. The Dippin' Dots were really good! :)



The wristband has a barcode and you use that to pay for food and stuff. Then you go back to the counter when you leave and pay for everything that you bought.

The next morning I went to Ueno to visit my favorite toy store, Yamashiroya. There was a pretty, but fake, sakura tree in the station. There were panda bears because Ueno Zoo recently got some pandas. I would have liked to go see them, but it was a gross and rainy day... not good for going to a zoo. :(


I went to Starbucks and enjoyed a Sakura latte, went to Yamashiroya, and then decided to try finding the soup curry restaurant again. I had looked up the address on Google maps and was pretty sure I knew where it was.







Next I went to Ikebukuro. I went to Book Off and Tokyu Hands.






I ate a quick lunch in Ikebukuro Station at Anerson, a bakery. I had quiche, a potato and cheese roll, a sweet potato thing, and some sort of chocolate covered thing. It was all super good like usual. I will miss Japanese bakeries so much! They're so convenient and good! :)


I rode the Yamanote Line one last time to Nippori Station and then took the Keisei Skyliner from there to Narita Airport. It was sad to leave Tokyo! :(

Things had been a little different than normal. Signs and stores were less lit up and stores closed earlier, but it wasn't all that different. Trains were on time and the streets were full. I was glad to have one last fun weekend in Tokyo. :)