By the time I'm getting around to writing this, I've actually been home like 2 full days now. Blogging is a state of mind and I just am not in that state of mind in my own apartment I guess!
I woke up at around 9:20 on October 19 to make my 11 AM checkout. I was pretty sure that I would have plenty of time to spare since I was already packed but I basically ended up deep cleaning the place (even though I basically explicitly didn't need to) so I didn't check out until like 10:50 or something. Here's a look at how I left it, pretty clean overall! I even vacuumed!
I ordered a taxi through Uber and wistfully watched out the window as all of the places I could have visited began to recede into the distance. To be honest, I think I've actually spent enough time in Tokyo now where leaving doesn't feel like too impactful since I know I'll be back sooner or later. So I wasn't feeling particularly sad or anything.
The above is basically the only photo I got on the ride over to Haneda. It's a photo looking out over the Kanda River in Akihabara. I'm not even sure what I was trying to take a picture of, but later I realized I actually have a photo of the spot that I would have been in when taking the photo. See this photo from Shosen Book Tower that I took the other day. I would have been on the left hand side of the road right where it's meeting the window divider thing!
Another kind of fun thing I saw and actually recognized was the Nihonbashi Ebisuko Bettara Ichi Market that I had actually stumbled onto last year! Seeing it from the highway was fun but maybe I should have went and checked it out the night before I left? Maybe next time!
After getting to the airport I checked both of my luggages. I had considered putting my backpack into a coin locker and heading to Kawasaki to expierence more Girls Band Cry stuff since the anime actually takes place in Kawasaki and it's only like a 20 minute train ride from Haneda. However, it seemed like it was about to start pouting outside and even though I had like 3 hours until boarding, I thought I might get anxious about time when I made it to Kawasaki anyway.
The security experience was like 5 minutes max even with them pulling my bag to be checked. I was thinking it might be because I had 2 laptops in my backpack (and hadn't pulled either of them out lol) but I actually have no idea what the reason it got pulled for since the lady took the bag over to the inspectiion station, look at the monitor for a couple seconds, and then gave it to me without even opening it lol
Finally, I made my way to the Delta lounge to hang out for 3 whole hours until it was time to board. Luckily it had a nice view!
I felt like the lounge was familiar but didn't even realize until just now that I had used the same lounge when I visited in 2023. I basically even have a few photos of basically the same things! lol
I had a few snacks and then worked on my previous blog entry, which was actually lucky or who knows how much further delayed this entry would have been (or I might have pulled a 2023 and not even written a final blog post lol). I wrapped up my blog with only an hour remaining, so just watched some YouTube to kill the time. They lounge was empty when I arrrived but had filled up by this time and the lounge employees were pushing around a tempura cart. The tempura ended up being pretty good. Also a guy sitting near me apparently had his birthday that day so the employees came and gave him a special dessert and then like took a commemorative photo for him? Never seen that before haha
Once I was on the plane it was pretty smooth sailing. I had my lay flat seat once again, so I was ready to get in a good night's sleep! Unfortuantely, I ended up getting too enthralled watching movies so didn't sleep at all. Have y'all watched "The Devil Wears Prada" recently? Still pretty good!! I also ended up watching National Treasure again. Also still holds up if you ask me lol
I arrived in Seattle at around 8 AM local time. I hadn't used Global Entry before but it made Customs/Immigration crazy fast for me since you just walk up to the kiosk and it scans your face without evening needing your passport or anything. It literally took like 5 seconds max! How can it match someone's face that quickly?? Very cool
I did end up having to wait around for a bit for my bags but nothing crazy. Since it was still normal waking hours for me (in Japan time), I was actually feeling pretty good and like I could probably stay up for the rest of the day!!
Once I got home, I went to the store to get some food. I did some (very little) unpacking and then told myself a little nap might be good for morale. After waking up 6 hours into my 20 minute nap, I realized that it had all been a mistake and that the jetlag would be continuing a few days!! Finally, I stayed up until like 4 am and remembered how inconvenient it is to be hungry at 4 AM with no food at home and no Family Mart just around the corner. I guess it's still good to be back home!
No More Japan Content ૮(╥﹏╥)ა
Well that wraps it up for my 2025 blog! I will actually have one more post coming in the next few days, similar to the 2024 Flyers post. Looking back on it, I think some of my favorite things that I had done on this trip were the things that weren't really expected. Stuff like the idol concert in Adachi or the surprisingly cool Tokorozawa Sakura Town. Although the Comic1 event and visiting Tokyo Big Sightalso hyped up my otaku sensibilities! lol
I think next year, I am going to try to visit twice for like 2 or 3 weeks each instead of doing one big 4-6 week trip. It will probably help me stress less about luggage space and getting homesick for my own bed and desk. But at the same time, the flight is basically the most expensive part of the trip, so we'll see!
Stats-wise, it looks like I lost 2.5 lbs on my trip (basically negligible tbh) but my step count was 2x to 3x my normal Seattle amount.
The number for the "Sep 28 - Oct 4" data in each photo is different because it only counts the average for the steps actually in that month. The labels would be more accurate if the left was "Sep 28 - Sep 30" and the right was "Oct 1 - Oct 4"
Anyway, time for me to get prepared for the jp-2026 blog!! Thanks for following along and see you next time!! (˵ •̀ ᴗ •́ ˵ ) ✧