2025 Tokyo Wedding Trip Day 1

 Hello! I'm BACK from Tokyo and SICK but recovering enough to blog for a bit!  These posts may be a bit photo-heavy, though I am really not good at taking many photos.  You've been warned!

I set off bright and early on Nov. 18~  One checked bag, one carry on, and one personal bag.  My travel outfit was a jacket, a t-shirt, skirt with built-in pants, and short socks with shoes I planned to wear in Tokyo with other outfits.  I usually put my hair in twin french braids while traveling as it's neat and keeps my hair out of my face.

 

 

 

 I had ordered a taxi service to the airport and arrived with plenty of time to spare! I did a bit of window shopping, but didn't actually buy anything.

The mermaid photo aquarium was still there, so I put Violet in as a mermaid again 😹  

I flew with Starlux this time as it was a recommended airline, and I really think it was nice!  Neat and professional service and the plane was comfortable with a reasonable selection of entertainment.

There was a collaboration with Snoopy going on!  How cute is this welcome screen?

I had Indian Veg lunch and it was actually pretty delicious!  We also got real metal utensils 🍴

When I landed, all the baggage claim and customs went pretty smoothly.  However, my eSIM did not kick in and I had no data... so I didn't know how to get to my hotel!!  I was in the JR system and waiting over an hour until the data kicked in and I messaged my friends in Tokyo for help 😿 I did ask two members of staff for assistance as I knew where I was going, but they gave me different answers?  There must be multiple ways to get there, but neither answer given was the most efficient, it turns out.

Turns out I needed to take the Skyliner from the Narita airport and then transfer to JR, so I had to switch station entrances as they are different companies.  Luckily, with the help of my friend's wife, I made it safely to my hotel!!! 

Then one of my friends who had been in Tokyo for a few weeks already messaged me and we met up for dinner and to catch up!

 The dinner was really nice!!!  I got a mixed seafood donburi and it came with a massive bowl of miso soup.  We also got a bottle of sake to split.  A great first dinner!

 

Afterwards, we went to a bar in Akihabara as my friend knows the owner.  We stopped by a gyoza place and he ordered 30 gyoza to bring to share with the regulars at the bar.  The gyoza shop staff was very sweet and she told me we are neighbors because her husband is from Okinawa so on clear days, Taiwan and Okinawa can see each other 😹

 

At the bar, we had some drinks and my friend introduced me to a card game there called 101

It's quite simple.  You play cards to add (the other version is subtract, but that's hard) the pile total up to 101, but if you go over or if the person after you gets 101, you lose!  You only get 2 cards at a time, but you can also do a "luck" card and play whatever is at the top of the deck.

At 100, two things can happen: if you have a bullseye card (50 points) you can play it, reach 150, and EVERYBODY ELSE loses.  If you don't have the bullseye, you can opt to start a new pile and then the consequences are doubled.  I actually got two triple wins against my friend, but our final score was he lost to me 27 times (including the triples) and I lost to him 50 times 😹 He really had good luck!!!! 

We stayed there drinking until nearly 3am!!  Three Canadian navy guys with impressive mustaches came in as well, and my friend helped introduce the bar to them as the owner doesn't usually use a menu and doesn't speak much English.  He also showed them the dice game (forget the name) where you roll three dice in a bowl for points.

 Since Taiwan and Japan's timezones are only off by 1 hour, I didn't have any jetlag really, so I felt great the whole night!  It was a lot of fun~