Halloween in Tokyo

 I got up earlier today since Kent wanted me to walk with him to school. It's a .9 mile hike along the city streets, and Yuka does it twice every day! We stopped at Starbucks for breakfast on our way back, and I got my first-ever order from Starbucks!....not coffee, of course.  The Earl Gray latte was amazing!

Today was Halloween, which has been picked up to some extent by the Japanese. The kids love to dress up, of course. Alan's boys are in a British School, which allowed them to dress up last Friday, but not today. Both were Harry Potter characters since Kent has read all the books and is obsessed with the story. There are some Halloween decorations around town, and a few residences have them. Tokyo does not have a lot of single-family homes, so there are not many places to go to Trick or Treat. There is one wealthy section that sets up candy stations at their homes, and mobs of parents and kids go there for candy. I guess it's mostly foreigners, and Alan's family saw several people they know.

Outside of the school

Main entrance to school

Julian changing to his "inside" shoes.

Saying goodbye at the classroom entrance.

Buildings near the school

Sunset from their apartment.
Too bad there's a big tower pole in the way!

Halloween decorations

Waiting to cross the street

Touring the city

Yuka walked Kent and Julian to school as usual this morning, and they left before I got up!  They walk about ¾ mile, with Griffin in his stroller. Hope I can get up early enough in the morning to go with them!

After breakfast, the rest of us walked to the train station (subway) and went to the local government district, where Yuka picked up her updated passport and Griffin's first one. This is also near a major camera store where Alan traded in his camera for an upgraded model. The streets there look very traditionally Asian. We also shopped at a "100 yen store"... similar to our Dollar Tree, and then we ate lunch at a pasta shop, where Alan and Yuka ate when they were dating.

Modern office buildings

Griffin gets a ride

There were two sections like this of watches.

Lots of high-end cameras

Alan looking at the camera model he bought

"Cocoon" tower in the distance

Of course, McDonalds is everywhere!

Building in the distance with a weird top

Closer look at the Cocoon Tower. It's an educational facility.

Traditional street band. They were promoting something.

Took me a while to figure out how to flush the toilet!

Subway platform. The trains are LONG!

There's a 7-Eleven on almost every corner! They have just about everything you need!

Back to Tokyo!

 I finally made it to Tokyo...for the first time in 4½ years! Alan and Yuka have two sons that I have never met except through FaceTime, and I haven't seen Kent since he was 3½ years old!

This time I did not fly Business Class since that now takes lots more of Alan's miles than before, but I upgraded to an exit row to give me more space. I still thought the flight from Dallas to Tokyo would never end! I was not able to sleep at all, so I listened to a recorded book most of the way. They served several "meals" that were pretty terrible.

My flight this time was into Haneda Airport instead of Narita. After we deplaned, there were many VERY long corridors to get to Immigration, and although they had lots of "people movers" I was getting tired since my backpack was pretty heavy. I heard a voice asking if I needed a ride, and saw a nice man who had a golf cart, who obviously felt sorry for me! His cart had a sign "free transportation", so I gratefully accepted! That gave me the chance while I was riding to figure out how to connect to the airport WiFi since my cell service would not work there, and I needed to let Alan know where I was. 

This airport is much closer to the city so Alan met me there and we rode the monrail into town. I took some photos from the train. This city is HUGE, and there are SO many high rise apartment.

This is my first full day here (Saturday), and I slept well last night, so hope I will not struggle with jet lag.

We went to the American Club for lunch, and they had their special Halloween buffet. After lunch, the two older boys had a swim lesson there.

The AirTags tell me where my luggage is!

Haneda Airport

Views from the Monorail

All this is on man-made land!

Hundreds of apartment buildings!

He wasn't sure about this new person!

Julian is playing the violin, too

View from their apartment

Part of the Halloween buffet

Griffin is a happy boy!

Swim lesson

Beautiful pool

Tallest building in Japan

Anyone need a Ferrari?

Alan pushing a stroller with Julian riding on the back