The Farther We Go, The Closer We Get: Japan Journal 1, August 2014

I thought I’d miss this trip. I was down with flu four days before our departure. As if on cue, my fever broke on the last night, and I felt a bit better in the morning. I was glad the airport wasn’t so busy and we secured good seats on the plane. The stewardess was looking for someone who would be fine sitting by the emergency door. Rhodora volunteered me. She thought I’d welcome the extra leg space. I did. I didn’t have any seatmates. Lucky me. I promptly fell asleep.

(N.B. For this journal, I thought I’d hazard the attempt of sharing my observations and impressions in haikus. Amateur haikus, that is.)

Flying to Japan –

peaceful and quiet, like nights

without rain and flu.

Tatay, my 84-year old father-in-law, joined us on this trip. Tatay was a nautical engineer in his 20’s. He plied the Pacific waters back and forth for over 10 years. He said this trip to Japan must be his 50^th, although his last visit was in 1961. This was the first trip of Jason, who is 15 years old. Forget their age difference, they shared the same enthusiasm to explore and discover.

Jason’s first visit,

Tatay says his 50th –

Both want window seats.

Jason was instantly impressed with Japan, given what he saw at Narita Airport, the highway, and the buildings we passed on the way to Shinagawa, Tokyo, where we stayed. He liked it that the walls going to the immigration area were generally bare, except for a few displays about Japanese roof tiles, lacquerware, and painted screens. There were no billboard displays on the highway, no outlandishly designed buildings, nothing that’s garish-looking. The streets looked spotless. “Reminds me of Singapore,” he said. He also appreciated the colors, noting “they came from the same palette.”

Nothing overdone –

the lines, color and design.

Less is truly more.

We checked in at the Prince Hotel. In 2010, Rhodora took Jesse and Juliene on a “girls-only-trip” to Tokyo. Jason and I stayed in Singapore. Interestingly enough, they, too, stayed at the Prince Hotel.

After settling down, we went up to the hotel’s Japanese specialty restaurants. They have a restaurant exclusively for sushi, teppanyaki, tempura, ramen and shabu shabu. We chose shabu shabu. What a feast we had! Everything was fresh and the slices of kobe beef was the most tender we’ve ever had. There were thin white slices of what looked liked radish or turnip, but when dipped in boiling water instantly turned into glutinous rice cake. It tasted like our “palitaw”, minus the sugar and coconut bits. Like everything served that evening, it was simply delicious.