Hey Hive!
So if you missed the last post, I just finished recounting our trip to Hiroshima back in April 2019! It was a very fun trip and we got to see and experience so many new things like Rabbit Island and Miyajima, the Shrine island!
It was also our first time seeing cherry blossoms and it was so surreal to enjoy the sakura at the site of the atomic bombing so many years ago, but it was nice to see the place thriving after such a tragic disaster. It was as if nature itself was renewing and healing the place.
Anyway, the next trip after that was a short one when I visited Sean for a week while he was doing an internship in Tokyo! His internship was for about a month or so, but we missed each other so much that he booked me a flight out there so we could be together for a while.
25 May 2019. Saturday.
That was the first time Sean and I had to be apart for so long and we were surviving on our own but having been together almost 24/7 prior to this it was a huge change that took a while to get used to. Not that we couldn't be without each other but it was just better when we were together.
My flight was a midnight flight so we would be together the next morning and be able to spend Sunday together before he went back to work.
It felt so different taking a flight by myself. The only other time I took a flight on my own was back in 2018 when I was invited to Tokyo for a workshop with MUJI.
But it gave me some time to go explore Changi Airport a bit more at night and I found a cactus garden on the way to my gate!
There wasn't much else to see at midnight, and by 1am it was almost time to board! I tried my best to sleep through the flight but at 5am we were served breakfast! There was porridge, a sponge cake, yogurt, salad and fruits and a cup of miso soup too:
It was actually quite a filling breakfast which was nice after the early dinner I had before the flight.
By 9:30am local time, I arrived safely in Haneda Airport!
And of course, Sean was there to greet me as I exited the immigration and customs! He brought me to his apartment which I unfortunately did not photograph but it looked just like any other Japanese airbnb apartment tbh.
We went to drop off my stuff before going out for lunch at one of our favourite places - Kitakata Bannai Ramen!
I don't think this was the exact outlet we went to, but it looks something like that.
I actually wrote about this place many years ago on my foodie series, TacoCat's TrEats which you can check out here, but the reason why this place is our favourite is because of how much chashu you can get with your ramen!
They have various sets with different sides and toppings and they also have chargrilled chashu rice which is one of my favourite dishes of theirs! So of course I went with the ramen and chashu rice set!
It was soo goood and really hit the spot! I was really stuffed after that. And this entire set cost only 900yen, which is less than 7USD!
After that we just spent the day exploring the neighbourhood like we always do. Sean took me to see different stuff around his place in Kawasaki, which mainly included this shotengai (shopping street).
Source: flickr
So we went walking around the shotengai and browsed the many stalls there. We visited one of our favourite franchises - P's First, which is a pet store that always has outlets in these shotengais.
There was also various boutiques selling clothes and stuff and this huuge shirt that was on promotion for Father's Day caught my eye.
There was also a Donki Hote not too far away so we stopped by there for snacks. Donki Hote is a megastore that sells all sorts of goods from food and drinks to household wares, lifestyle, apparel, games, and more! They typically have whole buildings at least 7 stories high where each floor is a different section.
This particular Donki Hote wasn't as big but was really nicely decorated with these fake stained glass windows.
I probably should've taken more photos but it was pretty warm out and I just wanted to enjoy being with Sean since we hadn't seen each other for a while.
Soon enough, it was time to go back to the apartment since Sean had to be up early the next day for work. Tbh I didn't do much during this trip. During the day Sean would be busy with work so I would just be at home, cleaning or working on some stuff, doing some art while waiting for him to return so we could go out for dinner together. We often went on supermarket dates to get groceries so I could make snacks at home for us too since his apartment had a kitchen.
I didn't have wifi if I left the house and while I did go out once I didn't dare venture out too far for fear of getting lost and be unreachable since I didn't have data. Sean offered to buy a sim card for me but it was scary and lonely to be out on my own in a foreign country so I declined.
So most days I would just be home waking up late and making a late brunch before doing some work and waiting for Sean to get back.
Many people would probably think I was wasting my time there and maybe you'd be right, but it didn't matter. Going out by myself wasn't something I enjoyed anyway, regardless of where I was.
All I liked was making different snacks and working on my art. And Sean told me it was nice to have me at home too so he had something to look forward to coming back to.
This was probably one of my favourite snacks! The bun was actually a butter bun with a brown sugar glaze that would be mildly crispy when microwaved and with the salted butter in the middle and the sweet top it was perfection!
We did go out to dinner almost every night, either to buy dinner back or to a restaurant like my favourite Sushi Zanmai!
We really wanted to go out somewhere together so Sean promised that we would go somewhere special during the weekend and we did! More on that next time!
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #160 (Hiroshima): Yummy Steaki before Saying Sayonara! 🛫
