Japan: October 2024: Day 7: Return

Japan

Oct 2024: Day 7: Return

Mixing it up with salad for breakfast.

Fresh tofu. Udon.

Udon.

Trying (and making a mess) with the noodle pull.

Taking a few moments to enjoy the view.

One last selfie at the train station.

Hoping I get on the right train this time.

Narrator: did not get on right train. But was able to fix that at next stop.

Got on the wrong train again. Even tho the sign says the right train.

Little soba shack at Shinagawa station.

Old Japanese lady behind the counter.

Order via ticket.

Menu at Tsukiji Sushi-Iwa.

Someone else's order.

Grilled unagi.

From top: clam, chutoro, aji, tai (sea bream), ikura.

Close-up of the clams in the assorted sashimi.

Inside terminal 1's land-side food court at NRT.

United Club here hasn't changed in years.

Buffet still looks the same.

If anything the buffet has gotten worse.

Fish and pork shu mai.

Pork ramen.

Furniture still the same since my last visit.... which was.... 5 years ago?

Upgrades FTW.

9hr 16 min actual flight time, 5,451 miles (IFE), 5,635 miles (Flightaware), 5,445 miles (great circle).

Japanese meal not quite as pretty as it was on the way over.

Close-up.

Vegan cup noodle for mid-flight snack. Actually not bad.

Pre-arrival meal was better than the inbound, at least.

LAX Midfield Satellite Concourse South looks to be moving along nicely.

Four United 787 Dreamliners at LAX (3x 787-9, 1x 787-10).

One last breakfast at The Chapter Kyoto, where we loaded up on salad, fruit, and noodles. They brought out dragonfruit toward the end of our stay, which was a nice treat. Then it was time for Diana to continue her trip and me to go home, so we parted ways at Kyoto Station. I managed to get on the wrong train again, but at least that was a quick fix at Nagoya Station *whew*. And being seated on the long ride back to Tokyo is much more pleasant than standing!

Swapping trains to the Narita Airport Express at Shinagawa Station was another screw-up, but realized that one pretty quickly and got off at the next Narita Airport Express stop later. That switch was a bit more stressful, but I at least ended up on the correct train in the end and didn't lose my reserved seat, nor my baggage space. Definitely made me appreciate the complexity of the Japanese train network this time around compared to previous trips-- both a bit of yikes, cringe, and awesomeness.

Knowing my incompetence with the trains, I budgeted plenty of time to get to Narita Airport, which left ample time to get the final food group on the priority list: sashimi. Terminal 1's food court before security more than did the job, and was vastly better than the United Club that's airside; the United Club itself feels like it hasn't changed much since my last visit before the COVID-19 pandemic, which was not surprising but still a bit disappointing.

The return flight was smooth and efficient enough, my upgrade cleared as well so I got to experience United's Japanese menu in Polaris as well-- not quite as good as the flight over, but much better than the usual Polaris meals-- and even had stomach space for the new vegan cup noodle they're serving mid-flight, which isn't bad.