Mid Autumn Festival and Golden Week Trip to Tokyo and Izu Japan

I will start this post with some fantastic news.  Faye got a tourist visa for the US!.  She applied in early September and had her appointment at the US consulate in Guangzhou on September 19th.  I took a day off to join her for moral support.  She was originally scheduled for an appointment in Hong Kong on Monday the 22nd but thanks to a last minute policy change requiring all applicants to apply in their country of origin, she was forced to cancel her appointment with no refund and reschedule in Guangzhou.  Fortunately, through a combination of our efforts and a bit of luck, it was all worth it and she got the visa.  

Here she is on the way to her appointment.

Here she is minutes before getting in line.

Here she is after she got approved for the visa.

Afterward we celebrated by relaxing in Guangzhou for the rest of the weekend. 

I worked hard all September, and even had to report to work on a typhoon day to teach remotely because my school won't let us work from home unless it is a code red. We only got to go home early when the orange alert shifted to a red alert.

The break from Sept 27-October 7 was much needed. 

Faye and I visited Tokyo and Izu.  We landed in Tokyo Narita Airport on Sept 29th and used public transit to get to our hotel in Ueno. Then we got dinner at Di Punto, which is a restaurant that served western izakaya (small portioned) style food.

We went to bed after dinner to get plenty of sleep before our adventures began.

On the 30th we visited Shibuya for some thrifting and walking around.  We first went to Yanagi CBD shop so I could get a CBD vape.  I was a little disappointed that Japan has banned all synthetic cannabinoids with any psychoactive effects since we visited Osaka.  It was not a big deal, the CBD vape at least tasted good. 

We visited second street thrift store but did not buy anything.  Everything was overpriced for a thrift store.  We also got lunch before heading to Teamlab Borderless.  This place was my favorite part of our time in Tokyo. 

 

After the incredible experience that was Teamlab Borderless, we went to Tokyo Tower and then went and got a drink at Lobby Bar with views of the tower. We followed that up with a high-end sushi dinner at Tachigui Sushi Uogashi Yamaharu.

 

As our last activity for the day we went to Rock Bar Mother in Shinjuku for a beer and some music.

After a day so packed with activity we were both quite tired.  We went back to our hotel for the night, and being so exhausted, were quickly asleep.

October 1st brought a change in scenery.  We checked out of our hotel in Tokyo and took Japan's fantastic train system to Izu Peninsula.  We arrived in Izu, walked around for a little while, and got lunch before catching a taxi to the Shin Kakaitei Izumi hotel in Toi. 

Our hotel in Izu was spectacular.  Faye hung out in the room and got ready for a bit while I went for a walk. 

The food at this hotel was fantastic.  Our reservation included breakfast and dinner.  Dinner included five course meals.  Breakfast included a Japanese and western option.  Rather than show the food from each day separately I am sharing them all at once here. 

The only thing I did not like was the live abalone.  Which was cooked right in front of us.  I warn anyone with strong feelings about cruelty toward invertebrate animals not to watch this.  I do not approve of this style of preparing abalone. Had I known that this was going to happen I would have asked for it not to be included in the menu and for an alternative.  I did, of course, eat it.  After an animal's life is sacrificed for my consumption it would be ethically worse if I didn't eat it.  That said, I suppose it is no worse than most shellfish which is usually cooked alive. 

The next day, after breakfast, I took another soak in our own private Onsen on our balcony. Then we went for a walk to Lovers Cape.  On the way we stopped for lunch at a bakery that uses wild yeast.

After our hike we returned to the hotel for dinner and then that evening we took a soak on the balcony before going to bed. 

After breakfast the next morning we checked out and took the bus to Izu Shuzenji Station.  Then we took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.  On the way we got a nice view of Mt. Fuji.

We got to our apartment style hotel, The Marvelous Higashioi, in Shinagawa and check ourselves in. Then we got a large dinner at a conveyor belt style sushi restaurant called Sushi Choshimaru Oi.

That night I drank a bit excessively.  The next morning I was crazy hung-over.  So after walking Faye to the Tokyo City Flea Market. I went to take a nap in the nearby park.  I slept off my hangover and then joined her for the last 30 minutes before the flea market closed.

We walked back to the hotel, stopping at a shrine and a market street on the way.  Faye also got something to eat. 

Then we went to Atre Oimachi mall where I went and got a snack and Faye continued shopping.  

Then we stopped at GU so Faye could buy some more underwear, a grocery store to pick up snacks and drinks, and a restaurant so Faye could grab another quick bite.

Then we went back to our hotel and went to bed.  

The next morning we got breakfast at a nearby family style restaurant.  

Faye had a hair appointment at 11:30 so we ate quickly, checked out, and took public transit to Love Lock in Shibuya.  She got a perm.  It looks great. I got lunch, which I didn't take a picture of, while she got her hair done.  Then I went to pick her up.

Afterward we got some Korean fried chicken.

Then we proceeded to our final hotel, The Garden Hotel Narita. We had stayed there before on our last trip to Tokyo.  It is near the airport, and since our flight the next day was in the early afternoon, we didn't want to commute from downtown.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, check out, and stored our luggage with the front desk while we took a walk to Naritasan Park.

Then we retrieved our bags and took the airport shuttle to Narita Airport where we checked into our flight and got lunch.

On the flight back we were lucky enough to see Mt. Fuji one more time from the plane.

We have been back in Shenzhen since October 6th.  Our next trip will be a weekend in Bangkok from October 31st-November 2nd.  After that we have not planned anything yet for the Thanksgiving break, but a trip to Osaka is a slim possibility.  I plan to go skiing in Lake Songhua Ski Resort over the winter break but have not booked that yet.  I did however book myself a trip to Phuket for the second half of the winter break and am hoping Faye can be convinced to join me for the last 5 days of that trip.

Our next big shared trip will be to LA, Las Vegas, and the Grand Canyon in February. 

I will close this post with some photos and videos from September that I did not include at the start of the post.