The Central: Day 11 - Baseball Done Softer, Better, Slower, Kinder

Ah baseball. The American-born sport that was the American past time and a part of family outings and kids' dreams for many decades. Now it's just... boring. Commercialized. The majority of fans are there to get drunk on expensive beer and get sunburnt in the non-shaded, bloody-nose, cheap ticket seating (which isn't really all that cheap anyway). Where's the passion? Where are the fans? What happened to this great sport? Where are the musical numbers?

No worries, it is alive and well over here in Japan as they have taken the sport and made it fun and even the second worst of the 12 official NPB teams has a dedicated fan section with flags, and cheers and dances for each of their many many many players and plenty of merch!

But that's not until later. Not that we did much during our first full day here in Tokyo. We did... Laundry! Oh what fun!! First we fortified ourselves with a delicious and cheap meal at the student-restaurant-of-choice: Saizeriya. Think American-Italian food as seen through the lens of a Japanese Denny's. Good, but not great. Filling, but cheap. Perfect! I had some tomato and mozzarella, a garlic focaccia bread (more like a Ciabatta bun with garlic butter on it, and I loved it), and a plate of little sausages and elongated tater tots. Jeff had corn soup (I don't know where it places exactly in the running, but Bikkuri and the vending machine can with the bumpity corn can place first so far) (It was a respectable 5/10.), and a cheese and meat sauce doria. We both got the drink bar and I drank all the muscat white grape Qoo.

The coin laundry we were going to didn't have a change machine so we hit up an arcade on the way back to the hotel and used their change machine. We also didn't feel like lugging our bag of laundry into a restaurant. But once we returned and sniff-tested and sorted what needed to be washed, we were ready to set out on the 15 block walk to the laundromat. Until I said, "Hey, let's see if there's laundry available here like at APA." And you know what? There was! A lovely facility on the 5th floor with 8 washer/dryer combo machines with the PIN locks, a flat folding table, bags, and chairs. All clean and not a one being used! We each took a machine and for 600yen we started our regular load of laundry (with me once again having more laundry than Jeff so he graciously let me throw some of my laundry in his machine.) We set our timer for 2 hours and decided that was just enough time to go to Shinjuku and hit up an official baseball hat and jersey shop as well as a Suica Penguin Pensta store for all my Penguin merch needs.

But first we had to navigate there. Now I've complained about Shinjuku station before, and I only had to make a brief layover in 2024 and it went harmlessly, but today was a lot like when we were there in 2016 when we went to the Toto Toilet museum. Construction everywhere, so many east and east central gates (and signs for the east and west gates all pointing in the same direction), and the Pensta store was somewhere in the maze of stores also in the underground part of the station. Add the fact that you are often like a salmon swimming upstream and it can make for some confusing and aggravating navigating. But we found it! Yay! And I bought plenty of Suica Penguin merch because he will no longer be the mascot after this year. :*(  

Next, we went above ground and walked a dozen blocks, past the 3D-looking, giant, animated screen on the side of a building with a calico cat. There's one like that in Ginza and Shibuya as well:

(Not my picture. We were too busy edging around the giant crowds at the corner taking pictures and video.)

We did arrive at the baseball place, called Selection Shinjuku, a minute before they opened, so that was perfect timing! It was mostly American baseball jerseys, especially Angels, Dodgers, and Yankees merch. In the very back was the NPB merch, where we located the Yokohama Baystars hats. There were 3 styles, and one left with the mesh back that I like, and one left in Jeff's size. It was destiny. (Jeff Edit: You don't understand. The one hat I found was a 7 7/8. I can barely find those in America. And this store in Shinjuku just happened to have an all black Baystars fitted hat in *exactly* my size? Impossible.) Another gaijin couple came up and started looking at the hats and I asked them if they were going to the game that night, and they were! I told them that I hope to see them there (and I did! They were waiting in line to get into the stadium in the same section we were in! They didn't see me, but that's okay. I didn't see them after that, but still, glad they made it to the game.)  I also bought a Baystars jersey that was luckily my size (I'm a LL or XL in men's size here in Japan) without any player names on the back (since I know nothing about the players). We left the shop happy and ready to cheer on the Baystars!

Time to get back to the hotel, as our laundry was going to be done in about 15 minutes. Long story short, the construction blocked Google's route again, we got lost, went the wrong way on the Marunouchi line, finally found a bathroom, and then found our way again and got back to the hotel laundry 20 minutes after it finished. WHEW! Although, to be fair, we did stop to grab a quick bite to eat at Family Mart and ate that first. We needed a little something to tide us over until the game.

After folding our (my) laundry (I also folded my laundry, but it took like 3 minutes because I specifically only packed wrinkle-proof boring black, grey, and brown clothing so I wouldn't have to worry about anything complicated), it was time to put on our merch and get ready for the game! We grabbed the Easter Candy and Allergy medicine goody-bag and went to go meet our kind benefactor who let us use her Japanese phone # so I could see the Gackt concert: Amanda! Introduced to us by Sarah, they went to school together in Nagoya for the 6 months the school program ran. She too is a mid-westerner and such a fun person to hang out with! She lives and works in Yokohama, so I bought us tickets to sit on the Baystars side of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows Stadium. We were the visiting team on the Swallow's home turf. We found more merch booths so I bought a cute keychain of the mascot D.B. Starman (a hamu-star), a lanyard for work, and some hollow baseball bat clappers (not that loud, Japan-forbid)! Doors weren't open yet, so we walked around the outside of the stadium looking at the Swallow's merch (much much more because, again, this was their home stadium), and food trucks. We held off buying any food until we were inside as there were more food options in there. When we got in and found our seats we realized our mistake: it was starting to get cold as the sun was setting and it was windy! Amanda and I ran back to the Baystars merch booth (they allow re-entry, it's great!) and best thing we could come up with was a long face towel with D.B. Starman on it. 

The home team had an Umbrella Dance any time their players scored. They had reflective, tiny umbrellas that they would raise and lower along to the music being played, which gave the effect of a wave of colors that can't really be properly captured on video or in photos.

Anyway, here's Jeff, who understands baseball, to tell you about the game:

The thing to remember about the Baystars is that they're currently in 11th place. Out of 12 teams in the league. Their opponents, the Swallows, are in 1st place. So walking into the game, we weren't expecting an exactly stellar (ha, Starman joke) performance. It was a closer game than I had anticipated (2-0 in favor of the Swallows). 

Japanese Baseball has a few interesting differences from American Baseball. We were a bit perplexed, because there were only three positions listed: pitcher, catcher, infield, and outfield. It turns out that each inning, the pitchers rotate. So one pitcher pitches inning one, the next pitches inning two, etc. When they aren't pitching, they're either on the bench or rotating in with the infielders. Catchers also rotate, though I wasn't a keen enough observer to see where they were when they weren't catching. 

Eight pitchers?! In a row?

As the game started, each player for the visiting team was introduced and the fans had a bespoke song and cheer (along with hand motions) for every single one of them. It felt like European football, but without the rowdiness. The same was true for the home team, but they also got Jumbotron Graphics. 

There was a reasonable amount of affiliated advertising (each Strikeout was accompanied by a "brought to you by AK Racing" [a gaming chair company] message on the scoreboard, for instance). I joked that this seemed perfect, because everyone who has a bespoke gaming chair is used to striking out. Heyooo~!

The food options were much more varied than the average MLB game (which historically had hot dogs and nachos and popcorn and beer and soda and not much else). Across the stalls inside the park, I saw: katsudon sandwiches, udon noodle soup, karaage chicken, kebabs, long potatoes (a pureed potato pushed through an extruder and then deepfried), corndogs, yakisoba, slopbowls (you know, those like... Chipotle bowls? Like that, but with Japanese ingredients), Calorie Mate, flavored popcorn, ramen noodle soup, grilled fish, cheeseburgers, yakiniku, vegetable skewers, and about 40 different combinations of alcohol. 

The biggest change, though, was that there was no boo-ing of the opposing team. When a team was up to bat, their fans would have more bespoke cheers or songs to cheer them on. When a team was warming up to field, the fans would similarly try to hype the players up. But like, when the team you weren't supporting was up to bat, there was no "You suck!", "Easy out!", "Go home!" or the like. Everyone was there to *support* their team, rather than to disparage the opponents. It was very heartwarming. 

The Swallows had runs in the second and third inning, then some rather quick innings to close out the game. 

We decided at the top of the 8th, due to the cold and the large amount of fans who would soon be descending on the public transport, to duck out and head back to the hotel. I cannot imagine how packed the trains would be *after* the game let out, because we were crammed in like sardines. I haven't had this many people pressed directly up against my body since bad clubs in BG two decades ago. We bid Amanda goodbye at Ogikubo so she could transfer to her train home. 

On the way back from the station to our hotel, we hit up Family Mart for some quick treats (you may be noticing a trend). Then, it was off to bed for another day of wandering around the largest* city in the world. 

* (Tokyo metro has the highest population of any urban area, but if it's only the city proper we're talking about, Tokyo is third behind Jakarta Indonesia and Dhaka Bangladesh.)

The Central: Day 10 - "It's like that Blade Runner movie, because it's raining and there's signs in Japanese..."

 Greetings from Tokyo! From the Future! 

Our day started like several others. Hotel breakfast (Angie went with the Japanese and I with the Western [which was really mostly Japanese dishes in a western style, which is fine, just kinda funny])! Overall, it was fine. No major stand-outs on my side of the table. (Angie: I was complimented many times by this morning's server who said I enjoy rice like a Japanese person and that we both use our chopsticks well and treat them with respect. As we were leaving she said she was very happy and grateful to see us enjoying the food. That made me feel good and like I unlocked an achievement!)

After checking out, we headed up to Rinnoji Shrine (the one *next* to the one we went to yesterday) and let me tell you: we picked the wrong shrine yesterday. This one was much prettier and more serene. Angie acquired some more Temple Stamps and I got a small random fortune charm. Upon checking, it was Ebisu - the fortune of luck and success in business. (Angie: We got a ticket that let us into the garden, the treasure museum, and the temple itself, and it was great! I honestly liked this temple better than Toshogu because it was peaceful and not overrun with tourists. Plus, I feel like we often gravitate towards the Buddhist temples and enjoy them more than the Shinto shrines. They are usually peaceful, dark, with warm wood tones and gold statues and decorations, but pretty minimal. This Buddhist temple had really neat large statues of Fujin and Raijin, and I was able to get the goshuin with them on it. They didn't let you take photos in the temple or the treasure room, so no pics. But the temple had 3 really big statues of two Kannons and a Buddha (Senju Kannon, Amida Nyorai, and Bato Kannon). They were huge and intricate and very inspiring!)

After the shrine and a quick snack at the kombini, we were back at our accommodation to pick up our stored luggage and buy a few small souvenirs. (Angie: Of all the bus stops, the one in front of the Lawsons was gaijin central and boy did we have some interesting ones. First off was a cute Chinese grandma that I tried to offer a seat to but she kindly dismissed it. I swear I tried the "offer 3x rule" but no dice. In the seat next to me at the bus stop was a lady who was watching something loudly on her phone and was muttering to herself in Japanese, while she herself was definitely not Japanese. When we got on the bus she refused to speak the Japanese we knew she knew to the bus driver who was trying to tell her that her Nikko World Heritage Day Pass didn't cover this bus line or this stop. She argued back in.... not Italian but French. Because of course she would and of course she is. The second hold up were two American dude-bros who tried to bring on ice cream that was opened and they were eating. The bus driver made them go into the Lawsons and throw it away before he would allow them on. Anyway, just some interesting people-watching at that bus stop.) We also bought souvenirs of some grape tea Angie really liked and shoyu salt that was delicious on our wagyu. We checked out and said our thank-yous and goodbyes.  We took up our luggage and walked to the bus stop. As we were waiting, we noticed the concierge speed-walking after us. When he finally caught up, he had me hold out my hand and dropped in three 100 yen coins. He profusely apologized, as they had overcharged us on one of the souvenirs. We were a bit too flabbergasted to give him anything more than an apology of our own and were left to wonder about the Abraham Lincoln-esq drive for honesty. I can't think of a single American business I've visited in the last 25 years that would have chased me down to return $1.89 that they owed me. 

On to a bus, to the train station! 

The train from Nikko to Utsunomia was quiet and arrived on time. We pondered a bit as to whether to take the local train (which would take about an hour and fifteen minutes, for about $15/each) or the Shinkansen (which would take about 35 minutes for about $40/each). I made the executive decision to save time instead of saving money, so we got our Shinkansen tickets (via the live actual human, because I refuse to take another chance with a machine for something as complicated as train tickets in a foreign country) and headed to the train (Angie: Jeff made the right choice! Good job honey!). 

No sooner than Shinkansen left the station, I received a notification that the *other* train we were looking to take had been delayed for over half an hour due to track issues along its route. I'm gonna chalk that one up to the Ebisu charm. (Or the frog I held to ward away evil. So thank you to all the deities we invoked in Nikko!)

The Shinkansen ride was uneventful, though we weren't able to sit together due to how crowded it was. We pulled into Ueno station and made our way to the best loop route in the known world: Tokyo's Yamanote Line. It's no secret that I enjoy trains over basically any other form of medium-distance travel. They don't have the inconsistency of busses, they don't have the security theater of airplanes, and they don't have the "I have to pay attention the entire time or everyone will die" of cars. Sadly, I live in a country where we can't have nice trains, because Henry Ford ruined those in most cities during the early part of the last century in order to make more money for himself. 

We got to the Hotel Metropolitan Ikebukuro, our lodging for the remainder of our trip. Check in was a breeze, our luggage arrived on schedule, and we headed up to our room. Through some amount of bananas luck, we had booked the Superior King Room via Agoda for the price of a Standard Twin Room (the cost for a single night in this room costs more, on average, than the amount of money we paid for all six nights we're here). A side-effect of this fancy room is that we were on the 24th floor. Not great for me, but Angie enjoyed the view. (Angie: I'm telling you, Agoda gets me some amazing deals! When I went to look up and show Jeff the room we had booked while on the train there, it showed current nightly prices. The price right now to book the room for one night is equal to the amount I'm paying for all 6 nights!!! I think I'm gonna thank Ebisu for this one.)

We are on the top-most floor and this is our view!! Who needs the Metropolitan Government building? Not us!

A quick shower, a change of clothes, and we were back out into the city to go to Angie's birthday dinner at Ginza Vampire Cafe. Our host greeted us at the door and lead us through a red-curtained hallway (with glowing red floors, like a disco floor, with red blood platelets LOL) into a private booth. We had pre-ordered a set menu, so all that was left to choose on the night-of was drinks. Angie got the Carmilla (calpis, milk, and red grape simple syrup and a glowing ice cube) and I got a ginger ale. 

Our first second course was Ritual of Resurrection to Awaken the Dark Ones (a Caesar Salad, dressed up like a grave site). The host performed a ritual in Japanese, as a call and response with the other workers, that basically translated to something like "Oh Spirits, I ask your help!" "It is evil to do that!" "Oh Spirits, bring them back!" "It is evil to do that!" "Oh Spirits, bring them back!". Very moody. Very evil. The salad was one of the highlights of the food for me, which is something I never thought I would write. 

 

Following that, Rose Cups Handed Down In The Family (shrimp and scallops over jelly). For me, this was a miss, but that's basically because I don't like shrimp. If you like whole shrimp (tail and head and leggies and all) then this will probably be a good time for you. (Even Angie doesn't like whole shrimp) 

Next, we were treated to Rose Emblem Carved On The Neck (deep fried ham and cheese balls). This was definitely the best course in the meal. Simple and savory. (It was basically fried cheese sticks with a thin ham in them.)

Our soup course was called Fragrant Rose Flowers (a sea bream soup with clams, muscles, vegetables, and a tomato cut and arranged into the shape of a flower). The good news here is that Angie discovered that she didn't hate clams. The bad news is, I continue to dislike clams. The vegetables and the bream were nice, the tomato was thinly sliced and complemented the other ingredients. (I found out they are a food I can politely eat but I don't really enjoy or seek them out. It was a very bland dish and the weakest of the meal.)

The follow-up was Dark Butterflies of Grief That Cause Fear (gnocci with ragu sauce). These were very lovely. Tender gnocci with a reasonably flavored ragu meat sauce that had a slightly odd scent that we couldn't quite place at the time. Upon further research, it was Truffle. 

Our final non-dessert course was Flame Execution Platform to Burn Down Sinful Rebels (thinly sliced roast beef with sea urchin, served flambé-style with a dipping sauce). This was also rather nice. The sauce had a mild barbecue flavor and the beef was tender. (I ate Jeff's portion of the uni.)

[Video of flaming meat would be posted here if GOOGLE WOULD UPDATE BLOGGER TO ALLOW IT!]

Dessert was The Eyeball of a Cursed Vampire (a chocolate cake cup with raspberry and blueberry sauce, topped with mousse, and accented with a marshmallow eyeball and a tiny chocolate top hat filled with marzipan or nougat). A rich dessert, for sure, but a nice way to cap off the meal. Ha. Cap. Because it had a hat on. Good times. (I loved it! Yummy!)

By the time we left, the rain had started. Thankfully, I came prepared with a big ol' umbrella we picked up in Sendai. Back on the train to our hotel to luxuriate before heading to bed. 

Angie, anything else to add? 

Just these extra pictures! I also promised my tatoo artist James I would get them a healed pic of my vampire fangs tattoo while at the vampire cafe. It healed nicely! Also, as you can see, I made sure to dress on-theme!

Also also, I guess I'm 40 now! I'm going to be using the excuse "it's my birthday" for the next week, so expect that.

Happy 40th Birthday to meeeeeeee!

The North: Day 9 - Toshogu Tourism

Today's adventures were fueled by another large and complicated and delicious, many-course, Japanese breakfast here at FUFU Nikko. First we enjoyed a morning soak and wrote yesterday's blog post. It's great having the onsen right in your room!

Breakfast was delightful and we enjoyed many things but our favorites were the hi-mitsu pork (a play on the kanji for Nikko, which the characters can also be spelled out to mean "secret"), fresh Nikko rice that has been enjoyed by the Emperor and Empress of Japan, a green curry which is #1 according to both Jeff and I, some mentaiko (that only I enjoyed), rolled yuba in dashi (that again, only I enjoyed) and some grilled flatfish. 

Powered by a good breakfast and a good soak, we were ready to take on today's adventure: Toshogu shrine. While in Nikko, there are MANY shrines. Think of it as Kyoto 2.0. Toshogu is the #1 most visited though because of it's eye-popping amount of colorful decorations on the shrine's gates and grounds. Everything is carved and brightly colored. 

Patron: I need you to draw an elephant. You've seen one before, right? Artist: yeah, sure!

It's all because of our favorite MF: Tokugawa Ieyasu. Even his HORSE has a special house that they SAY is plain, but the "sacred stable" is one of the most popular icons there because it holds the famous "see, hear speak no evil" monkeys. These monkeys, and more, decorate the stable with illustrations for lessons to teach the children. So children, don't you go using your senses on evil! You can smell evil, and taste it, though. That's okay.

Oh, backtracking a bit, getting to the temple is very easy from our ryokan as it's right by the Tobu bus line and only 3 stops away! On the advice of our favorite concierge, Sakura-san, I bought tickets ahead of time on KKDay. The ticket line honestly wasn't that crowded, but I'd hate to be here on a day when it IS really crowded! There are many many tour groups (most of them Italians in packs of 15 or more just standing in the middle of the walkways, blocking everything) and many many people. It is very much like the popular shrines in Kyoto, which I'm sure is even worse now with the tourism boom Japan has been experiencing since reopening after COVID in 2022.

Snake friend! So many people were walking right past him and it wasn't until I stopped to take this photo that people started to notice and a crowd started to form! LOL, sorry Mr. Snake!

Famous sleeping cat

On the other side of the same gate: two sparrows

"The juxtaposition of the cat and the sparrows represents a safe, harmonious world—because the cat (the predator/feudal warrior) is sleeping, the sparrows (the weak/ordinary people) can live in safety and freedom."

Also, before getting to Toshogu, there is Rinnoji shrine, which we didn't get to experience, but I got a goshuin from there. It looked pretty from the back part, and apparently there is a fire ritual that goes on there. (Future note: we do visit Rinnoji the next day)

Rinnoji

Slightly Different Shot of Rinnoji

We decided we had seen most of what we wanted to see in Toshogu as it was around 1:00 and the crowds were getting crowdier. We grabbed a gashapon souvenir, watched an Italian man just NOT GET IT that he needed 1 ticket per person to get into the shrine and tell the officer at the entrance, "You remember me? I am not happy! No."

Super fans of Gundam gunpla take note of this exclusive Toshogu (I'm assuming Ieyasu) Gundam being sold this week only at the shrine! Talk about a juxtaposition of the modern and historical!

To the left of the shrine is a pathway up to another shrine: Futarasan-jinja. Futarasan-jinja was a fun shrine with many spots around with gimmick-y blessings. Frogs to ward away evil or grant a wish, Daikokuten, the main god of luck, rabbits to promote easy childbirth, a money-washing spot to promote wealth, and even a spring for people who make sake to get blessed water from to use in their sake-making! That and many more that I didn't even understand because a lot of these spots didn't have english translations on their signage.

Me and my ankle definitely didn't want to hike up the "most prominent peak in Nikko", but I did want to visit the shrine which houses the floats for the springtime Yayoi Festival, which is going on this week! The actual festival will be starting on the 17th, but they have been getting out the floats used in the festival, and we were lucky to see them moving one out! It was quite the big production and not many people seemed to know it was happening so there wasn't a terrible blockade of people.

After this and watching the procession, we took the back way, away from the crowd, to get back down to the main street where we wandered downhill, ducking into shops to buy some souvenirs, and eventually ran into the other popular site: Shinkyou Bridge. We took many pictures, Jeff got frustrated by tourists with no manners (Folks, it is *not* *hard* to walk single file and to not stand in the middle of the picturesque bridge durdling around on your phone. Move with purpose! Be aware of your surroundings!), and we continued on our way down the main street. 

I kept seeing signs for a thing called "haafu-purin-sofuto" or soft serve ice cream served on top of a jar of pudding, but all the signs kept saying they were sold out at each shop. But that shrine must have been lucky because we found a really adorable cafe called Nikko Pudding Tei and I got the literal last one! As soon as I ordered mine they put up the "sold out" sign! Ha ha! Thanks Daikokuten! We relaxed in a nice room and watched the street below while we shared the haafu purin.

A festival all for Yayoi! Good for her!

A miniature of the floats

An actual float

Then we walked a little bit more downhill to find a bus stop and sat and relaxed and people-watched for about 10 minutes while waiting for the bus. (Jeff Edit: I got on the bus with an open can of Melon Soda, sipping it as I passed the bus driver. He didn't say anything. About two stops later, another group of foreigners got on. Within moments, one of them cracked open a can of something and the bus driver lost his mind about "no drink!". A very odd experience. Maybe because I am pure of heart and spirit? Am I better than them? Yes.)

Upon our return to the hotel, it was time for another thorough soak in the in-room onsen before heading to dinner. Tonight's fare is Kaiseki-style (lots of little plates and dishes of small portions), which means Style Is Paramount. 

(I will insert photos if we remembered to take them. Some courses we just dug right in.)

Appetizer:

- Spring Vegetable Salad
- Duck loin with Yuba Jelly
- Smoked Firefly Squid 

Soup:
- Mozuku Dumpling in pea puree with rice cracker bits and Kinome. 

Sashimi:
- Bluefin Tuna, Spring Bonito, and Giant Squid.

Irodori: 
- Foie Gras Terrine with Raspberry Sauce
- Sping Cabbage Soup
- Trout Sushi
- Sauteed Guinea Fowl
- Spring Rolls with Secret Nikko Pork

Special surprise course: some sorta fresh montain vegetable plant that looked like a hairy fern sprout the size of a celery stalk and tasted like carrot. Miso or ume dip. Pretty tasty!

Meat: 
- Nasunogahara Beef Loin
- A5 Wagyu Fillet

Rice: 
- Clay pot cooked rice with Sakura Shrimp and Butterbur Buds

With a special Happy Birthday message!

Dessert: 
- Matcha Tart
- Tochiaika Strawberry Sorbet with Blueberry Sauce
- Sakura Mochi

When I tell you that this was somehow even more food than the Tepanyaki yesterday, I am not kidding. It was a frankly ostentatious amount of stuff going on, which is kinda the point of Kaiseki at a hotel of this caliber and all, but still. Damn. 

During one of our between-course interactions with the waiter, Angie mentioned that this trip was for her birthday. The waiter became more than a little excited about this and rushed off. I was worried, in my heart of hearts, that this would somehow end in the most dreaded of American Restaurant Behaviors: The Birthday Song Sung By All The Staff, Embarrassing Everyone At The Table Being Sung To And The Closest 10 Tables To Them By Proxy. Thankfully, it did not! The chef wrote a very nice Happy Birthday in chocolate sauce on her plate and brought out a rose. Very thoughtful! 

I even got a small rose and some baby's breath! How sweet!

There were a few things that didn't get high marks for flavor (because I have an unrefined American palate, and am best described as "a big baby with money"), but overall it was a very enjoyable experience. The wagyu fillet from the Tepanyaki menu was the allstar of the entire stay, though the A5 Wagyu from the Kaiseki course was a close second. 

After dinner, we were tuckered out, so it was back to the room and off to bed to get ready for the day ahead of us. 

Next up, traveling to Tokyo!