Returning

As long as I am able to, I will be traveling to places I want to see. And those where I want to be. So at the end of November, I found myself back at Portland International Airport. Which is rated highly by many. I think because it's one of the more easier to figure out which way to go airports along with the vendors there keeping prices more in line with what is sold outside of the airport. Along with decent places to eat at like Tamale Boy. Breakfast was a Portland bowl without eggs this time.

While watching the planes roll by.

And there's my non-stop flight. Flying on a day before most people fly, it worked out for me.

Up in the air they made an announcement. Because below was Alaska. Without clouds.

Apparently, it's rare when Alaska is visible from the air, like this. Snow covered mountains and frozen glaciers for miles.

Meanwhile, I actually got the meal I wanted. I don't know why airlines are so bad with meal planning, but almost every flight I get stuck with having to eat something I don't want. This time it was miso salmon from Chef Naoko of Shizuka restaurant and MUJI bentos. Wonderful Japanese food at those places. This meal might not have looked like much, but it was delicious. Also I was happy to enjoy those little heirloom tomatoes.

Finally reached my destination. Japan.

More snowy mountains below.

Far away city in Hokkaido. Possibly Kitami.

Goodbye Hokkaido. Maybe one day I will see you from the ground.

And hello Iwate, Honshu. 

While I had been remembering the last time I was in Japan at this time, this flight down the coast was a lot like that flight on March 11th, 2011. Kamashi below.

Over Miyagi Prefecture and that's Kesennuma below. Thankfully this time nothing bad was happening below.

Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. One day I want to explore the northern coast of Honshu. One day.

And after a short time in immigrations and customs and then a short wait for my train, I reached Ikebukuro in Tokyo. While it was early for it to be dark, the nice thing was I could see some illuminations from the train. Including one that isn't mentioned by most websites, but was extremely pretty and I knew I would want to see it. This was the view from my hotel room. Not the most exciting but better than having an office building directly opposite.

Getting There

July found me on a train crossing the Willamette River.  

To that place that locals love to take photos of the carpet. Portland International Airport. So of course, I did that. 

Knowing that it would be some time before I would get a meal, I searched for something to eat.  Portland Bowl at Tamale Boy. It's great how flexible they are with their dishes. This is black beans, rice, mixed greens, tomato salsa, eggs, Monterey Jack cheese and guacamole sauce. Next time I will skip the eggs. Other than that, it was like a nice salad. And not expensive.

The plane to Canada was late. It's a Bombardier Q400. It is interesting to fly in a plane this size. A little noisy too.  

But the views are very scenic when the clouds clear. Mount Rainier with a couple lakes in Washington.

It's not easy getting photos through plane windows. So I'm always happy when my zoom picks up an image like this. Snowy Mount Rainier, even in summer.

And Vancouver International Airport. Time for another carpet photo. 

Finally boarded my plane and starting to roll out. 

Several hours later I make it through Narita International Airport's Immigration and Customs. Deep inside the train station there was a bamboo tree with tanzaku wishes for Tanabata. 

Once again waiting for my N'EX train. I didn't think to get a photo of Narita Airport's carpet. Maybe next time?

I found Bourbon Choco Anpan cookies while waiting. These are the same thing that was given away as prizes at the Moi dix Mois ~La Kitchen Knife Aristocracy~ shows. So I had to try them. Compared to the other Bourbon cookies, these ones were a bit dry. I prefer the Kikori no Kirikabu, Tree Stumps to these. But they are much harder to find.

So I was off on my journey back to Tokyo. Compared to March, the fields around Narita were green.

Back to the Start, Heading to Japan Again

My last post was about having dinner in Ginza, Japan. So what happened before this and how did I end up in Japan? Well, it started with me taking the train to Portland International Airport. It was one of the first days in some time where there wasn't rain, ice and snow falling. 

I took the opportunity to stop at one of Portland's better known and respected coffee producers. Where I found out if I buy a bag of coffee beans, I get a free cup of freshly brewed. Good timing since I was extremely tired having only slept about two hours the night before. I had not slept much in a couple of weeks because my 14 year old cat Kenji suddenly became sick and died. He had become diabetic a few years before this, so I knew that sooner or later his body would give out. I had hoped this trip would give me some relief.

So back to PDX where I was playing coffee courier. Obligatory PDX carpet shot with Stumptown coffee. Proof it was as fresh as I could get it.

I spied a familiar sight. Not this time, but maybe in the future Hawaiian Air?

With a little time and feeling hungry, I decided on a breakfast style burrito at Tamale Boy. It's nice that Portland International Airport has lower price options for food. Some airports do not.

Inside was a rather tasty mix of potatoes, eggs, cilantro and other vegetarian fillings.

Somewhere on the way to the gate was this large glass tank filled with fabric jellyfish and sea sponges. Created by artist Sayuri Sasaki Hemann, turns out this is dedicated to those affected by the 2011 Great Tohoku Disaster. 

After my last trip to Japan, I decided it would be faster to get a little yen at PDX than risk the wait if Narita Aiport was crowded. Turned out I had plenty of time to do this. Because not only did we sit in the plane at the gate for an hour after boarding, we were then told to deplane with everything we brought on. TSA had us go through security again, and then we all had to go through boarding again. I never heard why this happened and I did not see anyone pulled aside or removed from the plane. After all this, my non-stop Delta flight finally took off for Japan.