Occasionally, there comes a time when you decide to go with something unplanned and enjoy less familiar activities. Such an occasion arrived the other day when I was invited to see a ballet performance at the New National Theatre in Hatsudai. The location wasn’t far off from where I live and I was intrigued by what ballet could offer in terms of interpreting Shakespeare’s plays. I happen to like classics and was curious whether something that relied so much on the art of language could be interpreted into the art of dance. It turned out I was in for a treat. The masterful acting of the performers expressed perfectly what both Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream had to say in writing. On top of it, the stage management with rich installations and superb costumes as well as live orchestral music made it a truly engaging experience. Although I’m not a fan of ballet in my daily life I couldn’t help but appreciate the magic of the ballet stage.
However, if you are not drawn to performing arts after all, Hatsudai Opera City is still a great place to visit, offering a lot of dining choices or providing a nice refuge to have your snacks and coffee away from the street noise and crowds of Shinjuku.
That humble looking street is my home. Well, not literally the street I'm not homeless ...
So last month I had the opportunity to travel back to the UK.
It was the first time in over three years, so there were a lot of things that I had missed, such as the food, local countryside and it's wildlife, and of course family.
I usually don't fly direct unless I'm feeling particularly rich and this time was no different. My first flight from Narita to Abu Dhabi was about 13 hours and the flight path looked like this:
A little odd don't you think? I've no idea why the aircraft took such a strange detour, but I hadn't noticed anything at all until checking the flight path on the in-flight entertainment screen.
After landing at Abu Dhabi I had a couple of hours to do some duty free shopping (I can't help splurging on colognes whenever I travel) and also happened to find a strangely named chocolate bar!
I'm not sure why they gave the chocolate that name but my wife wasn't impressed with the stereotyping when I showed it to her. (Yes, I bought it, and no, she hasn't eaten it yet).
The next flight was from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow, London and took about 7 and half hours. I was pretty exhausted at this point but arriving at Heathrow knowing I was finally home gave me a boost of energy.
I was surprised at how clean and modern Heathrow airport looked which was quite different from my memory. I had landed at terminal 4 so perhaps the other terminals don't look as nice ... Or perhaps it has modernized?
Either way, after effortlessly passing through immigration's e-Passport gate, I was welcomed by more duty-free shops (yes, more colognes) and shelves full of British chocolates and souvenirs. I was home.
The first thing I did after leaving arrivals was to get an e-sim put onto my smartphone. It cost around 2-3000 yen (I forget the exact amount to be honest) and this gave me unlimited calls and texts and 60gb of data.
Next I made a pit-stop at Costa Coffee. I had no idea how popular this coffee chain had become, but it is everywhere now in the UK.
I bought a black coffee and something called Millionaire Shortbread; shortbread with a layer of caramel and topped with milk chocolate. It went down very well with the coffee while I tested out my e-sim.
Last but not least, I found my real welcome home;
A proper sandwich. Needless to say it didn't last long and was very satisfying.
I'll save the rest of my experiences for other updates to the blog (perhaps 1 or 2 more entries) over the next few weeks.
As each year before Golden Week we scratched our heads over how to avoid traffic and long queues. Well, this time the answer was to avoid travelling during Golden Week altogether. As a result we ended up staying in a hotel in Hakone this week. The area wasn’t exactly quiet as it’s obviously very popular with tourists, but it felt like holiday with plenty of diversions from the city life. I don’t know about you but fresh air, beautiful landscapes with a bit of a ropeway thrill and a hot spring dip is my kind of refreshing getaway. For me Golden Week came early this year.
The other day, I was having a walk along Harumi Street in the Tsukiji area when I wandered off into the back alleys of the old fish market. The fish market, which was supposed to have moved to Toyosu district before the Olympics, appeared alive and kicking. As I walked past the seafood shops, restaurants and street food stalls I realized how resilient and thriving this place was. It was nothing less than teeming with tourists and locals, shopping for fresh fish or sitting outside on their makeshift chairs, enjoying their tarako roe, sea urchin and grilled eel, chatting away in the afternoon sun. It is one of those places whose old-fashioned charm cannot be easily dispelled by the passage of time or relocation. Rather, it looks like the Tsukiji Market will stay with us for quite a while.
I'm not homeless ... 
