December 23rd, 2024
We were happy to arrive – the plane landed at least 30 minutes early. We got through customs smoothly, and met up with the BC contingent who had arrived an hour earlier than their expected time. We managed to get the tap cards for those who could not get it added to their phone wallet, and purchased our train tickets. The journey from Narita Airport to our hotel was about an hour and a half. We checked into our 4 hotel rooms, dropped off our things and then ventured out to find food.
Erez took up the challenge of finding a sushi place nearby, and boy, did he deliver! He found a place that didn’t even have a sign out front. It was called “Sushi Bar Cozy”. We had to go into a tiny elevator (we didn’t all fit at once, we had to take two trips), and went into a nondescript door that looked like someone’s studio apartment.
When we walked in, this is what it looked like:
There were 10 seats at the bar, one table for 4, and 4 “stand up” tables that fit 3 people max, each. There were three people making sushi and two servers All of the seats were taken, so we took up three of the “stand up” tables. There was a minimum order of one drink and one food item per person. Food was good, it was a good first meal in Japan. The downside was that the food came out slowly, as it is primarily a bar, that has sushi to go with your drinks. It was a fun experience. I loved eating the “kosher options” Our favourite was the fatty tuna – ( it got eaten so quickly, no pictures were taken), and the horse mackerel. Yum!
Although it was a great choice for the fun factor, it was not an efficient enough choice to fill up the boys (also known as the walking stomachs), so on the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at a family mart for the boys to try the famous “Famichiki”. After filling up with some fried chicken and snacks, and of course, buying some Japanese Pokemon cards, we headed back to the rooms to chill out. The hotel was 11 floors of 8 small rooms per floor, all along one side of the hallway. The hallway outside the elevator was outdoors, as were the two staircases on the other side of the hallway from the rooms. Aubrey and I took advantage of the small deep traditional o-furo (Japanese tub) and each had a soak before bed (definitely no room for two!) The rooms were small, but very clean and convenient, and came with pyjamas that we could borrow 🙂
We are off to Kyoto in the morning!