Our Last Day in Tokyo

We had brunch and played with the Toppinos in the morning and then headed to the airport to catch our flight which was leaving around 5pm. Our flight was delayed by an hour, so we had fun spending our last yen at duty-free.

After 15 hours of travel and very little sleep, I looked at Oliver as we pulled up to our house and said, “We’re home! Do want to just turn around and go back to the airport and fly 12 hours back to Tokyo?” Wide-eyed, Oliver looked at me and with complete seriousness, said, “Yeah!”

Then we walked in our house and saw our garden blooming and Oliver turned to me and said, “Actually, I’m happy to be home.”

As his last journal entry for school, Oliver made 2 lists:

What I Will Miss About Tokyo: sushi, tall buildings, manners, wagashi, temples, Junji, the subway, vending machines, peach nectar, onigiri*

What I Love About Home: Lola, Bruno, my family, nice house, milk, cereal, our garden, Jude, Indian food, Mr. Tentacle

* We found onigiri at Berkeley Bowl, so we can add that to “What I Love About Home”

Hokkaido yogurt with honey and nuts.

The last two mornings in Tokyo, we ate an early breakfast with the photoshoot crew—including Jim, the photographer, who shot this sweet picture of Alex & Olly saying goodbye.

And then, pancakes with whipped cream with Matthew.

Brunch with the Toppinos.

Cool art installation at the playground.

Down low.

This is for DeeDee. Wish you were here!

Saying goodbye.

Headed to Narita.

Best dressed driver.

After a week of looking, we finally found Tokyo Banana at the airport. We heard it’s like a banana Twinkie.

Perfect place to spend our remaining yen.

Sketching the baseball game. Let’s go Swallows!

Found salmon onigiri at the airport.

Bento box style dinner on ANA.

Happy to be home. Catching the fog roll in from Grizzly Peak. Missing Dad & Lola.