Day 20 - Monday November 13, 2017 - Tokyo and Home
Tokyo and Home
Posted on Monday November 13, 2017
Today we leave for home. We’re flying out of Haneda, which is much closer to the city than Narita. Our flight isn’t until 10 pm so we booked the AirBnB apartment for tonight so we could stay until it’s time to leave for the airport.
A leisurely start to the day. Breakfast in the apartment – orange juice, coffee, yogurt and the almond croissants we bought at Takashimaya. Time to squeeze into the minuscule bathroom one more time.
The apartment has been ok – not as nice as the one we had in Kyoto. It’s smaller (so it’s small even by Japanese standards) and the shower, basin and toilet are all crammed in together – a marvel of space utilization but rather limited. The saving grace has been the bed, which is very comfortable. Conversely, the ‘sofa’ is a futon bed, which is a bit uncomfortable to sit on, primarily because the back slopes too much and therefore leaves you sitting at a rather uncomfortable angle. In Kyoto, the apartment had two armchairs, which were much more comfortable. The other facilities are pretty limited – a ‘bar’ fridge which, because of the limited space in the kitchen, is sitting on top of a small chest (though it’s adequate for our purposes) and no closet, so the only hanging space is a few hangers on a hat stand. Overall, it works but not ideal (and as I finish writing this, I realise I forgot to take any photos before we left).
We eventually made it out the door and took the subway to Hakusan to visit the Origami Gallery. Although the location is a bit obscure, we found it easily enough. It turned out to be fairly small, the headquarters of the Japan Origami Academic Society. Unfortunately, no photographs allowed (except for the blurb in the window). Although fairly small with maybe 200 items on display, most were pretty amazing creations – everything from the Archangel Gabriel to a collection of insects and beetles and a group of half a dozen ‘goblins’ (for want of a better word) each playing a different musical instrument. It’s amazing what you can create by just folding a piece of paper.
We re-traced our steps and went back up the the 13th floor of the Takashimaya department store in search of some lunch. One of the first restaurants we passed was a tempura place so we gave that a try. It was generally pretty good though one or two pieces were in the “I’m not sure what this is but it tastes ok” category. They gave us an English menu but what was on that was clearly much more expensive than the Japanese menu; what were probably the ‘lunchtime specials’ on the Japanese menu (of which we had two different ones) and which were much more reasonably priced were nowhere to be seen on the English menu. Gaijin beware.
Lunch over, we headed back to the apartment to finish packing and tidy up. That done, we figured we may as well head to the airport, even though we were rather early. I had tried to check in online earlier but no luck – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and this was one of the latter. As the Qantas check-in won’t open until three hours before flight time (they have to pay rent to the airport for the counter space and it’s the only flight they have out of Haneda so they won’t be there until 7 pm) we’ll just have to cool our heels for a while.
We walked over to the station and took the JR Yamanote line the ten stops round the loop to Hamamatsucho, where we changed to the monorail to the airport. Haneda is a lot closer to town and generally easier to get to than Narita. As we were in no rush, we ambled along and got there soon enough. As the JR Yamanote line is busy (= crowded) at the best of times, we figured it would at least be easier than the middle of the evening rush. So it transpired – we had to stand for the first five stops or so but managed to snag seats for the second half; it takes about 30 minutes, so no major problem if you have to stand all the way, as long as it doesn’t get too packed. As I’ve observed before, don’t expect anybody to ever give up a seat for you (or for anybody else) – it just doesn’t happen. Well, hardly ever – yesterday, two young ladies gave up their seats for two older ladies — the first time I think I’ve ever seen it happen.
We got the monorail ok, waiting a few minutes to take the ‘express’ (rather than the ‘rapid’ or the ‘local’). The express just goes straight to the airport whereas the others make various stops on the way so much better to just wait for the express – and no problem getting a seat this time.
Off to the coffee shop to wait it out. I wandered down to the Qantas check-in area (deserted) in the hope there might be an automated check-in machine. There was – Japan Airlines, Cathay, Air France and a couple of others – but no mention of Qantas. Oh well, I figured I’d give Japan Airlines a go; it read the passports ok and then helpfully offered other airlines, including Qantas. However, when I gave it the flight number, it said it couldn’t retrieve it … probably because Qantas has not yet opened airport check-in. Nothing to do but wait it out.
We wandered over to the check-in area about 6.50 and got in line. Staff were just finishing their pep talk and then go and stand by their stations. We all stand there – them looking at us, us looking at them. At 6.56 – four minutes early! – they announce they are open, they all bow and off we go. Well, not quite, as we were seventh in line but they’re pretty efficient. Absolutely no line at security and none at immigration. We were in the lounge by 7.09. Sadly, we no longer have our exalted oneworld status so no first class lounge for us — we have to slum it in the business lounge. It’s more than pleasant enough …
Hopefully the flight will be on time and uneventful. It’s a bit of pain that we have to go to Sydney and then get another flight home from there but then that’s why Qantas is derisively referred to as ‘Air Sydney’. We’ll get there… home soon enough.