Sorry, I’ve been back for over a week and I’ve been ignoring my blog.

Last day in Japan, and it’s only a partial day. The plane from Narita to Portland leaves about 2PM (I never remember exactly when) but that means it’s easy to get breakfast, do some last-minute shopping, take a late-morning train to Narita, and then some quick shopping at Narita. I even got to see the beer machine.

We started out the day by heading to the Paul Bassett coffee shop to get a breakfast set. Paul Bassett is an award-winning barista from Australia and he has a coffee shop in Shinjuku. They tend to be a bit less customer-oriented than most Japanese stores, but the coffee is great.

On our way out of Shinjuku station.

For lunch we went to the Fujiya “family restaurant” in Narita airport. My sister and I always seem to go there on our way out of Japan and we like it. It’s Japan’s take on a Denny’s-like restaurant and tasty. I got their anniversary set (this also came with coffee jelly). Hamburger steak with beef stew sauce.

My sister got a ladies’ set.

I pay a lot of money to American Express every year for a Platinum card and the only real reason is so I can go to the Narita Delta lounge and see the beer robot.

Yeah, two pictures and both fuzzy.

It was a long day (I think I calculated that I was up for 32 hours?) and I had dinner at the Industrial Cafe. I think that’s the end of food pictures for a while.

My last full day in Japan. I’m heading back home tomorrow and I haven’t been back home since September. I’m feeling anxious and apprehensive and I remember the last time I went back to the US after a long stay (five years that time) I had complete reverse-culture shock. I’m sure that’s not what it is this time, but I am feeling apprehensive. It may just be that my dinner isn’t agreeing with me.

In any case, we spent most of the morning wandering around near the hotel, buying some last-minute things for my cousin. Then we went to the Shinkansen station in Shinosaka and saw my mom off.

So first off, WHAT THE HELL IS MY IPHONE FOCUSING ON? I need to get progressive lenses so I can SEE WHAT THE HELL MY CAMERA IS FOCUSING ON. It certainly isn’t my sister’s bento.

It did a slightly better job of focusing on MY bento. Basically, I’m nearsighted and I can see things close up (like my camera’s display) IF I TAKE MY GLASSES OFF. With them on, I’m just looking at a fuzzy screen. Yes, I’m getting old enough for bifocals and I think I need them. How do people hold a camera steady with one hand and their glasses off?

My sister went to Jins and had some glasses made in an hour today for ¥3,990 (they were a copy of the prescription of her older glasses). I think you can also get an eye exam as well. I’m not sure if they do progressives and I didn’t need a second pair of glasses with the exact same prescription.

We ate dinner while we waited. I had a double-soup plate, which turned out to have THREE soups (the two on each side of the rice and one in the cup).

Lim had a soup with a puff pastry on top and I’M JUST GOING TO PRETEND EVERYTHING WAS FUZZY.

LIKE MY SISTER’S G*DD*MN BREAD BOWL. Notice how the wood in the background is so well focused.

After we picked up the glasses, we had some ice cream.

After the ice cream, my sister and Lim tortured me by going to a makeup shop and some sort of clothing boutique. They didn’t take all that long (20 minutes?) but the boutique was PLAYING THE G*DD*MN CHIPMUNKS XMAS ALBUM.

So let me end this by saying this time my room in the Nishishinjuku Hotel has a non-slamming lid like EVERY OTHER HOTEL in Japan and I’m not slamming the lid. I have the room right by the elevator but it’s my last night in Japan and I’ll be sleeping in my own bed soon!