Cindy finally arrived in Narita late afternoon on 13th, and we got together at Monzen Nakacho. Since my flat was still a big mess, and dangerous (kept shaking), we booked her into Tokyu Stay Monzen Nakacho near the station.
The Japanese food lover was desperate for raw fish, but many shops and restaurants were closed partly because of cooperation for energy savings. It is also because Sushi bars couldn't get good materials at Tsukiji.
Then, I found Watami open despite though the neon sign of the building was dark and the elevator was suspended. Cindy (with the whole luggage on her back) endured the climbing up to 7th floor by stairs, and the foods and drinks were good enough not to regret. I still didn't know how we would be evaluating Watami a year later, and really appreciated the quality of food and reasonable prices.
After the dinner, we went to the hotel, and I took a shower in the bathroom of Cindy's room. It had been cold for a couple of days, and I was out of gas home. So, I was extremely thankful for getting hot water.
The TV kept showing Tsunami images and earthquake forecast, but I found it irritating that most of the information was only in Japanese whereas many hotels including Tokyu Stay Monzen-Nakacho also had non-Japanese speaking guests. (Later, I heard Cindy found CNN with the signs in the remo, etc. - the international "language" which we Japanese do not recognize.)
On my way back to my flat some three minutes away from the hotel, as I crossed the river, I saw a red heavy-looking moon over the water.
During the dinner, Cindy told me how much trouble she had to tackle before leaving Singapore. First of all, she didn't want to take any off in March as she was extremely busy, but her boss, who had not given enough days off in December, had to force her to take the annual leave by the end of the month.
Cindy was working till the last minute in the office, and because of calculation errors, she was late to arrive at Changi Airport. While almost missing the flight, one of the airline staff found her and let her get onboard. Cindy was saying she'd thought of cancelling the trip many times in these hours.
I said, "It's like your ancestors were desperate to stop you so that you wouldn't be able to get to Japan. You were planning to go to Tohoku region at the beginning."
I didn't realize yet that her sudden visit was going to save my life too in a way, and my ancestors might have joined bringing Cindy to Tokyo before the cherry blossom season.
Cindy felt no fear from the earthquake (I felt at least reasonably big shaking twice that night), but because of the complication from the "Planned Blackout" (later turned out to be TEPCO's abuse to threaten consumers for shortage of nuke powers), she decided to go to the west without procrastinating around Tokyo.
Though I had still been thinking of taking her to Nikko where Carmen and I enjoyed a good antique kimono shop (Cindy is another big kimono fan), I decided to travel with Cindy to Kobe to stay with my parents next day, namely 14th.
The Japanese food lover was desperate for raw fish, but many shops and restaurants were closed partly because of cooperation for energy savings. It is also because Sushi bars couldn't get good materials at Tsukiji.
Then, I found Watami open despite though the neon sign of the building was dark and the elevator was suspended. Cindy (with the whole luggage on her back) endured the climbing up to 7th floor by stairs, and the foods and drinks were good enough not to regret. I still didn't know how we would be evaluating Watami a year later, and really appreciated the quality of food and reasonable prices.
After the dinner, we went to the hotel, and I took a shower in the bathroom of Cindy's room. It had been cold for a couple of days, and I was out of gas home. So, I was extremely thankful for getting hot water.
The TV kept showing Tsunami images and earthquake forecast, but I found it irritating that most of the information was only in Japanese whereas many hotels including Tokyu Stay Monzen-Nakacho also had non-Japanese speaking guests. (Later, I heard Cindy found CNN with the signs in the remo, etc. - the international "language" which we Japanese do not recognize.)On my way back to my flat some three minutes away from the hotel, as I crossed the river, I saw a red heavy-looking moon over the water.
During the dinner, Cindy told me how much trouble she had to tackle before leaving Singapore. First of all, she didn't want to take any off in March as she was extremely busy, but her boss, who had not given enough days off in December, had to force her to take the annual leave by the end of the month.
Cindy was working till the last minute in the office, and because of calculation errors, she was late to arrive at Changi Airport. While almost missing the flight, one of the airline staff found her and let her get onboard. Cindy was saying she'd thought of cancelling the trip many times in these hours.
I said, "It's like your ancestors were desperate to stop you so that you wouldn't be able to get to Japan. You were planning to go to Tohoku region at the beginning."
I didn't realize yet that her sudden visit was going to save my life too in a way, and my ancestors might have joined bringing Cindy to Tokyo before the cherry blossom season.
Cindy felt no fear from the earthquake (I felt at least reasonably big shaking twice that night), but because of the complication from the "Planned Blackout" (later turned out to be TEPCO's abuse to threaten consumers for shortage of nuke powers), she decided to go to the west without procrastinating around Tokyo.
Though I had still been thinking of taking her to Nikko where Carmen and I enjoyed a good antique kimono shop (Cindy is another big kimono fan), I decided to travel with Cindy to Kobe to stay with my parents next day, namely 14th.
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