The next day was my first full day in Japan. I took my time in the morning to repack and have breakfast, then it was time to check out from the hotel. I wasn’t meeting Tomomi until 11am at Shinagawa Station, but I decided to head out early anyway cause I wanted to reserve seats for the bullet train. I figured I could also find a coin locker to toss all my bags in, as there was a lot I needed to bring to Nagoya later that afternoon.

There wasn’t a terribly long wait at the Midori no Madoguchi when I got there. I had already looked up the exact times and train numbers I wanted to reserve, which would have covered all the bullet trains I wanted to take for the week. It was just a matter of asking the staff to help make the actual reservations. I was actually pretty lucky because you’re technically only suppose to reserved same-day or next-day tickets, but the staff was really nice and got all my seat requests filled. Since I was done earlier than expected, I had a bit of time to browse the shops at Shinagawa Station afterwards.

At 11am I met Tomomi and her son in front of the ticket office. I forget how long it’s been since we last met, but I had missed her wedding right before the onset of covid and her son is already a year and a half now! It was so nice to catch up in person and also meet Ryoma for the first time. Tomomi made reservations at a restaurant that served nikukappo, which specializes in meat dishes. We had a course menu which included sukiyaki. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten with a toddler in tow, so a typical hour lunch ended up being two hours, but it was perfectly fine with me. =)

I didn’t have much time afterwards, so we walked back to the station and had to bid each other farewell. Then I boarded my bullet train to Nagoya where I would be staying for the next few days. It was a bit disorienting getting out of Nagoya Station cause so much has changed since I last lived there 8 years ago. Luckily I made it to my hotel without any hassle, and this time I even managed to use the self check-in machines properly!

After freshening up I went back out to the Gold Clock to meet Megumi and Ayumi for dinner. Both of them visited Mississauga back in 2012 and Megumi was the first guest I ever hosted. Again it’s crazy how much time has passed since then – Megumi has two boys and Ayumi has three!

I told Megumi I wanted to eat sushi, so she made reservations at restaurant inside Kitte that had an omakase course. The sushi was really yummy and it was definitely a bit different than other sushi restaurants I’ve been to in the past. It was my first time having enoki mushroom nigiri sushi as well as oyster. Even their chawanmushi had an uni cream to it, so that was a surprise. I was very spoiled all day from friends who insisted on treating me, so thank you for your hospitality! It was great to feel welcomed back in Japan surrounded by all these familiar faces.