Myoko Tokyo 2020

I was so looking forward to this trip because I haven't been to Japan for 1 whole year. Can you imagine 1 whole year for me? And I only snowboarded 2 days last year. So anyway Kyle said he wanted to tag along, which makes sharing accommodation easier and luckily Mieko-san had a room for us so we went ahead.

I took a red-eye Thai airways flight, which is ok just that I get super grumpy without sleep. The first day was in Nagano, wearing my new Allsaints coat and I got another good fortune. We went for outlet shopping after then wagyu steak dinner (overcharged urgh). The morning I was really puzzled because usually on the way to Myoko Kogen station I will see all white and snowy but it was really bare and everything's brown instead of white. No signs of fresh snow. The station was also very shocking. It was all white last year but this year I can barely see the snow. It's crazy bad. I was prepared for a really bad snow day.

First day at Kanko, taught Kyle how to snowboard, went higher up and it started snowing in the afternoon which was about time! Dinner at Udon as usual. Second day I went by myself and it was snowing profusely, which was also good. Kanko was quite enjoyable and tiring. Dinner at BBQ. Third day at Suginohara - it wasn't so bad but there were bare patches at the bottom of the slopes, and the snow at the top was OOOMPH. The really wide park that I discovered was also really crazy. I was so tired by the afternoon already. 3 days of snowboarding is the limit. Luckily for the night onsens.

Ok so I booked this newly opened hotel in Nov last year, it is superb. I would stay there everytime if I had somebody to share the cost with me. The rooms are amazing, the toilet is so nice and lobby smells like new hotels, and location is so central. I love Mitsui Garden.

Anyway first day in Tokyo, my fav chicken ramen, and we split to different places. There were some weird conversations because I didn't really know Kyle well, and honestly I shouldn't have brought him. He really sound like a dumb blonde American who haven't been out of the country. Some of the dumb things he said:
" I feel like Japan is like a communist country, they are being polite even though they don't like it"
Firstly, how is that communist when you come from Vietnam? And secondly, it's their culture and how do you even know they don't like it.
" I want to compare the sushi here and the ones that I ate in LA, see if it's better"
Bitch, this is Japan.
" Oh I had Omakase in LA, the chef blah blah"
Bitch, this is Japan.

Like seriously??? I was so annoyed at one point I just wanted to punch him or get rid of him. I never wanted a trip to end so quickly before. But luckily we went to do our own stuff and as usual, I overspent. I met Emi-chan, bought lotsa Muji stuff and luckily for me, she was gonna move to Osaka next month and so glad we could meet up. And then also overspent at Donki and matsumoto. Sigh. Why is Tokyo so buyable. And I didn't even have time to shop for my gundams at Akiba.

Oh we ate at La Bonne Table, which was quite fabulous, and Omakase at Matsue which was meh but it was the first time I ate fish sperm. I mean I'd rather pay for my usual shibuya sushi-ya, but it's not too expensive.

The last 2 nights were really the highlight of the trip. Friday night after heavy shopping I went back to put down my stuff and headed out for drinks. Made friends with 2 Kenneths from HK at the club. It was good and the cab fare was a whopping $50.

The second night I went there alone, I had expected Piken to be there.
"Where's your friend?"
"Oh I drove him out of the room and threw him over the ledge. Kidding. He's drinking with his friend,"
"Oh drinking. U here alone?"
"Yea I was waiting for you"
"No way..."
"Way lol"

And after that added 2 more Thais, 1 Jap and 1 US-Chinese. Super international crowd. It was really a fun night of mystery, and it's the first time I waited for the first train after clubbing. I had like 45mins of sleep before I headed to the airport, and didn't have time to buy anything at the airport. Havoc.