Sushi for Breakfast

 We made it to Japan.  One of the stereotypical things that we Americans do when we arrive in Tokyo is wake up early on our first day here and go to the fish market at Tsukiji.  So that's what we did!  In fact, we sat next to some Americans from California who had just arrived that morning at 5am.  But first, the striking conclusion to our journey to actually get to Japan.

We were supposed to depart from Dulles on Sunday, and we did!  But we turned around because of plane sensor issues.  We were rebooked to leave the next day and fly from DCA through Chicago.  But when we got home Sunday night, that flight got canceled.  So we stayed on the phone for about 3 hours to get rebooked again.  Some terrible options were discarded (such as waking up early Monday to fly economy through Los Angeles). We agreed to fly out Tuesday from Dulles thru Chicago and end up in Narita, the less close Tokyo airport.  After a day of resting on Monday, we cheerfully headed out to the airport on Tuesday to make the opposite trip from what we did 17 years ago when we took Will to the United States for the first time.

Back on the Metro to Dulles

We arrived at the airport, went through security again, and settled in with some coffee and snacks while waiting for our flight to board.  Then we get the text:  Your flight to Chicago has been delayed 3 hours due to lack of a crew.  Since our layover in Chicago was 4 hours, this was not great news.  Dan went to the customer service desk to sort through it and we ended up getting rebooked.  The customer service agents (yes, they sent him to multiple agents) were confused as to how many re-books were on our trip, but ultimately put us on the same plane we were supposed to take Sunday, direct from Dulles to Haneda, even maintaining our business class upgrade.

After arriving, we took a cab to our apartment hotel.  "Ah, the Kroboth Family.  You made it!"  We dropped off our bags and made the necessary journey to get food.  In order to ease ourselves into the food experience, we opted for burgers from a place called Crane .  They were amazing.

Kudos to our host, effectively posing in the background

There was much sleeping after dinner, then we woke up early the next morning to have SUSHI FOR BREAKFAST!  Alex got salmon rolls, quite typical.  He also drank the tea that I managed to successfully order, unintentionally for everyone when I meant to just order it for myself.  Dan, of course, is eating Chirashi.

Facing Fresh Fish

For Will, I order a sushi platter that featured some of the best, fresh, sushi options.

Deluxe breakfast omelet sushi included

How did we know it was super fresh sushi?  The fish behind the counter implied it.  He was the only one left in his tank. 

Lots of Space in the Tank

But there was additional evidence.  

Do you see the little tentacle at the top wiggling?  And the undulating!  It was a little unnerving.  It didn't seem to like being touched with chopsticks and also appeared to be trying to escape the top of the sushi.  Will opted not to eat the little guy, but of course, we have Dan-who-can-eat-anything-once with us. He said it was crunchier than he anticipated.

Finally, in conclusion, at the end of this post, here is the Chat GPT wrapup:  :)

Our journey to get to Japan might have been filled with twists and turns, but it only made our arrival all the more memorable. As we savored each bite of sushi and embraced the excitement of being in this vibrant city, we knew that our adventures in Japan were just beginning. Tokyo had already captured our hearts, and we were ready to immerse ourselves in all the wonders this incredible destination had to offer.

So, stay tuned for more tales of our escapades in Japan. The journey had been eventful, but it was only the prelude to the remarkable adventures that awaited us in the Land of the Rising Sun. Arigato for joining us on this incredible journey!

:) Not bad, but I'm really going to have to find the generative text tool that incorporates my tone and writing style.  It's what all of the kids are using these days... to complete their homework.

Trying to go to Japan... Again

Back in the summer of 2020, we had tickets to go to Japan.  We would take Will back to where he was born and show him around.  Alex had never been anywhere in Asia, so we were also going to take him for the first time.  The Olympics were happening during part of our scheduled trip, so we were going to experience them a bit as well.  But alas, that trip never happened.  

Now, after three years of the pandemic, in the summer of 2023, we are going to actually do it!  This morning we started our journey optimistically by parking near the metro to catch the Silver Line to Dulles.  Because the metro finally goes to Dulles!  

Optimistic Kroboths 

Now, Alex may look a little tired.  This is because two nights before our trip, we had the kids stay awake until 11pm.  Will normally goes to bed like clockwork at 9pm.  Then, the night before, Saturday night, we told the kids that they could stay up as late as they wanted.  This would help them adjust a bit to the time change of +13 hours and it could help them feel like sleeping on the plane.  Alex may have gone to bed around 3am.  

We got to the airport, walked a few thousand steps to get to the airport lounge, and had some food.  When it was time, we went to our gate and boarded.  For the 13-hour flight, we managed to do an upgrade to Polaris.   Here are the boys getting settled in their window seats.  Dan and I were in the middle row next to each other, but we gave the boys the windows so that they could look out as we flew near the north pole and over Alaska.  Alex pushed every button to make sure he knew what they all did and Will got set up with his inflight movies after reading the safety card and finding his life jacket.  

Beginning of the Exciting Journey

We had just pulled away from the gate when the pilot comes on with an unusual announcement.  We had to go back to the gate.  Apparently, they had loaded someone's luggage, but that person hadn't quite made it on the plane.  So we went back and the guy got on.  Lucky guy, right?  We left the gate again, and had more announcements.  Next, we were told that someone had to do a weight calculation for us.  Then we were in line, but there was weather over Wisconsin, so we had to wait for a flight route calculation.  And finally, we took off!  

About an hour and a half later, the pilot comes on with yet another announcement.  Still in his somewhat pessimistic, slightly incredulous voice.  The sensor for one of the waste tanks was not working and claimed that the tank was already full.  This means that the toilets connected to that tank automatically stop working.  This means that the remaining toilets likely won't have enough capacity for the hundreds of passengers on the 13-hour flight.  Conclusion:  We are going back to Dulles.

We made it as far as Canada

It took a while to coordinate the return.  We were too heavy to land at Dulles, so we had to drop some fuel.  Then we had to coordinate a flight path in.  About 4 hours after departure, we finally returned to the ground and ended up back where we started, rebooking at the lounge customer service place.

No Japan today, but we will try again tomorrow.  Flying thru Chicago in the morning and then on to Tokyo.

But hey, in the meantime, we have decent sushi here in DC.  Here is our evening snack after returning back to our house:

Lots of Dots

Dan took an early flight Saturday morning, departing for a week-long work adventure.  While I have been trying to travel with him as much as possible, I stayed home to hang out with the children this time.  (More to be back-posted later on some past adventures that we reported in our Christmas letter but haven't expanded on yet.)  

But what to do alone with the children for a whole week?  

The Kids and their Practically Adult Activities

Saturday started out with the idea of figuring out the Project Of Will Getting University Logistics Going (POWGULF).  While initially an overwhelming concept, after some research and thought, we determined that we are smart people and can figure this out together.  So many parts of Saturday were spent creating a plan on a marker board and researching deadlines.  We determined that with his current grades and SAT, Will has a 5.38% chance of getting into Cal Tech, a 50.94% chance of getting into Georgia Tech,  and a 95.16% chance of getting into Virginia Tech.  So really, there is a good chance he can find a school to attend that works well for him.  We identified our three greatest concerns: Essay writing and editing, finding merit-based scholarships to apply to, and determining the calendar of application deadlines.  

What about Alex?  We broke out his passport and SSN card and took him over to his new job to complete his onboarding paperwork.  On the way, we listened to NPR (learning that Weird Al made a move about himself starring the actor who played Harry Potter) and stopped off at one of the rare automatic car washes in our area to try and get the encrusted pollen removed from the car.  The work paperwork part was successful, but we felt a bit silly after the car wash when a torrential downpour commenced.

Continuing the Tradition of Forced Art Appreciation

Sunday after church, we hopped on the metro to go downtown.  You see, I still have lots of metro dollars left over from before the pandemic when I rode the metro daily to work.  We went to the Hirshorn Gallery, which has a Kusama exhibit.  We saw one of her giant pumpkins but weren't able to take photographs in that section.  However, we did get to take pictures in two different infinity rooms.  The infinity rooms are both rectangular rooms that you can physically enter.  This is a picture of the outside of the first infinity room.  

Outside the Infinity Room

The guy standing outside is responsible for crowd control.  He lets you in for 45 seconds, then kicks you out.  I shall call him, The Infinity Room Bouncer.  So the Infinity Room Bouncer tells you the time rules, the photography rules, checks to see if you are in a group together, and then lets you in.  

To this crazy place:

Which Way to Look for Photograph?

Yes, That Way.  But What About Will?

There We Are, In a Row

Alex Wondering What Those Things Are

Alex and Will are Wondering about Their Infinite Doppelgangers

So it turns out that the red-dot-covered things are soft, phallic sculptures, and the room itself is called "Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field."  Apparently, the artist experienced some trauma as a child.  Her mother would ask her to go spy on her philandering father.  This influenced her art.  The other aspect of Kusama's experience and expression of her art is that she experiences hallucinations which she then translates into art.  She has been experiencing these since about age 10 and finds it therapeutic to create art of infinite dots to cope.  She has lived in a mental institution since the 1970s and walks to her studio each day to create art.

Another of her infinity rooms is called "My Heart Is Dancing into the Universe."  Like a never-ending nightclub, the dots are glowing here.

A little difficult to photograph; we had to get really close to one of the lights to be illuminated.

This Time We Didn't Lose Will

Food Truck?

After our dot adventure, we departed from the Hirshorn and contemplated shwarma.  We walked up to the first food truck that had shwarma on the menu, but Alex was unsure that they would be able to produce a plate of rice, fries, and meat without other ingredients like tomatoes and onions.  We walked by two more shwarma food trucks.  The offerings were more of a gyro sort of sandwich containing other ingredients.  He suggested that we try a restaurant.  Of course, there are few restaurants on the mall, so we found the nearest "shwarma" on google maps and started off on an adventure to find the restaurant called Zaytinya by José Andrés.  Of course, we didn't think it completely through.  Obviously, if a restaurant name has "by Fancy-Chef-Name" after it, it's going to be different than "Shwarma Guys."  Alex was wanting Shwarma Guys or Lebanese Taverna.  We arrived to the fancy Mediterranean restaurant, and indeed there was no plate of rice, fries, and meat.  In fact, they had zero fries at all.  

The pita was lovely.

And look, the water glass even had lots of dots, just like our museum visit.  Throughout the whole experience, Alex kept saying, "This was not what I expected."  But hey, we had a new experience at a new place.  And we all ate delicious, unexpected food.