Japan Day #4

Our last day in Japan, we went in to Tokyo proper and walked around. With our stellar Japanese skillz, we were unable to figure out anything and thus ended up in a business district. We did find luggage storage and were able to buy train tickets to the airport, so we weren't complete failures but there are apparently much cooler places to be in Tokyo.

We saw a lot of big buildings. And very few people.

Walking in Tokyo

 Awesome storm drains. If my sister still reads my blog, she may appreciate these.

Flower drain #1

Flower drain #2

 We visited the Imperial Palace. It was lovely. They had a marathon going on, so we actually saw some people.

Posing like Jasmine in the Imperial Palace

 We wondered around some more, found a couple of shops. But weird shops, nothing souvenir-ish anywhere.

Statues in front of a health food store

 And then we went to the airport. They had a giant glass sculpture.

Giant glass sculpture in the airport

We made our flight to PDX, business class (woot!). Hazel and Meadow watched Hugo and possibly another kid-friendly movie. We all fell asleep (see: business class) and then woke up in Portland.

Hazel slept through breakfast, but the flight attendants gave us milk and fruit for her to eat when she woke up. Oddly, she woke up not hungry at all. Seriously, the kid is always hungry, so this is not a normal situation. We had her food, and all our stuff, and got off the plane. Since we were at the front of the plane, we were pretty close to the front of the line for passport control. We get to the guy checking documents and he asks us how long we were out of the country and we told him four days. It was all downhill from there. He questioned us on why we would go on such a long flight for such a short trip and did not think Disney was an appropriate answer. He then asked Geoff (three or four times in the course of his interviewing us) if he knew some other guy who had just been through the line because, "he also works for Delta in Salt Lake." Nope, don't know him. He asked Hazel what her name was, who her parents were (because, of course, we went to Japan to steal us a blonde kid. Who looks JUST LIKE ME!), how old she was, what year she was born (failed that one). It was ridiculous. And as I type it I am again outraged at his ridiculousness.

Moving on. We finally get through passport control and move on to get our baggage. Hazel starts to wake up a little more and has to use the bathroom. I ask the guard where it is, and awesomely, it is back on the other side of passport control. But, he tells us to just flash our papers and we can come right through. I take Hazel back through, use the bathroom and cut to the front of the line, which is crazy long at this point. Of course, we get the same guy again and I tell him that we just came through to use the bathroom and now we just want to get through to baggage. And he doesn't recognize us. Hazel is the only child in the area. He questioned us for 15 minutes. Three minutes prior. Finally, after looking at our passports again he admits that yes we are okay and we can go through. grrr..

We get our luggage and now have to go through agriculture screen. I normally fill out the paperwork but Geoff did it this time. He forgot that we bought food. Oh, and that Hazel has food from the airplane. Busted. We were fine (as in, okay) until they find his sausage in the luggage and then they bring up the $300 (or $500, I don't remember) fine (as in $$$$$$). Sausage was confiscated. Airplane food was confiscated. We were reprimanded, but not fined. 

You would think this would be enough. But then we have to go through TSA. No problem, we are experts at TSA screenings. Shoes off, except for Hazel, jackets off, watches/phones in the purse. And I beep. Oops forgot the watch. Still beeping. I am completely befuddled. I haven't had a lot of sleep, I have been dealing with security all morning/afternoon/whatever time of day it is. I raise my arms in confusion, revealing my metal-studded belt. Busted. The guy behind me completely cracks up. TSA dude comments on how my companion sees the humor in the situation. I tell him that I have never met that guy before, he is just mocking me. TSA dude tells me he will take care of it. Guy behind me goes through the metal detector, no beep. But, lucky him, he gets the full screening. TSA dude winked at me. Nice. Sorry, guy behind me. It is for America.*

We had a quick layover in Portland (love you, Portland!). Almost didn't make the flight, it was pretty full. But we got home, and even sat together. Came home, saw the eclipse, lost Nacho, found Nacho, and went to bed.

The End of the Tokyo Disney Adventure.

*We travel plenty, and deal with TSA plenty, most of them are delightful people who are just doing their job.  They almost never make Hazel go through the puffer machine, or the full-body scanner. But, man, some are jerks. Just like in real life.