RHS'69
Tomodachi Tour IV - 2019
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Photos/video by:
Bobby Imoto Kalani'69
Lani Harrington RHS'69
Cheryl Osumi RHS'69
Vincent/Wendy Yim RHS'69
Two weeks cruisin' Japan are coming to an end. It's the final breakfast and lunch and maybe some last minute shopping if there's any room left in the luggage.
Check out of the hotel and grab the airport bus to Narita.
On the way back Day 14 returns to Day 13 as the plane flies over the International Date Line once again. What was today has now become yesterday. Having lived through this before, the group will ignore it and call for more champaign.
Time to come home.
Tomadachi IV - the fourth tour to Japan is two weeks in length. We have three reporters covering the trip: Lani Harrington, Vincent Yim (RHS'69) and Bobby Imoto (Kalani'69).
This is a "rolling blog" so each day's events are posted as they come in. Check back often for the latest.
Tokyo Weather for today
52 F (Japan 12:15 AM
Predicted:
11:00 AM 50 F
7:00 PM 55 F
Precipitation 50%
Expected:
2:00 PM 35%
Humidity 81%
Wind 12 mph
Breakfast Start Breakfast End
We weren't told why Vincent had his mouth taped at breakfast - but it was probably deserved.
Bobby Imoto had some thoughts this morning on the end of the tour:
"Weird day ... here's at shot from our room at 10 am. When we land in Honolulu it'll be earlier than that. That means we get to relive Monday again.
Day started off cloudy with rain, but has cleared up to another beautiful day in Tokyo. Great way to end our tour.
It was also great that everyone had another memorable experience, watched over each other, made some new friends, and strengthen old relationships in the true Tomodachi philosophy.
Most of the group are doing some last minute sightseeing and shopping. I know that a few of us are doing the Tomodachi Puzzle of trying to make 150 cubic feet of clothes and omiyage fit into 100 cubic feet of space. Hopefully everyone was successful."
With no hotel they went to the airport to hang out. The counter doesn't open for another hour.
The departure time for Honolulu is 9:00 PM (Japan) or 2:00 AM HST.
While waiting for the HAL ticket counter to open a group of Geshas in costume show up. They gave them Hawaiian Host chocolates and they were so happy happy. They said Mahalo and gave everyone the Shaka sign.
Looking at all this leads to the question: Good grief WHAT did you buy?!
That's it. Tomodachi IV
is over.
Welcome home.
Whenever they leave a hotel in Japan the staff makes sure they know their stay was appreciated.
The tour group's comments always mention how great the service has been.
You see the white boxes?
That's stuff people bought and couldn't fit in their luggage.
They count as an extra bag on the plane. So if someone already had their bag limit then this box was an additional $150.
Yipes.
RHS'69 Reunion Committee chair Vincent Yim...
Japan is a magical place to visit. They have
smoothly orchestrated moving millions of
people's lives like a well-timed symphony.
The Japanese people are so courteous and
work so hard to satisfy our time with them.
Their food is on a level far above the rest. In
14 days I have gained 10 pounds...need I say
more on their cuisine?
Their engineering to details is just over the top, from the packaging to presentation, to the consistent quality. Even the warming of the toilet seats, to sending your waste off in comfort. You are almost looking for the next delightful surprise. I cannot wait for our next adventure to discover more Japanese treasures.
Speaking on behalf of the Tomodachi Group, a much mahalo to Chris and Bobby Imoto for putting many hours listening to all of us on what we wanted on this tour. To Bobby Chinen at BCT for the demands and changes in making it all happen.
We all realize how much time it takes in
putting this special tour together. None of
us would have seen, taste and experience
as much without the Imoto's and Chinen
expertise. A deep bow, "Arigato".
Both Wendy and I are so lucky to be a
part of this Ohana to experience the Joys
of Japan.
To our many website visitors, I hope we
shared a small part of what fun we had
this past 2 weeks.
Life is too short to not make every
moment fun and enjoyable. Work at it, nothing is free.
