Arrival to the Land of the Morning Sun

I need to learn how to separate paragraphs for this blog. Sorry about the following narrative being a giant paragraph. We are in Tokyo! I’m wide awake at 1 am! Jetlag is real. For the 2nd straight night, I am wide awake in the middle of the night because my brain thinks it is the middle of the day. Quite a surreal feeling. Let’s recap some recent events: The wife's family bid us farewell after living with them for two weeks. They took great care of us. Mother-in-law fed me a LOT of delicious cuisine. Father-in-law was very kind, even though Loki barked at him frequently. The wife got an impressive amount of stuff into 4 large suitcases and 2 carry-on bags. On Thursday morning we showed up at Ohare Airport to check in. Thus embarks a LONG journey. We were very worried about how our dogs would do on the trip. The first issue was worry about the long stretch of time in which they would not be able to relieve themselves. I’m talking about approximately 14 hours. Amazingly, they made it all the way to the Tokyo Haneda Airport without an accident! I consider this a miracle. On our nearly empty United flight, they rode most of the way in their carriers under the seat. We put them on our laps for a little while, but the stress of this made Loki bark (naturally), so we put them back underneath. Thor whine a little bit as we were landing and taxiing, but other than that was perfect on the flight. In the airport, we had a LONG walk through the check-in and customs process. We had to get tested for COVID-19 and await the results (both negative--hooray!). We then walked again a long ways and got through immigration and customs. Then we checked in with Animal Quarantine services before we could leave for our residence. It was about 2.5 hours after landing! By this point, we were very exhausted and sweaty! Gross. But, we made it. Our driver whisked us on the wrong side of the road while driving on the wrong side of the front of the car! Also, shouldn’t it be morning now, my brain protested. The jet lag games are just getting started. We arrived to the temporary Tokyo residence. It is a high-quality furnished apartment. It has everything we need to survive while we hunt for our permanent place. It is near a busy train station in Takanawa. After a welcome warm shower, I passed out around 9PM local time before my brain woke me up around midnight. Uh oh. I got to work on email catchup items and the most recent episode of Survivor. Thankfully, the wife slep. She’s adjusting better! Around 6 am, I went on the hunt for breakfast! Shouldn’t we be eating lunch or dinner right now, Mr. Brain ponders? No matter. Gotta go. I started walking towards one of my lifetime event goals: Japanese 7-11. I spent around 15 dollars worth on pastries, noodles, water bottles, and THE MOST DELICIOUS EGG SALAD SANDWICH I HAVE EVER HAD. A beautiful spring day unfolded in Tokyo. Sunshine, a light breeze, and I see cherry blossoms! If my brain didn’t think this was the middle of the night, I would be loving this! Next, since it is technically “Saturday Morning,” I have a property to check out. The agent picked me up and drove me to see this high rise apartment. The wife stayed back with the anxious dogs (we don’t feel comfortable leaving them alone quite yet). The drive through Tokyo in daylight was awesome. The Agent was great and gave me a lot of information about the area and the property. It is a nice high rise with great service and amenities. But, we are just at the beginning of our search. We also want to see smaller buildings with possibly better access for dogs to be outside. Imagine a world in which we don’t need an elevator ride to get outside! Arriving back to my place around noon, my brain is telling me I should get ready for bed soon. What the???!!! It’s too light outside for that. Maybe I’ll take a short nap while the wife goes to check out the grocery store down the street. I am unable to sleep, even though my brain is starting to protest more loudly. We eat some more, but to be honest, my appetite is still a bit off from the jet lag, I think. Our over-stuffed suitcases have meanwhile exploded around the suite. We are slowly putting things away and into their proper places. We decide to take the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. Things are about to go off the rails for me. The dogs travelled so well, but they are very poorly behaved on the walk. They are tugging the leash as hard as they can in all directions. They are barking at shadows and other dogs in the distance. I had to pick up Loki and carry him a couple of times to calm him. I am typically calm, but felt rage towards this dog in this moment! Mr. Brain is misfiring. I forced myself to make it home. The wife is amazingly sweet and patient through the episode. I apologized to the wife for my anger towards the dogs. I was tired and exhausted. I took a hot bath (the tubs are bigger in Japan for my height--wonderful). Sitting in the warm water, drowsiness returned big time! I still didn’t have an appetite, but the wife wisely walked over to McDonalds nearby and got me a Big Mac, which tasted good. She enjoyed a shrimp burger. I had a bite. Delicious! Around 8 pm, I finally drifted to sleep until midnight. Wide awake writing this at 2 AM! As I write this, my dogs are sleeping on my ankles. I forgive them. They are as jet lagged as me! Thankfully, the wife still sleeps. Normal Schedule Self would have taken many pictures and videos by now, but that will have to wait. Here are a couple of pictures that made it past Mr. Jetlag Brain goalkeeper: