Japan 2013 (Day 1 - 11/12th July)

Hello everyone.
I'm really tired but well.

On the 10th of July me and my husband started planning how to settle everything so we did not have to worry about the rest of the familly (pets), how to get to the airport and the house (keeping and safety).
My older brother imediatly said he'd be more than welcome to stay at our place and live there while we are gone and that has made us a lot more releaved.
So th first thing we did was make a small shopping list and go buy him some supplies!

We called my mother because she was going to go with us and bring the car back to Porto and went to meet her. Unfortunately my younger brother and his swedish friend became officially avaiable this week which is when we had our booking but i still managed to drop by and chat with them for a bit. What a shame.
She stayed with us at Vigo Airport for a while because it wasn't even open when we arrived, it only opens at 5am.
I have made it safe and sound to Japan and am now getting ready to sleep since its 30min to midnight.

The flight went ok, Mari did not cry as much as I thought she would but the stopping in all those different airports and some lack of work ethic and respect from others in general kind of annoyed me. On one of th flights we used the sleep inducing suplement (natural and doesnt harm the baby do not worry we asked) the doctor gave us and it worked, she was sleepy almost instantly.

You could imediatly tell you were in Japan when it was the only flight when the "seat belt sign" was on and everyone was sitting down, calmely waiting for the light to switch off.

It took us a while to exit the airport, there's 2 cards you have to fill in before entering Japanese ground and my husband and I did that in the plane but used a red pen and red wasn't allowed so i had to re-write it all. I had to ask a customs office to help me confirm the address since my husband wrot it in kanji and sort of fast and that's not the kind of thing you want to get wrong.
The other thing you have to do is take your fingerprints (I always have to do it twice because i can never place my fngers correcly in the machine) and a mug shot.

We changed Mari's clothes because we did not want her grandparents to have as a first impression that she was dirty, hah

Kansai airport parking entrance

Kansai airport outside

 When we came out i realised it was hotter than i thought it'd be. It wasn't unbearable but it was as bad as Portugal had been these last two weeks so I was disappointed. I hate the heat as i told you before.
We got in the car (my inlaws bought a new mazda, its pretty and I hate white cars!) and it was awesome. I love this land of amazing air cond. everywhere! Has I turned our car's air cond on it wouldn't have worked like that!

We started going home, the paths already seems familiar as I'm not bad at visual memory. I thought it could have changed a lot since they moved but not for the most part.
My mother in law still wanted to pick up some things for Mari so we went to a sort of baby stuff supermarket. I was in awe with all the incredibly adorable things they have for kids here. I think i must spend some $ on silly things for Mari, it has to be done!

Corridors and corridors just with baby clothes.

 We got back into the car and i must have missed a part of the conversation because my japanese isn't great but apparently we all decided to have ramen as our first meal in japan. Not complaining, i love ramen.

tasty ramen

We also got some gyoza... and rice... with ramen. XD

We asked for a baby seat so Mari can enjoy herself with us during meals and she was almost in her lunch time so we also asked for a small spoon. When the waitress arrived she brought a baby bowl, a baby spoon and a baby fork, a complete set. I only needed the spoon but one has to appreciate the incredible customer service around here.

 We then got back in the car again and finally went "home".
As I said, my inlaws have moved so i'm a bit puzzled still... i did not recognize a single thing. It might be a good thing because that means that one of these days I shall take the time to explore a bit.
It looks a lot calmer and there's a lot of green which is pretty as well... the train station is smaller but nearby so that's convenient. The house is a lot better too, the main thing being that my inlaws no longer have to climb all those steps to get home.

Mii-chan was already meowing when we arrived and i ran to see him, i had missed that gigantic adorable cat!

Mari was extremely satisfied to know there's also a cat here, she has this fixation for them.

The things we bought + two yukata sort of clothes (forgot the name of those things) for Mari to wear around here. So cute

Everyone took a bath and then I was called for something I had also missed, the mugs with american coffee. This one was adorable, it had a cat underneath and on the inside as well.

Cats are trendy here now but they've always been trendy in Japan 

I also loved that tiny polka dot tray.

Mari watched some baby tv which i found out is completely different from the one we have here, i have never seen any of the cartoons shown there!

 We took her queue and also took a nap. We got called for dinner a bit after and I knew what it'd be because my husband chose the oficial first meal in japan, he picked sushi. We were going out but we decided we should just stay in and order some instead.
Mom also made mari a homemade meal she only partially ate (still not used to the little pieces).

Pretty self explanatory

more sushi.

I got asked if i'd join in drinking some "wine" but it ended up being champagne which was delicious anyway! I was told they have a stock of wine at home and that there'll be some more opportunities to drink some haha yay! 

Does anyone know this brand?

After dinner we just sat talking and hanging out in the living room. We also got some presents, mom sayd when she goes some wear she justs picks this and that but now because its been gathered it just looks like a lot. It was fun!

Mostly little towels and straps. The towels are super handy, Mari uses a bunch and having cute ones is a lot more exciting, even for her... especially if they are colorful!

Mari has a big basket filled with cute plushies to play with and she had a blast and did exactly that.

 And of course they got matcha icecream... bye bye diet, hello heaven! I love them so much, i feel so pampered when i come here. <3

 And we watched a program on Lisbon and Porto and the Porto one has Ito san (one of my husband's friends) in it. I had no idea. He's got skills, he did really well.

Trying out arcadia port wine chocolate. 

And it was soon time for bed, which i'm ignoring due to my jet lag btw.. so we did something people get used to doing here but i'm sure a lot of people would complain about doing in my country which is take out the futton and "build" a sleeping space (not to mention take it all back again in the morning!).

So basically this was my day, pretty down to earth and relaxed. I am looking forward for tomorrow even though, again, i have no plans whatsoever yet.

Thank you for reading and please comment if you do read, it helps make me post on time.
Jo