Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

12/31/2005, Seattle trip day 8: Going "home" to Japan, overview

Departure

Got up at 5:45 AM to catch a 6:00 AM bus and a 9:40 AM plane. Not much sightseeing in between, needless to say. However, I did get some pretty pictures from the plane, going into Osaka.

View from airplane, a glimpse of Mt. Fuji

At one point, the pilot announced we were going over Mount Fuji. The plane was full of Japanese people who get excited about this. Everybody rushed to one side of the plane to see it. I thought the plane would tip over.

I did the same. Doesn't look like much from up so high. I was a little late.

Scenery from the plane.

Summary of the trip

The trip was great. Saw a lot of people back home, wonderful Christmas, time with Akemi, great food, tasty coffee, sights of Seattle, the works. Not perfect, but definitely a great trip. Here's the rough outline.

Day 1, 12/24/2005: Arrival, Christmas Eve, coffee at El Diablo, ride around Seattle with Mom, stop in REI, see Christmas lights at night, Vietnamese food with Mom, get settled.

Day 2, 12/25/2005: Christmas Day, perfect dinner.

Day 3, 12/26/2005: Breakfast at Shanty Cafe, EMP, Space Needle, meet up with Mom, ride around downtown, coffee at Fremont Coffee (aka Sophia's), Northwest Seaport, Fisherman's Terminal

Day 4, 12/27/2005: Bainbridge Island, spend time with Will and Sandy, Bainbridge Island Historical Museum, walk near the shore, island tour, coffee at Pegasus Coffee, Mexican food.

Day 5, 12/28/2005: See Fumi, Yoshiro, Hikaru (their 3 month old baby), and their new house, Museum of History and Industry, University of Washington, coffee at Cafe Allegro, dinner at Ivar's Salmon House.

Day 6, 12/29/2005: Day with Mom and Sara, tea at Panama Hotel, walk around Pioneer Square, squirrels, Safeco Field, Seattle Underground Tour, Pike Place Market, lunch at Lowell's, Seattle Center, see acrobats, dinner with Steve Callihan.

Day 7, 12/30/2005: Mostly a crappy day. Various things went wrong. But, not all bad. Breakfast downtown, had to do some grad school application stuff, saw Sara and Julia, coffee at Zeitgeist Coffee, walk around Pioneer Square, dinner at Chinoise with Mom, say goodbyes.

Day 8, 12/31/2005: Early departure.

That's about it. No pictures, but that's what we did. Check the individual pages if you want to see the pictures. We tood lots.