Tokyo Lights

The last few days of the first month of the year is here!!! If you need more evidence that time flies, here it is. Thankfully its still January, and having a bout of insomnia means I have some spare time to blog again. Ann was recently in Singapore over the Chinese New Year period and I'm so glad she came to visit but I've been super busy taking her around, so some me-time is always appreciated. Last year, because of the Bangkok floods we rerouted to Japan for our annual family NYE vacation. Ushered in the new year at midnight in the Meiji-Jingu Shrine, and it was honestly quite an experience. For people thinking about going, I recommend it but also suggest super comfy shoes and warm enough clothing, because you'll be standing shoulder to shoulder with about a few hundred thousand Japanese people (and the odd tourist here and there) bracing the cold for a couple of hours just to shuffle your way through the park and into the shrine for a few minutes of making wishes and tossing coins as offerings. Also met up with Kotoha whom I first met in Seattle and she bought me lunch at a cute ramen shop in Shibuya which was a purely two-person operation. Later on we went to the busiest Starbucks in the world (supposedly so, anyway) at the intersection of Shibuya near the Hachiko statue, and reminisced about Seattle and all the fun we had. All in all a good and fruitful trip, consisting of a little bit of shopping and a lot of eating some really excellent food, and hopefully I'll be back again soon. Till next time then, Tokyo!