Have to check out by 10 AM, but don't fly out until 5PM so I leave my gear in an automated baggage locker and kick around Tokyo Station where I grab a quick McBreakfast at a McDonalds where they seem to have taken the whole McCafe thing to an extreme by painting the place up like a beatnik cafe and outfitting the staff in french berets and skirts:
One thing about Japan is that grocery stores are largely built into department stores on their basement floors:
and are less series of aisles and more like an old school farmers market with distinct booths and variations in terms of what's available. At one booth they were making some excellent candy by hand. It was pretty interesting to watch them create an orange flavoured candy by combining 6 triangular "orange slices" into a roll about the thickness of my thigh, and then work that roll down into individual pieces the thickness of my pinky finger:
I have video of the process I'll likely post later.
I'm now off the Narita where I grab some Ramen for lunch:
For our finale, let's note a few things that make Narita a superior experience to Pearson again. Firstly, when you get there before you even get in there's an exterior mall where you can buy everything from clothes, to books, to electronics if you're inclined to stuff a TV in as your baggage allowance:
then, once you clear customs... well, remember the vacant hallway I showed at Pearson? Well, compare your left and right views walking out here:
Yeah.
At this point you're probably going: why would I want to shop at an airport? Well, you may have forgotten something but, more importantly, even window shopping is something to do that's not just: "sit in your chair and wait pleb". It makes for a much more interesting way to blow two hours. Not only that, but there's actual food here that's priced about the same as everywhere else which is a vast improvement over Pearson's: "ha, ha, we've got you trapped!" bs.
With that said: I shall do an epilogue eventually.
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