I took a brief trip home to America a bit ago to attend my sister’s high school graduation! Because America’s school year and Japan’s are just slightly off, it does kind of fall in the middle of regular work here. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event though, and I figured even just a quick trip back would be worth it (apologies for the inconveniences to my coworkers!). Graduation was on June 7th, so I left on June 5th to give myself a recovery day. It was a quick trip, because I didn’t want to miss any more work than I have to, and any longer, I would have gone full vacation mode. My boyfriend also came to Sapporo to drop me off at the airport!
June 5th: I left on my usual morning bus to Sapporo, as my domestic flight was at 3, so I had plenty of time to get to the airport. With nothing to do in Sapporo, it was straight to the airport off the bus for me. Well, after making a boba pit stop of course!
Because both the stop and Gong Cha are in Akarenga Terrace, I immediately noticed the giant flower display right in front of the Gong Cha. I suppose Akarenga Terrace has been open for 10 years now. I forget if they even did this last year.
I had rewards for a Free Size Up for a while now, and because the seasonal drinks are usually M only I can’t use it. This time it’s usable because I was getting a normal drink, so I was very happy. I also happened to get enough stamps that day to unlock a free topping, so my boba was also free. Yay!
Read about my boba here!
And then we headed to the airport. This was the first time in a while that I’ve ridden on an all-nice seat airport train.
The first item of business is to buy my mom’s favorite Jaga Hokkuru potato sticks. Unfortunately, because of other personal circumtances and I’m just an idiot, I forgot to scan my ANA membership despite specifically shopping at ANA Festa because I can get mileage. Huzzah for my boyfriend’s Tax-Free tourist status.
Despite the international luggage line not being very long, the line took almost forever, yet when I got there, it was very simple and straightforward.
My lunch spot of the day was at the revolving sushi restaurant at the airport, Kantaro, supposedly from Hakodate. This place always has a line, and I’ve never really gotten to the airport early enough to have time to wait, so I figured not that many people should be at the airport on a Wednesday, and Idid have some spare time to kill anyway (post-security has nothing fun). I guess unsurprisingly, we did join the line around 12:30, peak lunch time, so we did wait a bit, spiking my anxiety, but we only ended up waiting 20 minutes before we could get in.
I say revolving sushi, because they do have the tracks and everything, but now everything is tablet order, and the chefs directly handed the plates to us. They had a ton of selection, including some I’ve never heard of before, and the quality looked pretty good too. I did end up ordering quite a few things. What’s nice about this place is when placing your order, you can request no wasabi and also less rice.
Everything was very yum, and all the fish was super tender and melted in my mouth. I will say that some of the prices were a bit expensive, but that could be airport price + sushi + quality product. I was very satisfied though, and did try not to eat too much (despite being hungry) so I could eat at Haneda, ha!
Domestic security was as fast as usual, and actually, this was my first time taking an Air Do flight, the Hokkaido regional air carrier. Unfortunately I did not get the Vulpix plane, but the interior is nice and comfy, and this is the first plane I’ve been in that has a live monitor showing what’s happening at the back of the plane outside. They also actively sell merchandise, and their drink cups are decorated with famous cities around the prefecture. Otherwise, the flight was fine.
Without needing to pick up my suitcase because it was being sent straight from my domestic flight to my international one, I boarded the interterminal bus to Terminal 3. Time to go to Haneda Airport Garden and hang out for a few hours! I high-key thought about visiting the onsen, but I didn’t have that much time, ha! Instead, because I got there pretty early for dinner, I browsed the shops in the complex, and also the other restaurants.
Speaking of…for anyone that reads the blog, the last time I ate at Haneda Airport Garden was also the last time I went home for Christmas. That time, I ate at the unagi restaurant, and got their standard set, and because the place was so bougie, I vaguely remembered the price. However, when I passed by and looked at the menu, something seemed pretty suspicious to me…I double checked my exact blog post, and sure enough, the exact item I got 6 months ago, is now give or take 1000 yen cheaper than how much it was in December. The heck? I get raising prices, but lowering them that drastically makes me mad. I wasn’t planning on eating there that day though.
My flight was boarding at 8:30, and because I didn’t have much else to do anymore, I just decided to head into Yabaton, the miso katsu place. Not just any miso, but Nagoya miso, and Yabaton is actually a big chain there. Unfortunately, I did not get to go during my one day in Nagoya, but Tokyo has everything, and I knew I had to go sometime when I found out Airport Garden opened a location!
There were a ton of selection and items on the menu, all vaguely along the lines of katsu, meal set, sauces, to varying item quantity and quality. The Kagoshima pork sets were tempting, but those sets also came with a potato salad, and even one with a dessert (apple pie). I didn’t think those were necessary or warranted going for quality pork, so I looked for one with the style of the poured over sauce and one without too much fatty meat (loin tends to be fattier). I ended up with one that used rib meat, seemed a bit more unique), over an iron plate with the famous sauce. All the sets come with unlimited rice!
You order by scanning a QR code with many languages supported, making it very tourist friendly! Everything other than the iron plate came first, and then the waiter asked me to put my mask away or it will get dirty. I did, but not for the reason he said. Right after, he brought out the iron plate pre-sauce, brough over a jug of miso sauce, asked me to lean back, and poured a lot of sauce onto the plate. Immediately everything splattered and sizzled and droplets of sauce went everywhere, to the point that the waiter replaced my pickles plate for a fresh clean one. I waited a bit before diving in.
The miso soup was a miso soup, the sides were pretty good, nice and light flavor, and the pickles were fine. Rice was good, and I ended up with only one refill, because it really was super filling. As for the pork, the meat was juicy and tender, with a bit of fat in some places. Some of the crust was still crispy, but it was soaked thoroughly through with the miso sauce. The sauce made everything incredibly salty, and while I did really enjoy the miso flavor, it really helped to have rice and the sides to cleanse my palate. The cabbage would have been nice, but unfortunately that too was soaked with the miso sauce, and had shrunk down so much.
Before dinner, I was honestly thinking of getting a dessert somewhere at one of the many matcha places in the complex, but the meal really filled me up that I needed to do some serious walking. I had a bit of time before I wanted to go through security, so I just walked around the terminal’s various floors and areas until about an hour before boarding.
Even after international security, I had a bit of time, so I wandered around and did some shopping, and ended up at my gate to wait out the rest of the time. This staff lady was going around and asking people for their boarding pass and checking if their final destination was Los Angeles, She didn’t end up asking me but that might have been because she talked to this Chinese lady who wouldn’t have any of it.
Just as I was boarding in the last group, my boarding pass scanned red and the machine made a beeping sound. I was pulled aside after being confirmed my name was on a list, and without saying anything two female staff members asked me to set my belongings down on the table, take off my shoes, and sit down. They swabbed my pants, the pockets of my pants, my shoes, and put it through a machine, checking for “subtances”. I was so scared the whole time, thinking I did something, and one lady even told me my shoes are a pretty color. Thanks ma’am, but I’d prefer you just tell me you’re doing a random check. After everything was over, the lady pointed at something on my boarding pass, and simply told me that was the reason for the check. Could you please call me up to the desk earlier or something, instead of checking me right as I’m boarding with the last group onto the plane?
So our flight was at 9pm, and about two hours later, they started dinner service. I really thought I might have digested enough by then to eat the food (what normal person eats at 11pm?), but I was at a comfortable level of full at that point. Nevertheless, since it was included, I made sure to at least try everything out, because I’m finally riding an Asian airline on the long haul, which has incredibly higher standards for food. The choices were between Chicken Teriyaki over rice or Hashed Beef in Red Wine Sauce with bread. I went for the chicken teriyaki, and it also came with a smoked duck and potato salad, vegetable namul, a mixed salad and dressing, cheese and crackers, and water. A bit after serving, a cookies&cream Haagen Daaz came out.
My goodness the entire thing was a massive upgrade from American airlines. The salad was, well, a mixed salad, good for getting some light veggies in while I wasn’t in the mood for heavy food. The mixed namul was a bit spicy for my liking, but also more refreshing veggies I’m not complaining about. I wasn’t a huge fan of the weird sprinklings of things on the potato salad (generally not a potato salad person anyway), but I did eat the meat on the smoked duck, which was really good. As for the main, the egg shreds were interesting with no flavor, and the vegetables were soft but decently seasoned. The chicken is a pretty standard teriyaki with few slices of tender thigh meat, and I give props to Japan for the rice being actually decent. I was way too full to eat much of this meal, but I appreciated the little bits overall. A bit later they came around giving out ice cream, and of course, I devoured and finished that with my dessert stomach.
This plane had a bidet built into the toilet. That was wild, and very Japanese.
About 2 hours before landing, breakfast service started. This consisted of the main, yogurt, and a fruit cup. I chose the Salmon Flake and Egg with Rice over the Tomato Penne and Chicken with Cream Sauce. A bit after, a flight attendant came around with a box of treats. I picked out a KitKat.
Overall, again, everything was very yummy! The egg again really had no flavor, there was some pickled veggies, and the salmon was not bad, ableit a bit salty. but I’m sure normal people eat it with the rice. I finished the whole thing. The yogurt was very Japanese yogurt, a bit more sweet than tangy, and had a pudding-like consistency. Fruit itself was fine.
The KitKat was, a KitKat.
We landed relatively smoothly, immigration line in America was as long as usual (to get there, we had to go down a set of escaltors and then back up?), and then my dad picked me up at the airport to go surprise my sister at home.
The return trip is coming soon!
Japan Excursions 
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