Missing Japan. I remember buying a ‘how to speak Japanese book’ 15 years ago in high school and always entertained the idea of going but ‘life always got in the way’. I finally bit the bullet and went in August 2017, with two 3 year old twins and my wife.

First morning I was so excited I was up at 5 am and ran a few miles around Asakusa to Akihabara, to absorb in the charm of the city right around sunrise before the famed bustling streets of Tokyo would occupy. It was a partly cloudy day. The street vendors at Nakamise market were slowly opening their garage storefronts and setting up shop, the locals diligently sweeping the alleys and getting ready for the day.

The only place open was a Don Quixote a few minutes west of Sensoji Temple, the equivalent of a Walgreens in the U.S., if Walgreens had 5 floors cramped with a chaotic but oddly well organized mixture of everyday items and useless, weird, but completely necessary Japanese stuff. Like these little bouncy gelatinous balls that had a nipple at the end, resembling boobs. Got one for my sister.

By the time I was finished I went back to my AirBnB and got the wife and kids ready to tour the nearby markets. We got them picture-perfect ice cream cones at Nakamise and slowly worked our way up Sensoji Temple. The quiet of the early morning had transformed completely to the bustling experience Tokyo was known for. It remained partly cloudy but was a beautiful day, reminded me of California weather.