Grateful for visiting friends...

The heavens have been really kind to me lately.

Probably aware of the fact that I've been missing my friends and aware of the challenge of finding real friends in the city, the gods have been very kind to make sure that friends from Manila, Singapore, and elsewhere come to Tokyo either for vacation or a business trip recently. Yay!

A few weeks ago, the ex's best friend was in town. Last week, Makii and Paul were in town. This week, Lionel is in town.

Really grateful for friends who come to Tokyo whether it's for vacation or for business.

Philip Bloom's Alone in Tokyo...

Alone in Tokyo from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Missing Tokyo... Missing Japan...

1 October, please come already...

Tomorrow is a holiday in Singapore.

My mind is already thinking of the longer and the real holiday that is to start next Thursday. Haha!

So far, I think I've got a good game plan. The itinerary is done. I wonder how doable it is though. Me being me, I suspect I may have packed a lot of activities per day. Haha! I hope things pan out perfectly and without any glitch.

Friend Dean is still in Europe and will only return to Tokyo tomorrow. That being said, I still have to get his home address. More importantly, I have to figure how to get to his home. Haha!

My other friend Makoto also messaged asking me to set one day for a day trip. The place he mentioned looks very interesting and is something that I think I will enjoy visiting.

Hmm, there are a lot of things to look forward to in this trip. There are a lot of firsts happening as well.

Can it be already 1 October when I wake up tomorrow?

Tickets for the Imperial Villas... check...

Planning for the Japan trip started several months ago. Lol! Friends who know me know how excited I can be when it comes to certain things.

There's a reason for it though. Since I don't know when I'll be able to visit the place again, I want to make as many good memories as possible. So that means booking tickets to museums, tours, trains, planes, and so on way in advance. It also means checking some websites almost every day because I'm waiting for slots in a tour to open.

Singapore has a term for this character - "kiasu." For Filipinos, I think the term would be "atat" or the casual version is "atatinin."

Being kiasu or atatinin has its pros and cons. I'd like to think that I am kiasu/atatinin when the situation calls for it.

For example, if I didn't keep on checking the Scavi Tour website almost everyday, PG Boy and I would have never been able to get slots in the tour. I mean, who know when I'll be able to visit the Vatican again? And who knows if an opportunity to visit the tomb of St. Peter and the Necropolis under the St. Peter's Basilica will come up again, right?

Something similar is happening for the upcoming Tokyo and Kyoto tour. I am kiasu and atatinin to be able to get slots for certain tours. Hehe!

In particular, these are tickets for the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Kyoto Imperial Palace, and... drumroll please... Shugakuin Imperial Villa, and Katsura Imperial Villa (both in Kyoto).

Yeah, I already I had an idea about the popular places such as the Kinkakuji, the Kiyomizudera, and Fushimi Inari Shrine, to name a few.

But the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the Shugakuin Imperial Villa, and the Katsura Imperial Villa... I have to thank a Japanese guy I had coffee with a few months ago. Hehe!

As early as June, I was checking the Japan's Imperial Household Agency website to check whether slots for the days I will be in Kyoto have opened up.

It was in the first week of July when the October schedule finally became available on the website. I wasted no time in making reservations. Haha! I immediately got a reply for the Kyoto Imperial Palace possibly because there are more slots for the palace. For the Shugakuin Imperial Villa and the Katsura Imperial Villa, I had to wait a day for the reply. There was a drawing of lots to see if one can get slot in the tour.

The day after I filed my application, I received the good news that I got slots for the dates and schedules I applied for. Yay! I have no idea how far Shugakuin is from Katsura but I will find a way! I must find a way! Haha!

For the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, the tour slots only opened a few days ago. Thankfully, I've been checking every day so I was able to easily secure a slot for a guided tour.

There is one more place I want to visit in Kyoto. I think it is the trickiest of them all because the fee is quite expensive and the application to visit requires sending a letter. Let's see. Maybe I'll reserve it for my next trip to Japan! Haha! That's me being very optimistic that I will fall in love with Japan and IN Japan and that I will visit again soon after my first trip. Haha!

Japan, see you soon...

So, the first of September started on a very good note.

I went to the Embassy of Japan earlier to get my passport. When I reached the embassy, there were no other visa applicants at the area for visa collection. I got a ticket for my transaction and in less than a minute, my number appeared flashing on the screen.

The whole transaction was over in less than five minutes. The lady behind the counter just showed me the visa and told me that I was given 15 days. That's it. Hehe.

Thankfully, the visa is gratis for Filipino citizens.

I like how the Japan visa looks like. Hmm, my photo looks like one that is used for display during funerals or the one used for tombmarkers. Lol! My friend Bernice put it in a better way though. She said it looks like an image of an ancestor placed on the home altar for ancestral worship. Haha! Touch wood!

In the past few years, I've had to apply for a visa to Nepal, Myanmar and last year, the Schengen visa. I have a US visa that's still waiting to be used! I have to use it soon as it is expiring in 2020! Most of the time, I wish the Philippine passport was mightier. By this, I mean visa on arrival option to most countries. But then, there's also a part of me that actually enjoys getting news that my visa was approved. It feels like some sort of exam and the visa on my passport is proof that I passed.

Still, I don't mind having another passport that makes traveling to countries I want to visit easier. Hehe! Just saying...