Konnichiwa! LH F (via FRA FCT & a 911) to Japan for Sakura. Back home via Shanghai.

The angry Japanese artist is Yayoi Kusama and she's been an artist for 60 years. She just had a show in Washington DC that was beyond sold out. The DC show just finished and it is now traveling to several cities in the USA and Canada.

Here is a link to her page on wikipedia.

We saw her show in Tokyo in March and it was pretty great. Crazy, way out stuff, but great

Below are two pics that I took.





And finally, here is a link to people putting the stickers on the wall in Australia a few years ago.

Do they charge different prices for different rooms?

Excellent as always, JohnRain!

Finally had time to read the whole thing thru.

Travel safe,
MiamiFlyer8

Thanks for your comment and pics, farbster. I saw the Alfons Mucha exhibition first and wanted to see Yayoi Kusama afterwards but the queue was discouragingly long.
Glad that you enjoyed the visit!


I didn't rent the room offerendum, I guess I was just lucky that there were only two other patrons. I suppose that you don't pay for the room itself but if you want it privatised it probably comes with a minimum level of spending.


Thank you very much for your compliment, miamiflyer8, as always!
Glad that you're enjoying the report.

Let's speed this report up! Let's go!

LOL TOMFORD, your patience will be rewarded as the next installment will be online later today...

Traveling with Mrs JohnRain comes with certain logistical challenges, such as finding a cab with a trunk big enough for the entire spring/summer collection 2017 of (insert your favourite designer here). After a couple of rather chaotic attempts with a regular car I came to the conclusion that investing in a van was the only way to go. Exit the E (or even S) Class, enter the Viano.




On the way to HND.




The domestic JAL F lounge was pretty underwhelming.










Pouring the beer was almost more fun than drinking it.




Got it?




Haneda, also known as Changi light.







I was looking forward to my first ever flight with JAL.




No gate lice in Japan.




European carriers, take notice: it is entirely possible to offer a real seat for domestic premium travel, rather than the pathetic cardboard version you're currently using.







The weather was still pretty lousy...




...but at least I got a glimpse of Mt Fuji.




Nice menu...




... and decent lunch for such a short flight.




Upon arrival at the St Regis Osaka we were given a temporary room to freshen up as our suite wasn't ready yet.
As this would be our only day in Osaka (on the two other days of our stay we would be visiting Kyoto), we decided to go and explore Osaka Castle.














































Back to the hotel, this time to our permanent room, a lovely Grand Deluxe Suite...













... where a delicious birthday cake was waiting for us.







Dusk over Osaka.




Lovely Birthday dinner at the Italian restaurant of the hotel, La Veduta.






















And some Japanese sweets to finish the day.



Up Next: Amazing Kyoto, Part I

I know you were only at the St. Regis for a limited time but what did you think of it? Looking at staying there in January for a few nights.

Great report! Surprised you didn't Takkyubin most of that luggage onwards. That service makes Japanese domestic travel somehow even better.

Yeah..... Thatīs life

By the way: The actual S-Class trunk is really not that great regarding it is as long as in former times a truck

I donīt know if it was the marriage or else, but you went from this classicals in your first TR





To this



and this



What has happened to your wardrobe? ;-)

And this

I spent three nights at the StR and can definitely recommend it DetailsIM, great property. I had dinner at the Ritz-Carlton (the other hotel I considered staying at), but I much prefer the StR as the RC is a bit worn.


Thanks a lot, briantoronto!
I had never heard of Takkyubin before and it sure looks interesting. The only downside I see is that apparently there's no same-day delivery, which would be a dealbreaker for me.


Agreed offerendum, I love the S-Class but the trunk isn't its forte.


LOL Carq, good point!
But there's of course a rationale behind it: the first pic you showed is from a trip in December, whereas the two others are from trips in July and April.


LOL again, SMART51!
I'm sure that my sartorial choices aren't to everyone's taste but I guess I'll have to live with that...

JohnRain:

loved going through your TR! Thank you for writing up your wonderful journey.

Thank you very much for your kind words, Aventine, glad that you're enjoying this report!