Tuesday-Wednesday, October 10-11. This adventure begins with a short stay with Yoriko and her mom in Japan. Yoriko left two days ago to “prep(?)” the house for me. After four days I’ll depart on the actual Adventure to Southeast Asia; Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. To illustrate my sibling diversity, my older sister will be on an ocean cruise in the same area while my younger sister is spending several months in Australia. My brother will be the only sibling staying in the USA.

I booked a basic rental car to get to LAX, but Budget used me to reposition a Chevy Camaro back to the airport. Reminded me that I am NOT a sports car enthusiast. Felt every bump on the road.

Splurged on a surprisingly low-priced upgrade to Premium Economy. Got access to the OneWorld lounge. Very nice. The flight was okay, but JAL’s food is not to my liking. It was just as well as I pigged out in the lounge.

Japan’s entry procedure has gone high tech. The process goes smoothly if you use their online application. By the looks of the number of manually prepared forms that were apparently rejected (“please go back to the counter and do it again”), they’re serious about it. Lots of help to use the QR-reading kiosks.

Very nice taxi. The van had a rear view monitor instead of a rear view mirror, but with the classic shape! Very cool. My mother-in-law’s house is unchanged. Cluttered with remembrances of the past.