(Above: A chill little ryokan)

ALAN

The day that Erin and I arrived back in Japan, we were exhausted. We had taken the red eye flight from Thailand we were not prepared for the cold of Japan. We took the train back to our ryokan in Narita and crashed for a few hours. It was New Year’s Eve, and we wanted to get out to do some partying that night in Roppongi Hills- a party area of Tokyo. Alan, one of my bestest water polo buddies from Davis, CA had flown from Mexico to hang out for a couple of weeks- he would be my third consecutive, and final visitor before my parents visited me in the spring. It had been 7-8 years since I last saw Al and I was anxiously looking forward to the reunion. Al arrived at about 6PM on New Year’s Eve and we spent the next hour over tea and catching up. We grabbed a bite to eat at an Indian Restaurant that we had discovered close by, then the three of us decided to go big and make the hour train trip into Tokyo. The trains were running all night, so we just decided that we’d go for it and eventually head back when we were tired after the New Year’s Hour of Power. (Below: Alan, a bit tired)