May 2018 – Kaori Square Feet

The Breakfast at Veselka

You know you have a good friend when they’ll wake up at the crack of dawn to have breakfast with you when you’re in town.

We decided to meet up at Veselka in the East Village. Leave it to New York to have a 24 hour Ukrainian diner and let me tell you, it was was amazing. (Remind me, I need to find a Ukrainian place in Tokyo!)

I love catching up with a grade school friends and it always tickles me to no end when I realize that we’re both grown ups now. I mean, when did that happen?

After breakfast, I took the train back to my hotel, which I’d been wanting to do forever. Work trips usually mean we have a car service but I’d heard and read about so many people complaining about how horrible the subway in New York was, I had to try it.

But train ride was smooth sailing all the way to Grand Central Station, with no delays, accidents, or crazy people. This unfortunately meant no subway horror stories to take back with me.

Ah well, maybe next time?

The Afternoon in Brooklyn

We landed in JFK before noon and and headed straight out to find food.

There were multiple calls for burgers so we settled on this little nook in Brooklyn called James, since it was just down the road from our destination.

It always takes me a minute to get used to American service, which includes a LOT more conversation than Japan. Not that it’s a bad thing, just different. Japanese service means I tend to jump straight into ordering, especially when we’re all starving, but then I remember that saying hello and all that small talk jazz are part of the American culture and adjust accordingly 🙂

After our delicious brunch we headed out to see a little bit more of Brooklyn.

The Flight to New York

This flight was very educational.

I learned that JAL curry was as delicious as everyone says it is.

And I always love the view out the window, but I have also discovered the joys of Deadliest Catch, quite possibly the best TV show on flights ever.

I’m already looking forward to my next flight, just to see this.

The American Football Game in Kawasaki

So Japan apparently has an American Football league.

My friend got tickets and so I got to tag along. I have to say, when we got there, there were actually a surprising number of people in the stands cheering the teams on.

That was until the half time show, where a bunch of energetic kids did their cheer routine and we quickly realized that over half of the people were the parents, waiting to take photos of their kids performances.

Needless to say, there were a few more seats available in the second half of the game.

We had a great time though!