12/01/2026
Turns out that today (Monday) was a public holiday in Japan, it's "coming of age day" so a lot of places were closed or had restricted hours. Fortunately the one place I planned to visit, the Museum of Contemporary Art, was open.
I moved from Narita to Kiba and am here for 2 nights. It was a good 30 min or so walk from my hotel to the museum which included a trip through the park. I was so interested to see how parents rode their bikes with child seats to the park! There was even a parking area set aside specifically for them. Trying that in SA would be a disaster. Drivers here are so respectful, as are pedestrians!
The museum was great, though I didn't really "get" the exhibition. Still it was fun to walk around and to try to interpret the exhibits, especially since they were created for a Japanese audience.
After the museum I strolled back to the hotel in the late afternoon for a nap (I'm still struggling a little with jet lag). One thing I had wanted to do in Narita is get to a fishing supply store but ran out of time, but here in Kiba it turns out they have a mega-store that only closes at 10pm! So I headed straight there and spent a little yen on some essential supplies ;)
Finally I walked the very deserted streets back to the hotel, stopping on the way for a curry. In spite of the late hour, and walking through poorly lit streets, at no point did I feel unsafe, - how restricted we are in SA! So many stores place goods on the street, no security at all in 30secs anything left outside the store would be nicked. And the freedom to walk out a store and not have to pass security is amazing.
The curry was next level good!
Tomorrow I'll be spending the day seeing the sights in Tokyo itself, I'm quite excited!
