It’s the last day of japan for me (mostly traveling) and I am sad. I wish I could stay longer and eat more food. I was hoping to be sick of Japanese food at the end of my trip but I’m not. Instead, I want more!!!!
But today’s turn of events gave me such a pleasant surprise. A very nice one actually. We couldn’t check in into our international flights yesterday so we had to leave it up to fate this morning. Our flight was scheduled to take us to Sapporo to Osaka to LA.
Initially, at Haneda airport, we were waiting to go to Sapporo aka New Chitose Airport.
Got ourselves some last udon at the airport.
After landing in New Chitose airport, we were rushed through security or check in some point and was starving. We bought a quick little snack from one of the carts. Only in japan can you find good sushi sitting a la carts for a cheap price and not worry about food poisoning.
Seared salmon on nigiri. 6 pieces for 800yen at the airport. So cheap!
So we had a complication with our flight itinerary. Instead of going to Osaka and then LAX as planned, one of the JAL flight attendants told us the flight was overbooked. She asked if we were willing to fly back to Tokyo via Narita Airport and then back to LAX, which only puts us at 45min earlier for America landing time than before. For our cooperation, not did we get upgraded to emergency row “extra leg space” row during our flight back to Tokyo, we got upgraded to premium economy status for our long flight back to America! And we got $300 per person on top of that ..
the only crappy thing about the airport hopping is that one of our meals was not japanese, but it was this or a vending machine of only drinks. We were desperate for food and starving so we grabbed some food at a cafe near our departure gate.
Raw ham and cheese croissant.
Roasted ham croissant.
Iced caramel and hazelnut lattes.
The boyfriend wanted to try some Japanese FIRE brand coffee.
It was actually really good! Mine was Cafe au lait and tasted perfectly sweet and milky. Both coffees were nice and hot from the vending machines BTW
Here is our premium economy class seats!
We were so excited! You can’t tell from the pictures but there is sooooo much room! The seats even acted as barcaloungers and recliner backwards for the back and the legs. Sleeping was sooo comfortable. Flying 11 hours was actually enjoyable, not just tolerable.
Got me some champagne from France. I even asked for some orange juice and turned it into a mimosa.
The best part of premium economy class was the food. We even got premium food!!!
So JAL partners with the RED U-35 competition in which young chefs compete with each other to encourage inspiration and courage to create their own chef identity in their food creations. The following airplane food was cooked by 6 past RED finalists.
The food was BOMB. BEST AIRPLANE FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD. I AM STILL CRAVING ONE OF THEM.
Pouch for salad dressing. Instructing us how to put it back down after using to avoid a mess.
Savory pumpkin salad simmered in Dashi (Japanese soup stock).
Ratatouille scented with cumin.
Pannacotta with framboise sauce
Deep fried chicken and egg over rice.
Prawn curry creamy bisque style
Hot green tea
And after a long nap, it was time for breakfast before landing.
AIR japanese soba noodles TSUTA
Chicken soba noodles. I didn’t take a picture after mixing it with the truffle oil sauce, but it was SO GOOOOOD. I WISH I COULD HAVE SECONDS UGH ITS SO GOOOOOOD.
Boiled bok choy mixed with cashew nuts
Cup peach jelly
Also, I love Japan Airlines. They are my favorite airline. Everywhere we went all of the attendants knew about our situation and kept thanking us for accommodating them. They were so appreciative and grateful, nice and sweet.
Well goodbye japan! Thank you for such amazing accommodations. The culture, the people, the place, the food, the trains, the cherry blossoms, the cleanliness, the manners, and much more. I appreciated and loved every minute of it.
