I went to Tokyo for the first time in 20 years

I went on a business trip to Tokyo on June 28, 2024 as I needed to resolve a problem at Fukuoka Bank's Tokyo branch.

It was cloudy in Kakunodate, my departure point, but as I got closer to Tokyo Station on the Komachi Shinkansen, the rain got stronger. After arriving at Tokyo Station, I noticed that there were a lot of foreign tourists. Wherever I went, there were only tourists. This was a scene that would have been unthinkable twenty years ago. I had known about the increase in foreign tourists to Japan from the news, but when I saw it with my own eyes, I was surprised at the number of them.

I had originally planned to walk to the Fukuoka Bank Tokyo branch, but due to the heavy rain I decided to take a taxi instead. As expected of Tokyo, there was a long line at the taxi stand, and it took more than 10 minutes to get in. However, it was an impressive sight to see people, including foreign tourists, lining up without saying a word despite the rain. Is this a sight that can only be seen in Japan?

To get to the Tokyo branch, we had to go to the 9th floor of Tokyo Square Garden, and my mother, who accompanied me, was surprised by the unfamiliar scenery and laughed. We spent about an hour and a half at the branch and were able to solve the problem. Now we can immediately check the status of the deposit to Fukuoka Bank, and our work at Alaudae.JP is successfully completed. If I were alone, I would have returned to Kakunodate for the day, but after this, I changed my actions to fulfill my mother's wish. However, the rain did not stop, so we took a taxi to the hotel for an early check-out.

The taxi headed for the hotel "APA Hotel & Resort Ryogoku Eki Tower". I chose it because I thought my mother, who had never been to Ryogoku Kokugikan, would be happy. (My father, who loved sumo, would have been even happier.) After entering the room, I opened the curtains and the roof of Ryogoku Kokugikan appeared right in front of me. I never imagined it would be so close. If the weather had been better, I would have wanted to take a walk around the area, but I was exhausted from walking a distance I don't usually walk from the Shinkansen to the hotel, so in a way, the rain was a relief.

My older brother, who had taken the afternoon off, also arrived at the hotel. I headed up to the first floor and bought a late lunch at the convenience store inside the hotel before returning to the room with my brother. After lunch, my brother took my mother to the Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall, but I was tired so I lay down in the room. Perhaps because we had walked a distance we don't normally walk, I had a hard time falling asleep. When we had finally calmed down, my brother and mother returned home and we discussed what to have for dinner, but I didn't feel like walking any more so I suggested we eat at the hotel restaurant, but my brother went out of his way to go to a takeaway restaurant near the station. We settled on the takeaway food we had bought, and after dinner my brother took a rest before heading home, while my mother and I fell asleep in the room.

The next day, the rain stopped, it was cloudy in the morning, and cleared up in the afternoon. My brother's family was scheduled to come to the hotel at 11:00 am.

My mother was looking forward to shopping at the shop at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, which was closed yesterday. So we left the room before 9:30 a.m. to take care of the business at the shop first. The hotel was supposed to be close to the Ryogoku Kokugikan, but it seemed quite far to me. Still, it was my mother's fun, so we walked hard.

We arrived at Ryogoku Kokugikan at 10am, but couldn't find the entrance to the concession stand. We asked a security guard, who told us it was the entrance, and the concession stand opened immediately after we confirmed with him. After taking photos of Toyokuni Inari Shrine, we went to the concession stand. Mom didn't have everything she wanted, since the Nagoya tournament was nearby, but she still seemed to enjoy shopping. After finishing shopping at the concession stand at Ryogoku Kokugikan, we returned to the hotel around 10:30am.

My mother and I decided not to go back to the room, but to wait in the lounge on the first floor for my brother's family, who were due to arrive at 11am. I thought that people in the city were punctual, but they still hadn't shown up even after 11am. (They're strict with others, but lenient with themselves.) My brother called me at about 11:05am and said he was getting in a taxi and would arrive in about 10 minutes. I was shocked, but had no choice but to wait. Soon my brother appeared and the whole family came in.

After exchanging a few quick greetings, I asked my brother what he was going to do next. He said he was going to use the facilities in the hotel, but the hotel hadn't opened yet, and I don't know if my brother's family was busy, but after taking a commemorative photo of my mother and her grandchildren, he left my brother and headed to the station. I think it took about 5 to 10 minutes. My mother wanted to talk to her grandchildren, so she told them that her birthday was July 3rd and she would be 81 years old, but she didn't understand because she was speaking in Akita dialect, and sadly, the grandchildren didn't respond at all. Seeing this, I got irritated and told my grandchildren, "If you're so busy, maybe you shouldn't have come." (She probably didn't understand because she was only speaking half-hearted Akita dialect.) The most incomprehensible person was my brother's wife, who was supposed to despise her husband's family, but she accompanied them and was dressed as if she was going to join us afterwards, but this was a misunderstanding on my part, and my brother's wife just headed to the station with her grandchildren. Seeing this, I felt uncomfortable and wondered, "What are these people really doing here?", but I held back because I thought about how my mother felt.

That's right, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer two or three years ago, and after emergency surgery, her health has improved, and she wanted to see her grandchildren, whom she hasn't seen for over ten years since my father's 50th day memorial service (49th day memorial service), so she asked me to come to Tokyo, which was a reckless and selfish request. However, my brother's wife and grandchildren only saw us as my father's family who had suddenly shown up, and they just wanted to show their faces. I told my brother that I would be going to Tokyo two weeks ago. I had heard from my brother the day before that this situation would occur, but when I actually experienced it in front of my eyes, I couldn't help but think that "blood is like water." I don't mind this family treating me coldly. Even if I thought that my brother's wife didn't marry into the family, I should be a little more grateful to my mother, who is my husband's biological mother. It was because of my husband's roots that my brother's wife was able to meet and marry! The same can be said for my grandchildren. If a grown grandson treats his grandmother, who is his roots, like this, he should be prepared for it to come back to haunt him in the future. I have a terminal illness, so I don't have the opportunity to get married or have children. But even if I did, I don't think I would raise my children in such an unintelligible way. That's how unpleasant it made me feel.

So, my reunion with my mother and grandson for the first time in ten years ended in a flash, so I had a lot of time to waste. So I asked my brother to set up a route that would allow me to see Tokyo without walking as much as possible for the remaining time. However, it seems that it was a difficult request for my brother, who is healthy and whose life is focused on work. Maybe I was wrong to ask him. The rice pot lunch was very delicious. But I was made to walk more than 3-4000 steps, and I fell at the Nitenmon Gate of Asakusa Shrine. Still, I didn't expect to be made to walk to the Sumida River where you can see Tokyo Skytree. So I told my brother that I couldn't walk any more, and I don't know if he understood, but I took a taxi from there to Ueno Station, and after eating shaved ice at the station to cool down my hot and tired body, I said goodbye to my brother at the ticket gate and got on the Shinkansen.

On the Shinkansen, I had an intermittent conversation with Ofukuro-sama (who was just as exhausted as I was) until we arrived at Kakunodate Station. Because if you fall asleep, your body will become stiff and you won't be able to move.

What I realized during this business trip to Tokyo is that in life, there are happy times and sad times, but "blood is like water," and in modern society, it's more important to be yourself, to live tomorrow, than to be related to your bloodline.