I awoke on Tuesday morning to the news that my grandpa had died, in an email from my dad. This was not completely unexpected, but it was nonetheless something of a shock; he had been going downhill steadily for the previous year, since a fall while moving house in July 2009, but in the end the prostate cancer which he had warded off for most of the previous decade finally got the better of him, and he slipped away very peacefully at 9:15pm on Monday night (British time). He was surrounded by my dad (his son), my mum, my granny, and my dad's sister, who happened to have come over for a long weekend to visit him; it was serendipity that she was home at the time.
I talked to Jonathan over Skype for an hour (he happened to still be up, it being about 1am British time), before investigating how - if possible - I could change my flights home to come home a bit early. Knowing, however, that it would be several hours before my parents awoke back home, I couldn't really do all that much. I didn't feel like doing any tourism, so I just headed towards the station in Kyoto and got a few things I needed for the journey home.
Once my parents were awake, I talked to them and explained that I should be able to change the Tokyo-London flight free of charge, due to the circumstances, but would probably need a new London-Belfast ticket. Since that wouldn't be too expensive, we agreed that I would fly back on Thursday, instead of Saturday (due to my being in Kyoto, not Tokyo, I couldn't head for the Wednesday flight), and the funeral would be arranged for Friday or Saturday.
I then spent the next hour or so on the phone, first to ANA to change the Tokyo-London flight. ANA not only waived the change of fare, but also the administration fee; I am very grateful to ANA for being so kind and generous (though I suppose if I hadn't booked so last-minute I might have had a cheaper ticket and been unable to do so). I then phoned BMI, who charged me £215 for a new London-Belfast ticket, which was a bit steep but given the circumstances I just didn't care. I paid for it on MasterCard, and couldn't help but think of it like one of those ads:
Skype credit: £10.
Changing your flights home: £215.
Attending your grandfather's funeral: priceless.
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard.
Lacking in imagination, I headed for a nearby branch of Nakau, one of the Japanese fast-food places, and had a remarkably enjoyable meal of beef and rice, along with kara age, deep-fried chicken pieces which I have enjoyed many times in Wagamama's but which I'd never had the chance to try in Japan. They were excellent, and not too expensive either.
On Tuesday night I spend my final night in Ikoi-no-ie in Kyoto. On Wednesday morning, I talked to Tim Sullivan over Skype; it was 9am Wednesday in Tokyo, 1am Wednesday back home, but 5pm Tuesday in Los Angeles - aren't timezones weird? I then packed up and headed for one last Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo:
Tokaido Shinkansen, Hikari 470: 1156 Kyoto to Tokyo, arr 1441
I got a late lunch in Tokyo station, once again having an over-priced but excellent spaghetti carbonara, before heading for the Aizuya Inn in Minami-Senju once more.
Yamanote line, 1526 Tokyo to Ueno
Joban line, 1542 Ueno to Minami-Senju
On Wednesday evening, I headed into Akihabara to take one last look at the lights of Tokyo, and get some food. In the end I settled for McDonalds, after a quick look round Yodabashi Camera to see the new iPhone 4.
Joban line, 2001 Minami-Senju to Ueno
Yamanote line, c2011 Ueno to Akihabara
Yamanote line, c2115 Akihabara to Ueno
Joban line, 2125 Ueno to Minami-Senju
Back in Aizuya Inn for the last time, I settled down for my last night's sleep in Japan; in spite of how much I was loving Japan, by this stage I just wanted to be home, and I looked forward to a very long day on Thursday flying halfway round the world.
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