A quick visit to Shibuya/Harajuku
My husband had to travel domestically for work for two weeks which required a plane ride. I am still quite hesitant to drive on the expressway and use navigation while driving in a new place, so instead of driving him to the airport (I'd have to drive alone back home), we took this opportunity to try to catch the train. It is about 30 min faster by car if you take the toll roads to Haneda, but about 500yen more expensive (for one person). I thought it might be interesting to see what guests would have to do if they caught the train from our house and it was really quite easy! I escorted him to the airport so I could see things for myself and then went into Tokyo on my own after, planning to check some stores/products in person that I had been thinking about after browsing online for the last few weeks.
I had a little less than 2 hours before I wanted to be home, so I headed straight for Shibuya and Shibuya 109. I tried on a couple of dresses in Liz Lisa, browsed through Ank Rouge, Honey Cinnamon, An Mille, Bubbles, Samantha Vega and a few others without buying anything and resolving to think about it and possibly buy online later.
I then hopped over to Shibuya Marui for the first time to go to the Mercury Duo store. I wanted to try on a jacket that was a bit pricey and wanted to confirm it would be worth the price. (I bought it online immediately after bc I loved it! Blog post coming soon!)
Got back on the JR Yamanote line and caught the train one stop to Harajuku where I walked down Takeshita doori just for fun and then made my way to EATME. I tried on a few items, made a purchase and then stopped at Garrett's popcorn as well before heading back home.
Although Yokohama is a lot closer and has a lot of the same restaurants and stores, I still like going into Tokyo for 3 things specifically: EATME, Garrett's and sometimes Liz Lisa. It is a bit of a pain to go for just those things, but I don't mind it every once in a while, especially when I have an excuse like I did this day!
Yokosuka Curry Festival
Heard about this last minute from a friend after the pre-order tickets were sold out, but luckily we were able to get in with the general admission on the second day anyway!
There was this Curry "Buffet" area where you pay 500yen and get a little tray with rice and you can choose any 3 curries from 12 offered! We each paid for entry and was able to try 6 different ones between us. My husband found one he really liked from this (どぶ坂食堂ペリー) so it was absolutely worthwhile!
We also just walked around an tried some foods (curry and non-curry) from the various booths as well. I thought that the Yokosuka Kaigun curry rice croquet was actually really good! It wasn't too long before we were full so we only stayed for about 1.5 hours, but it was definitely worth it to go! If we had been available on the first day, we probably would have tried to go both days (admission was free) and try a bunch of different things each time. I will be on the lookout for this next year!
Long weekend in Osaka
Our friends proposed a weekend trip down to Osaka with an intention to go to USJ, and we couldn't say no! It was initially going to be 6 of us but due to a scheduling conflict, it ended up just being 4 (us and one other couple). I would never have considered driving the distance on my own, so if someone else was willing to help plan and do the driving, I was really excited for the experience!
We did enough fun things during this little weekend trip that I think it's worth being its own blog post (ended up being 2) and want to have the time to do it justice, so that's coming up as soon as I find some time to write and edit and can get the photos from everyone else here - Osaka Road Trip blog post / 1 day visit to USJ blog post!
Firsts/new things
By myself!
As mentioned in the Tokyo section, my husband had to travel for work for 2 weeks. I have my own job, so I stayed back and had to figure out how to be on my own for a bit. Aside from some half days and one night on a previous trip, I haven't really spent too much time in Japan by myself! This isn't because I don't really like spending time alone - but I do often prefer to travel with other people and since the move, have been obviously living and doing most things with my husband, lol.
The household stuff is not too different from when he would travel for work when we were in HI - cook for one, clean up after just yourself, do all the chores, etc. But I was pretty used to him driving me everywhere and coming up with some ideas lol.
I was a bit sad not having the reason I'm here actually here with me despite him being a short plane ride away. I realize I was being a bit of a baby about it, but if I wanted to/didn't care about being alone in Japan, I would have made the move here on my own years ago - but that's really something I actively avoided lol.
That being said, it really wasn't that bad, especially because working took up most of my days, and I also tried to ramp up my running/miles during that time. This meant I didn't do anything large that was really fun or exciting on my own - I mostly just drove to and from work, hung out with friends and ate a lot of meals I cooked for myself at home, which I was still a little bit of an adjustment for me despite sounding extremely mundane, so I'm going to give myself a small pat on the back anyway!
A preview of Kawasaki
Our friends were headed over to Kawasaki for dinner and invited us to join them. It was a bit last minute and we didn't have huge plans for it, so I don't have a huge write up for this, but it was my first time in the area, so I wanted to mention it! It was very easy to access, close to Yokohama and it seems like there's a lot of restaurants and shops in the immediate area of the station, so I'm sure we'll go back at some point. For this visit, we mainly just went for dinner at CPK and then walked around a bit before heading home because we had an early morning the next day. 
I also stopped at Kawasaki again for an hour before heading to the airport to meet my husband upon his return, and it really is a nice area! I'm not sure how much there is to do besides shopping and eating, but it does have a lot to offer in those two arenas.
What we're eating
I didn't go out this month as much compared to last month because I was alone for half of it, but we did try a few new places.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) in Kawasaki as mentioned in the Firsts section.
Ramen Kz - I went by myself while my husband was gone! I knew if I ate out on my own, I would want to try a ramen place. Usually really easy to order with a vending machine and typically counter seating so it's not so odd to eat on your own :). This was my first time trying this place!
バーミヤン / Bamiyan, a chain Chinese restaurant. Although I ended up ordering tsukemen and chicken + fries (which I was surprised to see on the menu lol). My husband got some kind of omlette rice with a "thick sauce" with ramen and gyoza set.
Tsukemen Toranoou in Osaka - Mazesoba and Tsukemen
Bamboo Vietnam in Odawara - great service too!
Kitakuriya Ramen - another new ramen place for us!
Nigiri Itcho - we were with friends so I didn't take pictures of much but I didn't eat very much variety anyway lol. This is just another reasonably cheap kaiten-ish sushi place that has a pretty typical selection.
Black Thunder frappe from Family Mart! (I got the wrong straw the first time but fixed it the following 2 4x lmao bc I keep getting them)
Also a few meals hosted by friends! This was my first time hanging out with the group without my husband who is often the life of the party, but I'm really glad I went to both and I think it went pretty well.
Work & miscellaneous life updates
Has it gotten any better?
For my job, I feel a lot more adjusted now, but work is still not as good as it was at home. I think this is to be expected, but it's still a bit of a drag because I did enjoy my previous job a lot. I finally got permission to telework halfway through the month and was able to take 2 full telework days so far. I also had a better work luncheon experience this month compared to the last. It was a smaller group of people at a restaurant and I actually had a seat at a table and was able to talk to others a bit easier/more freely. I felt really good about that after and proud of myself for trying to attend! There will be another bigger one next month that I'm nervous about but feeling slightly more confident each time.
I was happy to continue recording my OOTDs this month, especially as the weather is starting to change. Some days I would barely need a cardigan and some days I figured I would need a coat! I'm glad we're definitely out of the weather range for needing to wear tights for warmth though!
It was also Golden Week at the beginning of the month. I've never been in Japan during this period before (avoided it on purpose when planning travel bc it's supposed to be quite busy), and that also contributed to us going out a little bit less. Lots of restaurants and attractions were quite crowded during this time, but it was nice that places felt very lively. It did also result in quite a few purchases on my part - way more than I should have considering the sale promotions weren't even that good, but I'm really excited about pretty much everything I received, so I can't wait to share that on the blog and actually wear the items irl!
I'll say that I consider this second month to have gone pretty smoothly. Although I'm still adjusting to a lot and I was by myself for half of it, things are starting to feel more mundane and "regular" which is something that's a big positive for me to feel comfortable. I owe this a lot to the friends that my husband made and how welcoming and kind they are all. There's a few events I'm looking forward to over the summer (despite the humidity) and it's in a large part due to them :)
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