We started the month still feelings the highs and lows of running in the Yokohama Marathon just a few days prior, and then went straight into our plans for November, weekend after weekend!
Disneyland with friends
For the first weekend in November, my friend from HI came to visit with his wife (we were at their Iowa wedding celebration in September), both their first times in Japan. Due to some scheduling conflicts, we only had a couple of days to spend with them, but were happy for one of those to be at Disneyland! My husband and I have only been to Tokyo Disneyland for half a day before, so we were happy to have another opportunity, especially with the new Beauty and the Beast ride.
Because my friend and his wife were staying overnight at the Tokyo Disneyland hotel (for 3 nights total) and we were dropping them off, we decided to get a hotel for ourselves as well. We booked ourselves at the Disney Celebration (Discover) hotel which is still a Disney hotel that includes the Happy 15 early access but much farther off property.
Cute adventure/discover theming everywhere. We booked a 2 person room but it also had 2 cot-type beds set up in addition to the 2 twins.
Paid the Disney premium for this less than 12 hour stay, so we made sure we went to check out all the different themed areas we could lol.
This hotel seems super fun for families, especially with smaller children. As long as you don't mind being farther (about a 16 min drive - it's NOT walkable or on the Disney Monorail line, so you'd need to drive yourself or catch the hotel shuttle) but want the Disney experience without the prices of the closer hotels, this is a good option!
Lined up about 45 minutes prior to park opening and only a small crowd in front of us.
We enjoyed this ride! Not enough to ever wait in the typical 120-190 min lines or pay for entry probably, but glad we got a chance first thing in the morning.
We usually like to stay until closer to 20:30 or 21:00, but since my husband and I still had to drive all the way home and work the next morning, we decided to call it a night a bit earlier. Having exhausted all of the rides we were willing to wait in line for (and no fast passes still available), it still felt like a full day somehow, especially with our tired feet lmao. We went to check out a few other food places before exiting, but they were now closed or very crowded, so we took our last photos and said goodbye to Tokyo Disney. This will likely be our last visit while living here!
I usually make Disney trips their own posts, but this one was a little different because we were visiting with friends, following their lead and not so meticulously planned. It's always nice to see Disney with Christmas decor, but the park continues to be crowded - even on a weekday!
Kyushu 6-day trip
We finally made it down to Kyushu for the second weekend in November! I have been wanting to visit this region for so long, and was happy to check out parts of Fukuoka, Beppu (Oita), Kumamoto and Kagoshima. We didn't cover nearly as much as each place has to offer, but happy to explore a bit and have the introduction!
Each location has been blogged separately. Check out the Kumamoto post for the One Piece statues and Kagoshima for all of the Eevee pokelids :)
Yokosuka Seaside Marathon
This event is just simply called "よこすかシーサイドマラソン" but there's no full (26.2mi) distance. The 4 races are a half (13.1mi) marathon, 10k, 3k and 1.8k. My husband and I entered the half marathon. With the timing shortly after the Yokohama Marathon (which we ran on Oct 29), I figured we might as well try this half because we'd already be in shape, and it's another organized race in Kanagawa! This was on the third weekend of the month, so we ran it after returning from Kyushu.
This race was much, much smaller than the Yokohama Marathon and I enjoyed the casual vibe while running (especially just half the distance).
It was a super clear, sunny day in mid-November and we had the BEST view of snowcapped Mt Fuji as we were coming down from the last hill back towards the finish.
I'm actually quite pleased with my official time 1:55:52. I had pinned sub-2 hour as a stretch goal and I'm happy to have cleared it with a little time to spare. With no clocks on the course, including at the finish line, I had no idea how I was doing since I don't check my phone or watch for pace when I run, so I was pleasantly surprised with this result.
My husband finished shortly after me, so I was able to catch him for the last stretch towards the finish as he left it all out there. Like the Yokohama Marathon, no water station or banana at the finish?? but they did provide a bottle of Pocari Sweat. No medal or fanfare really after as well lol. We had gotten our shirt for the race in the mail the week prior with the race packet (bib number and race chip).
Half marathons are much easier than full marathons...so I may be considering trying to get another in before we leave since I know of another in Kanagawa with entry still open :O!
South Korea trip - Seoul
For the last weekend in November, we went on another trip! Timed with the Thanksgiving holiday (unexpectedly also a Japanese holiday also not celebrated the same way), we flew over to Seoul with some of our group of friends and stayed in a hotel in Myeongdong.
More on the trip is here in a separate post, but it was a short vacation with a casual itinerary, so the post was mainly just be for my recollection and a small photo dump rather than any sort of guide or advice.
What we ate
Mama Bhanja
Mendokoro Shinya
Sushi Zanmai (Tsukiji outer market location)
Tonkatsu Wako
Various Tokyo Disneyland foods
Coco Ichibanya
Marugame Udon (Haneda Airport)
Hakata Issho Ramen 博多一双 (Fukuoka)
Hakata Yabu 博多藪 (Fukuoka)
Shin Shin Ramen (Fukuoka)
Komeda Coffee (Fukuoka)
Hotel New Matsumi dinner set (Beppu)
Hotel New Matsumi breakfast set (Beppu)
Aso Milk Factory Restaurant (Kumamoto)
Ajisen World (Kumamoto)
Tengoku (Kumamoto)
Kokutei (Kumamoto)
Ibusuki no Tamatebako ekiben and limited menu items (Kagoshima)
Karen sukiyaki course (Kagoshima)
Ichiniisan (Kagoshima)
白熊果琲 (Kagoshima)
Sukiya
Mendokoro Shinya
Mama Bhanja (carb loading pre-half marathon)
Jolly Pasta (carb loading pre-half marathon)
Assorted restaurant food and street food we ate in Seoul that I intended to keep track of but didn't
Dominos
Itari-an
Personal life/Miscellaneous
The weather somehow still hit the low 70s on some random days throughout the month and felt a bit all over the place. Finally started being coat weather in Kanagawa, but it was so cold in Korea! November outfits are posted here.
Next month, I'll definitely have to be wearing tights for warmth. It really feels like we skipped over the period of fall with the highs in the mid 60s? And I already miss my sunlight in the morning for outfit photos :/
I'm looking forward to doing more casual running for the next month or two while keeping my mileage up and enjoying just getting out there in the cooler (cold? weather). Too bad the sun sets so early, but I'm also getting used to running with a headlamp, so I've been less apprehensive about going out in the dark. Gloves have been a necessity in the last few weeks though!
It was a busy month for us, but lots of fun and new memories. We'll close out the year with a much calmer December heading into the holiday season, and I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit.
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