Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, and if you weren't in any of the big crowds for Blink 182, Paramore, Taylor Swift/Phoebe Bridgers, or the musical festivals happening on along the east coast, you might itching for some live music this week. June means beach season is here and that means beach shows, with Rippers opening this weekend. Plus, Paramore is still in town, playing a pair of shows with Bloc Party, not to mention tour stops by AJJ, Thrice, Panchiko and Young the Giant, and yet another sellout for Bill Joel, who returns to make up December's cancelled show.
If you're new to this sub or just passing through, each week I try to highlight the "best" upcoming rock, punk, indie and alternative shows. I scour the web and social media for concert announcement, booking, rescheduling, etc., and then pick which shows are vying for my time and money (or which would've been if they weren't sold out). This is not intended to be an exhaustive list as there are other non-reddit resources that cast a wider net on live shows, including pop, hip hop and comedy shows, but feel free to add any missing shows using the comments (especially for other genres).
As usual, listed times are approximate start times (not door); prices are estimates for door tickets, and do not include online fees and taxes.

TUESDAY MAY 30

Brutus + Trixie Whitley @ Gramercy Theatre, 7pm ($20)
^LPR15 Panchiko + Horse Jumper of Love + LSD & the Search for God @ (le) poisson rouge, 7:30pm (SOLD OUT)
Paramore + Bloc Party + Genesis Owusu @ Madison Square Garden, 7pm ($185+)
Voice of Gowanus Fundraiser @ Public Records, 7pm ($50+) feat. Yo La Tengo + Marc Ribot + The Martin Bisi Collective
Peppermint + Sheer Curtains + Scout Gillett @ Purgatory, 8pm ($15)

WEDNESDAY MAY 31

Mega Bog + Mary Jane Dunphe + Shallowhalo @ Baby's All Right, 7pm ($15)
Cinema Stare + Leisure Hour + Good Looking Friends + Fear Not Ourselves Alone @ Bar Freda, 8pm ($15)
Leor Miller's Fear of Her Own Desire + Mt. Worry + Fat Trout Trailer Park + Bedridden @ The Broadway, 8:30pm ($15)
Unwed Sailor + Caravela + Spa @ The Kingsland, 8pm ($15)
^LPR15 Panchiko + Horse Jumper of Love + LSD & the Search for God @ (le) poisson rouge, 7:30pm (SOLD OUT)
Paramore + Bloc Party + Genesis Owusu @ Madison Square Garden, 7pm ($185+)
Heart Attack Man + Super American + Arm's Length + Photocopy @ Racket, 7pm ($20)
Bridge City Sinners + Crazy and the Brains @ Saint Vitus, 8pm ($20)
Michael Ian Cummings^{EP release show} + Alex Orange Drink + CUTTTERS + SUO @ The Sultan Room, 8pm ($17)
Pons + Dolly Spartans + Consumables + Bosco Mujo @ Union Pool, 8pm ($15)
AJJ + Oceanator + Gladie @ Webster Hall, 8pm ($25)

THURSDAY JUNE 1

Jelly Kelly^{album release show} + Skorts + Le Big Zero + Brodeo @ ALPHAVILLE, 9pm ($12)
Pride Month Kickoff Party @ Brooklyn Made, 8pm ($20) feat. partygirl + Laura Danae + Monarch + Tula Vera + LEONE
Big Wreck + Mick's Jaguar @ Gramercy Theatre, 7pm ($30)
Atlas Engine + Diary + Lukka + Endearments @ Rubulad, 8:30 ($12)
Tristen + Colatura + BenBen @ The Sultan Room, 8pm ($15)
Thrice ^{The Artist in the Ambulance 20th Anniversary tour} + Holy Fawn @ Terminal 5, 8pm (SOLD OUT)

FRIDAY JUNE 2

Massa Nera + Trophy Hunt + Common Sage @ The Broadway, 9pm ($15)
Onesie ^{"What You Kill" single + music video release show} + Nite Music + The Roulettes @ East Williamsburg Econolodge, 9pm ($5)
Dreamers + Robert DeLong @ Elsewhere - The Hall, 7pm ($25)
Billy Joel @ Madison Square Garden, 8pm (SOLD OUT) ^{Rescheduled from Dec. 19, 2022}
Fenne Lily & Christian Lee Hutson + Why Bonnie @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8pm ($25)
Climates + No Kill + North by North + AK & the Hallucinations @ Our Wicked Lady, 8pm ($15)
Wince + Bleary Eyed + Screenager @ Trans-Pecos, 8pm ($12)
Jeromes Dream + Elizabeth Colour Wheel + Venus Twins @ TV EYE, 8pm ($15)
Gorgeous + Gold Dime + Fred Cracklin + Free Casino @ The Windjammer, 9pm ($15)

SATURDAY JUNE 3

The New Colossus Festival presents Summer Saturdays @ 18th Ward Brewing, 1pm (FREE) feat. The Big Easy + Abby Jeanne + Sara Devoe + Telescope Club
New Pope + Tiers La Familia + parlor walls @ Mama Tried, 4pm (FREE)
Bueno ^{single release show} + Zero Point Energy + Rebecca Ryskalczyk + Scarlet @ ALPHAVILLE, 9pm ($15)
Monarch + The Poster Child + North By North + Amalia Juliane @ Berlin, 7:30pm ($12)
L.O.T.I.O.N. + Multinational Corporation + Abuso de Poder + Abism @ The Broadway, 9pm ($15)
Miracle Sweepstakes + Phantom Handshakes + Harper Love @ East Williamsburg Econolodge, 9pm ($5)
^{LPR15 - IN THE ROUND} Pissing Jeans + Carnivorous Bells + Shop Talk @ (le) poisson rouge, 7:30pm ($20)
Wunderhorse + Glom @ Mercury Lounge, 9:30pm (SOLD OUT)
Young the Giant + Milky Chance + TALK @ Pier 17 - Rooftop, 6pm (SOLD OUT)
Blue Note Jazz Festival Presents Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers + John Scofield + Kenny Garrett + Christian McBride @ Town Hall, 8pm ($60+)
^{Fear City Presents} OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS! - Night 1@ TV EYE, 8pm ($20/30) feat. Baby Shakes + Natalie Sweet + Josephine Network + The Out-Sect + The High Kinks + Civil Rats + Sweat + The Dracu-Las + The Wanderers
Semaphore + Velvet + Percocet @ The Windjammer, 9pm ($15)

SUNDAY JUNE 4

Young the Giant + Milky Chance + TALK @ Pier 17 - Rooftop, 6pm (SOLD OUT)
^{Fear City Presents} OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS! - Night 2@ TV EYE, 8pm ($20/30) feat. Mel Machete + Killer Kin + Vixen 77 + Soraia + Revelatours + Loretta + Tits Dick Ass + WifeKnife + Not All Heroes

My (32M) sister (34F) recently took in two foster kids, a 2yo girl and a 3yo boy. She’s single and doesn’t have many close friends, so respite comes from my parents or weekends with the kids’ grandma. She’s been having a tough time but she also wears this like a badge of honor. My sister is an admirable person who’s always done great work; however, she is not always the easiest to get along with and is quick to criticize. She expects a lot from those around her and demands they live up to those expectations, regardless of the boundaries they establish. Here’s the issue:
I was recently in town for our dad’s birthday. Knowing I wasn’t working while there, my sister asked if I would help her at the kids’ dr appts. Absolutely. After the doctor, we met my parents and other sister for pizza and then went to ice cream. These activities are fun, but as anyone with young children can tell you, especially with rambunctious kids with delayed expressive language, it’s exhausting.
As ice cream wraps up, my sister says something like “thank you so much for helping with bedtime tonight,” volunteering me to help but trying to be funny about it. I hadn’t offered but I knew it’d be helpful so sure, let’s do it. As we’re putting the kids’ pjs on, she turns to me and tells me the child I’m helping needs her diaper changed. “Ok…” I said, hesitating. “You can change her diaper,” she responded. “No, I’m not going to do that.” We went back and forth a few times, during which I told her I’d be happy to switch kids, “no you can change her diaper,” and asked me if I meant ever or just not right now, to which I said not right now. She then called me sexist and said my refusal is really wrong and sexist. I reminded her I didn’t choose this situation, to which she said “you think I chose this?” … literally yes. We argued a bit more but eventually needed to help floss and brush before bed so it was dropped.
A couple nights later, the issue resurfaces. One of the kids needed to be changed, my sister volunteered me again, and again I refused. A similar argument ensued and ends in the same way, I’m sexiest for not changing a diaper.
On the drive to the airport an hour later, my mom shared how upset I made my sister, how she doesn’t feel like her siblings accept the kids and how wrong I was not to help. I love my sister, she’s a wonderfully caring person, but take cover if y’all disagree. I get it’s not a huge deal to change a diaper, but 1) she didn’t ask but demanded I oblige making me defensive and admittedly led me to dig my heels in, and 2) I didn’t want to. I in no way insinuated I would never change diapers or that it’s not a man’s responsibility, but I simply didn’t want to and offered other ways I could help instead, which were turned down. I know she’s going through a lot but f me I just wish she wouldn’t be such a dick when it comes to assuming how others will help her before or without asking.
So Reddit, AITA?

A place for members of TrueAsianAmericans to chat with each other

Finally trying to up my game from my crappy 1% cashback credit union visa. Considering opening a couple new CCs. Thank you in advance for advice!
About me:
-$87k income -720 credit score -Spend $1500/mo avg. on credit cards, about -$500 grocery, $200 restaurants/bars, $100 gas, the rest is misc -Don't hold a balance
What I care about, in order of importance

1. Airport lounge access with at least 6 complimentary passes that can be used with a travel companion. I'm flying out of YVR (Vancouver) and typically go to USA or international, don't fly in Canada much.
   
2. Points towards flights (destinations above). I don't have a preferred airline but I don't want to have to jump through a million hoops to cash my points in or try to figure out complex points conversions like airmiles or Aventura.
   
3. Solid travel insurance including trip cancelation and lost baggage
   
4. (Optional) other travel perks like free checked bags, priority services at YVR airport, upgrades or status etc
   

I don't mind high annual fees if they're worth it. Between me and travel companions, we can likely drink the annual fees in an airport lounge in 2 or 3 trips. 🥂 And all the places I shop take AMEX, so that's not an issue.
Currently looking at AMEX cobalt, Scotia Amex gold, various Aeroplan cards

I just had my honeymoon (originally scheduled for Jun 2020). My wife and I are in our early thirties. It’s my wife’s first time in japan while it’s my fourth. I’ve benefitted immensely from stalking Tokyo travel reddit and would like to return the favour. I’ll provide some of my tips and observations to the end (skip to the end if the itinerary doesn’t interest you), some of which I think haven’t been mentioned before.
Thank God pretty much everything went to plan, and my wife thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We spent 12 days in Japan, most of it in Tokyo and 2 nights in Kawaguchiko. Many people were surprised to know that we’d be spending most of our trip in Tokyo, but I thought it was just fine because Tokyo had a lot to offer. My wife and I aren’t big on visiting shrines or ticking tourist hotspots off a checklist. We don’t shop much, but we did a lot of it simply because it’s Japan and we bought lots of quality-of-life items (not fashion) for ourselves and others. Given how much my wife really enjoyed the trip, I think others with similar interests could find something helpful too.
Pre-trip planning

• Other than the hotel & flights, I booked the highway express bus to Kawaguchiko one week prior.
• Decided on the airport limousine bus to bring us from the airport to the city a few days prior.
• Studio Ghibli tickets booked one month in advance. International tickets were quickly sold out, so we used a free VPN to get onto the Japanese site which had more tickets & timings available. Simply Google translate the entire page.
• Booked a cooking class on cookly months prior.
• Did Visit Japan QR two days prior. It takes some time so do it earlier rather than later.
• Added all places of interests in a Google list, and all food places in another Google list. I tried the custom Google maps at first but didn’t feel the UI was easy to navigate.
• Planned itinerary based on location proximity, and also highlighted parts that were interchangeable in case we wanted to switch it up (which we did).

Planning during the trip

• The Google maps foods list was always just for consideration: if we had time or were craving something. We didn't hard-code food places into our daily plans. But when food was the primary activity (e.g. visiting Tsukiji market), we'd determine to visit particular food stalls. Otherwise, just needed to do a cursory Google review check on whether a random food place is worth eating it. As a principle, we didn't want to spend time unnecessarily queuing for food.
• I'd plan the next day's itinerary the night before, considering fatigue, interest, and proximity. I would create a brand new Google maps list for the next day, including potential food places.

Day 0 (Wed) - Arrival at Shinjuku Airport- Arrived in Haneda late, about 11. Clearance was quick but baggage took 30mins. I had no choice but to cancel my airport limousine and take the metro to our hotel in Shinjuku.- I tried Apple wallet’s Suica at first. It worked seamlessly but felt that a physical metro card was just faster so I eventually switched over.- Reached after midnight, so do let your hotel know in advance if you anticipate arriving at odd hours.
Day 1 (Thurs) - Shinjuku exploration- Originally planned to visit Tsukiji on day 1, but given that we arrive late the previous night, agreed with my wife to change the plan and spend the first day doing the Shinjuku itinerary.

• Walked to a popular Tsukumen place at 11. Queued for 20mins and it was an interesting experience as there were lines of people standing right behind watching you eat. Wife said it was her best Tsukumen ever!
• Sekaido for art & stationary supplies: My wife does art so it was a haven for her. We spent a few hours there!
• Tokyu Hands Shinjuku: but two floors were under renovation.
• Omoide Yokocho: A quick walkthrough. Many tourists.

Day 2 (Fri) - Kappabashi St., Fabric Town, Akihabara

• Kappabashi Dougu Street: looked at kitchen supplies and to find a nice knife! (Do research on what knife you need beforehand).
• Fabric Town: My wife just passed a seamstress exam so she eagerly anticipated visiting fabric town, we spent a few hours in Tomato.
• Akihabara (Animate, Bic Camera, Gyukatsu Don): It was drizzling the entire day so it was not the most comfortable lugging that many bags around a wet Akihabara in the evening. Wife wasn’t interested but I wanted to let her experience this unique culture. Had dinner at a popular gyukatsu don (beef cutlet that you’d have to cook yourself). It was fantastic and I had never eaten it. But it was a long one hour wait.

Day 3 (Sat) - Cooking class in Shinjuku, Shibuya

• Private cooking class in Shinjuku: Our host was great! We were invited into his cosy house and he taught us how to make Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, and a Japanese salad. My wife absolutely loved the experience of getting to know a local and understanding his life story, Japanese culture, and some of his horror stories of guests. We got more food recs from him to understand where the locals really ate at.
• Shibuya 109: Paid $5 for a drink to have a bird’s eye view of the Shibuya crossing. It was Saturday so the people crossing was at its full force. Even if you think this is touristy, it’s amazing to see that many people like little ants crossing a street. There are several nice locations here to take some artsy shots.
• Ishibashi Music Shibuya: absolutely loved the vibe in this music store. Back home, I’ve been thinking about getting a particular keyboard but never got a chance to try it. I was able to play this particular one undisturbed and feel totally comfortable. Bought a few Japan exclusive guitar picks as gifts.
• Shibuya Tokyu Hands: This was amazing. I thought Shinjuku Tokyu Hands was the flagship store. So I only stumbled into this because I urgently needed to pee and someone said Tokyu hands had toilets. We were confused as its name was rebranded to simple Hands with a new logo. IF you only have time to visit one Tokyu Hands, visit the Shibuya one. Each floor had 2 sub-floors so that’s a ton of floors! Lots of quality-of-life improvements one could get from this store. My wife got a buckwheat pillow.
• Shibuya Loft: After Sekaido, I didn’t think there was much to look at. But Loft was very different. Similar to Tokyu hands but seems more modern and fashionable. Worth visiting together with Tokyu hands! It also had packaged food available! It was late and my wife and I concluded that we didn’t have to to explore all the floors and that we’d return to Shibuya again.

Day 4 (Sun) - Komazawa Church, Harajuku, Shibuya

• Church in Komazawa: not a tourist activity, but we linked up with some partners from our home church and attended service at a little church held in a nursery. It was an amazing and encouraging experience.
• Harajuku: Way too crowded. I had anticipated this as it was a Sunday, but thought to just try. Takeshita street was so packed my wife feared there would be a trample risk (it wasn’t that bad). We did queue 20mins for pretty tasty crepe. After checking out all the recommended streets (e.g. cat street, uru-harajuku), my wife simply felt that she couldn’t stand the Harajuku crowd and the vibes. So we decided to go back to Shibuya again!
• Shibuya JINS: I didn’t mention this but previously in Shinjuku and Shibuya, I had been checking out recommended optical shops in the vicinity. I had something in particular in mind. Japanese-made glasses are highly-rated, but I couldn’t find something at the right price-point. At JINS, I found a design I liked. Though not made in Japan, it cost me less than 5000 yen. Took them 1 hour to make it. For some reason I loved the vibes at Shibuya, and I earmarked it to return again later.

Day 5 (Mon) - Tsukiji Market, Ginza Muji/Uniqlo, Tokyo station

• Tsukiji market: wanted to arrive before 8 and was 30m late. But the crowds weren’t that bad either. Everything we tried was lovely. Potato/corn fishcakes, strawberry mochi, tamago, wagyu beef, uni inarisushi, unagi. But the star was Masa burger, which we waited till 11am to try. By then, the tourist buses had come and the streets were packed. But Masa burger was in a corner and we were their first customers. We tried fried codfish burger + homemade ginger ale. Both were was so well done and the burger was packed with such fresh and interesting salads! It was so good we had it twice.
• Ginza Uniqlo/Muji: we wanted to take a look at some of Uniqlo’s exclusive items. Apparently they do have exclusive t-shirts for each region (e.g. Harajuku, Shibuya, Ginza). They tend to be collaborations with well-known food places in the area. However, they were always white in colour and not made-in-japan-quality. Muji was a disappointment, not a lot more than the usual.
• Tokyo Station Ghibli & Tenugui: Went to Tokyo station to check out the Ghibli store and to look for a particular traditional tenugui (Japanese towels) store as my wife were hunting these down to give as gifts.
• Shinjuku Ichiran & Mister Donut: We returned to Shinjuku for Ichiran ramen, specifically at 5+pm. No crowds at all. Yummy! We then saw a Mister Donut, and recalled news in our home country that when it first opened, people queued 5 hours for it. We thought to try it to see what the fuss was all about. Cash only, but the donuts were wonderfully textured and not too sweet. My wife doesn’t like sweet stuff, but mister donut really hit the sweet spot (no pun intended).

Day 6 (Tue) - Tokyo National Museum, Fabric town revisit, Akihabara revisit, Ochanomizu

• Tokyo National Museum: We had a good time learning about Japan’s early history, and discovered that so much that we know of Japan resulted from Chinese/korean influence.
• Fabric town & Akihabara revisit, Ochonomizu: We decided that this was likely the right time to go back for items we missed out on or didn’t have time to see. My wife went to fabric town while I went to Akihabara’s Yodaibashi camera, which I felt to be better and with more varied things than Bic Camera. I then went to Ochanomizu to look at more music and sport shops. We met up again at Shinjuku for another Gyukatsu Don before heading to mister donuts again.

Day 7 (Wed) - Shinjuku Gyoen Garden, Mori Museum, Ginza Wakamatsu, Shinjuku

• Shinjuku Gyoen Garden: lovely large garden grounds. We spent almost an hour just lying under a tree and watching clouds float by. Wife was doing some rough sketches of the garden. We had mister donuts from last night for breakfast.
• Mori Museum: Saw the exhibition of Heatherwick studios, which was inspiring and educational. Paid for the rooftop access to have a quick view of Tokyo from 50-ish floors up.
• Ginza Wakamatsu: Because of one of the Uniqlo-ginza-exclusive t-shirts, my wife was curious about this traditional Japanese dessert. So we gave it a check and realised it’s been around for more than a century. There was a short line (mainly Japanese elderly). The shop interior transported us back decades. It felt surreal eating a dessert that the Japanese ate centuries ago. It’s certainly doesn’t excite and overwhelm one’s taste buds immediately as modern desserts do. But there’s an old charm to it.
• Shinjuku Okadaya fabric: Returned to Shinjuku as my wife wanted to check out another of their famous fabric stores. Prices were more expensive than fabric town, but somewhat different items.

Day 8 (Thurs) - Kawaguchiko

• Bus to Kawaguchiko: Packed light to Kawaguchiko, and forwarded our remaining luggage to our post-Kawaguchiko hotel in Tamachi. The Shinjuku hotel staff were very helpful. I was merely inquiring on how luggage forwarding was done, but he picked up the phone, called my Tamachi hotel to confirm the booking, and prepared the documents for me. All I had to do was roll my luggage the next night to them and make payment. Booked a 7:45am bus to Kawaguchiko and managed to catch a glimpse of Mount Fuji when we were on our way there!
• Cycling In Kawaguchiko: We lugged our bags to our hotel and headed out again. My wife was quite hesitant about cycling overseas and I was also worried it’d tire her out too much. I debated between cycling or simply taking the sight-seeing bus. Eventually felt it worth it. We unexpectedly walked by an e-bike place and decided - why not? Neither of us had tried an e-bike before and that could reduce the effort required for my wife. So we did and boy was it fun! It took a while to get used to the e-bike but it really reduced a lot of effort up the hills! I barely sweat. Kawaguchiko had pretty narrow roads so it wasn’t the easiest to cycle. But I had plenty of road-cycling experience back at home so I was not very deterred. We borrowed helmets from the e-bike place but saw that we were the only tourists that wore them.
• Kubota Itchiku Art Museum: Cycled here knowing that this museum would interest my wife. It had a garden that was free entry and it was beautiful! The pond had a singular vibrant-coloured Koi swimming in it. The Museum requires tickets. My wife was so enthralled by it. I was kinda sick of museums so I told her I’d wait for her outside. Wife took about 45m inside and even bought a heavy hard-cover book of Itchiku Kubota’s kimono art :/
• Momiji Corridor: was just 50m away. Still beautiful with only green leaves, but I’d imagine it would be majestic in Autumn/Spring.
• Oishi Park: Many beautiful flowers! It’s a pity that it had been cloudy the entire day, and Mt Fuji was not visible. That would have made the cycle perfect. Park was crowded with tourists.

Day 9 (Fri) - Fuji Q Highlands, Shimoyoshida Honcho St, Batting Cage
Planning for Fuji Q & Morning Jog: I didn’t plan to go to Fuji-Q highlands before the trip. Always felt it a bit of a waste to visit amusement parks overseas. That’s until I realised that Fuji Q had some of the most exciting, (I mean world-record-holding) rollercoasters in the world. Perhaps not anymore, but that intrigued me enough, because most amusement parks only had 1-2 coasters. Problem was that wife is terrified, and she said cycling on the streets of Kawaguchiko was like a coaster ride for her. So I decided I would reach at opening time, and buy time by paying for the fast passes and try their top three coasters. The night before, we felt that we had to make decisions on our itinerary as it was our last day at Kawaguchiko. If Mt Fuji wasn’t visible, go to Oshino Hakkai, if it was, we could try going to Shimoyoshida to get a nice picture.

• I took a morning jog that morning and my jaw dropped when I saw Mount Fuji towering over Kawaguchiko. I raced back to tell my wife (about 6am) and we both trekked up to a viewing spot to enjoy the view. This made it more urgent to not spend too much time at Fuji Q as we didn’t know how long Mt. Fuji would be visible for.
• Fuji-Q Highlands: Was absolutely amazing. Yes, I blew a lot of cash here buying fast passes for the three available coasters. But they were some of the craziest coasters. Took Eejanaika, Fujiyama and Takabisha. Total time it took probably a little more than 1 hour with the express passes. It was so good but so fast; I have little memory of it, except that there was a 90 degree climb to the top for Takabisha and I had a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji while climbing to the supposed world record of 79m for Fujiyama (this was 2 days before the news reported that Fujiyama got stuck in the middle of a ride and the people in the carts had to climb down :o). Had more time to take a few other rides, and enjoyed all the Naruto statues around for fun photo-taking. What I really enjoyed about the park was that it was mostly filled with Japanese tourists; in fact, there was a Japanese school having an outing there. It was nice to see excited students running about.
• Shomoyoshida Honcho St: This destination was simply to take the famous street view of Mount Fuji with Japanese shops lined in the foreground. It’s not easy to get to, and there was quite a walk. We noticed there weren’t much people around, and most shops were closed. But when we reached the destination, there were many tourists right at the particular traffic light. So much so there was a grumpy Japanese traffic police person managing the crowd. We saw the worst of tourists that day. People were disobeying traffic laws and just running in the middle of the road just to get a shot. We chanced upon a hidden udon shop and it felt like we were transported back to the 50’s! It was super old school, people sat on raised platforms, and several elderly customers were watching the tele while eating. There was only one udon option available, with free cabbage top-ups. We learnt that the shop had been around for 73 years.
• Batting Cage: I had never played baseball/softball and my home country doesn’t have a baseball culture. Yet I had seen batting cages in Japanese drama and always wanted to try. Loved it! My technique was probably pretty bad! I did well at first but as I tried faster balls, I tired out and failed to hit any haha. We ended the day eating ramen outdoors with a view of Mount Fuji.

Day 10 (Sat) - Kichijoji, Ghibli Museum, Kichijoji Jazz bar
Woke up before sunrise for a run and to attempt to catch a sunrise picture of Mount Fuji. Streets were completely empty. Even ran to the famous Kawaguchiko Lawson for a picture. Headed back for an onsen bathe (note: we never used the hotel bathroom, and always went for an onsen bath throughout our stay in Kawaguchiko). Took a 7am bus to return to Shinjuku.

• Kichijoji: Arrived at Kichijoji at about 10. Wife really loved the vibes there. We we tried the Tsukuba suisan fish cakes which were really tasty, and my wife was intrigued that a line had formed at the adjacent store named Ozasa. Apparently they sell traditional Japanese desserts and locals would go there as early as 5am to get a ticket. So we queued and managed to get three boxes worth of the snacks! Tried the Amane Taiyaki fish-shaped bean paste snacks, another traditional dessert. It was a small lovely old shop.
• Ghibli Museum: Requires a long walk through Inokashira park. Ghibli was fantastic. Many people have been saying recently that it’s over-rated, and that it doesn’t cater to foreign crowds and most things are in Japanese. We similarly struggled with that at first. But we found out that if you asked the staff, they actually had English language exhibition booklets ready for every exhibition! That was a revelation. And we managed to understand almost all the exhibitions by asking the uniformed staff (except the short film, which had minimal dialogue anyway). I mentioned this to one foreign group and they were really grateful for that. But I saw that many other foreigners that probably came earlier were just bored or simply going crazy at the Ghibli shop. My wife bought the museum book (which also has English explanations of each exhibit), and we understood Miyazaki’s vision for the museum - to make it suitable for kids and adults, with no pre-determined route, allowing for play, exploration, to help people be inspired by the artists’ process. Through that, we saw that everything in the museum was intentionally designed, all of the exhibitions, cafe, shop, and garden. Reading that helped me appreciate and enjoy the museum much more.
• Roaming Kichijoji and Some Time Jazz bar: My wife and I split up to roam kichijoji. I checked out some sports shops and saw that their prices were lower than Ochanomizu. We reconvened for dinner at Sometime Jazz bar. I’m picking up Jazz piano but had never been to a jazz bar. Booked it one day before, but was sad that our table position only allowed us to see some of the drummer and the pianist’s expression. Still, it was a very cool place and we had a wonderful time. We only sat through the first half of the performance that night. Note that there are seating charges, so that + dinner added up to quite a lot. But we rationalised that this was akin to paying for a performance. Checked into our hotel in Tamachi.

Day 11 (Sun) - Tokyo Sky Tree, Shinjuku, Back to Kichijoji, Shibuya
It was a crazy day where we simply hit the places we wanted to revisit regardless of proximity. Headed to Tokyo Skytree in the morning to check out another Ghibli store. If you’re not going to the Ghibli museum, this is probably the best store available. Headed to Shinjuku to try curry udon, then to Kichijoji to try satou beef balls and dangos and to make some purchasing decisions on some sports equipment. Then we ended up at Shibuya (my favourite place!) to the mega Don Quijote and Tokyu Hands to shop for gifts for others. It was a lovely end to our trip!
Day 12 (Mon) - Back home
Best trip ever, says my wife.
Tips for travellers

• Spread out your itinerary: I originally planned to front-load all the must-see tourist stuff and leave the remaining days for shopping. But in May, Ghibli Museum was closed for two weeks so we had no choice but to schedule it at the end of the trip. That was a better arrangement. It felt that each day was distinctly different, and we could remember the highlight of each day. Also, be specific about where you want to go. Don’t simply put locations like - Visit Harajuku, or visit Shibuya crossing.
• Plan your itinerary in consideration of weekend crowds: Places like Tsujiki market, Ghibli Museum, Fuji-Q Highlands and other stuff are likely going to be very crowded on weekends. If you want to shop in Harajuku or Shibuya, try to avoid weekends. I opted to put the cooking class and ‘less-exciting’ Museums on weekends.- Use your telco’s roaming or get an e-sim: My wife and I split up on several occasions, so we already knew the pocket wifi was out of the question.
• Carry more cash than you think you need: In my experience, the cash-to-card ratio was about 40:60. Considering that all metro card top-ups require cash, you really need more cash that necessary. Sometimes even bigger restaurants are cash only.
• Bring foldable tote bags, and use lockers where necessary: If you’re buying stuff, packing them in tote bags makes it easier. Bigger shops will charge you for bags. All stations likely have lockers and they are really affordable and convenient.
• Travel light by planning to do laundry: I only brought four sets of clothing, and we did laundry every 3-4 days or so. It’s really convenient, about 200 yen per 30m wash, and another 200 yen for a 1h dry. It’s worthwhile to check if your hotel has coin laundry available.
• Buy wisely: Many people say the kind of things available at places like Don Quijote or Uniqlo are mind-blowing. Fact is, most of them are made in China or elsewhere. Almost 95% of the items we saw in Daiso were made in China. In fact, many items in Kappabashi street were made in China. You’re more likely to get value for money by buying a made in Japan item. Sometimes the shop will highlight if a product is Japan made. But other times, you have to scrutinise the fine print. Learn to look out for these three words in Kanji: 日本製. This is where the camera function of Google translate is immensely helpful. This was not available or widely publicised when I last visited Japan years back in 2016, so use this tech to your advantage and scrutinise the fine print!
• Plan your toilet trips if possible: If you know you’re headed to low-rise areas like Tsujiki, Fabric town where it’s just shop after shop, it’s going to be hard to find a toilet. Make sure you relieve yourself beforehand at the train station. But if you still need to go, try to find a multi-storey building and chances are, there’ll be toilets available there.
• Avoid queuing for food by timing right: In general, I found that most popular food places that required queuing had queues mainly consisting of foreigners. I wonder if this is because of the reddit/youtube/google maps review effect (not a lot of Japanese review on Google I think). Simply put, almost all food places open at 11am, so be there at 11, or have early dinner at 5pm and perhaps you may avoid the queuing.
• Scrutinise Google maps to figure out the different train types: for daily travel, there are local, rapid, and express trains. Local trains stop at every station. Rapid skips a few, and express trains likely only stops at key location. They make a big difference to travel time, and to your comfort. When Google maps recommends a route, scrutinise the detail to ensure what kind of train they are recommending. It gets confusing at the station as the platforms on your left and right may end up at the same location, but one could be a local train and the other an express train.
• Learn just 2 essential phrases: I know it may feel weird to some, but just learn to say thank you in Japanese (arigato gozaimasu). The other essential word is - summimasen - excuse me/sorry. Useful for if you need to exit a crowded train, or if you need to get someone’s attention. We survived with just these two phrases. As our cooking teacher told us - it’s better to say something in Japanese than say nothing at all. For the rest, you can use Google translate app’s picture function.
• Other misc tips: as mentioned, bring trash bags. Some shops explicitly tell you not to walk around and eat their food. So the solution is to finish the snack in front of the shop, and say, “summimasen, can you help me to throw this trash?” That helped us avoid carrying trash around a lot. As a traveller, you’re gonna get a lot of carbs (a bowl of udon + a bowl of rice....?) and fried food. Try to go to the basements of shopping centres and get yourself some fruits. Also, if you exercise regularly like me, you'd be concerned about getting some exercise. I did pre-trip research on pools/gyms/parks to visit. But visited none of them. I settled with a daily morning routine of 100 squats and 100 pushups. That and walking an average of 18k steps daily helped. I actually lost some weight somehow.

Observations

• Drinking culture in Japan: we saw quite a few drunk people in the streets. Some of them at the parks. I had never really seen drunkards much in my home country (it could be because I don’t stay out late). When we walked by a bar area with our cooking instructor, he told us some of the people in them had been there overnight.
• The Japanese sleep late: when we arrived, we were still on the train to our hotel at 11:50pm. But the train was still packed with salarymen in suits and many others. In fact, it seemed the later it was, the more crowded the trains.
• Foreigner influx and how they stick out: there were way more foreigners this time than the last I visited Japan. I tended to feel very uncomfortable when large groups of foreigners were around. I had to tell myself not to be hypocritical as I was a foreigner myself. But I suppose one reason is that there were many inconsiderate foreigners. Speaking loudly, making brash comments, and just not behaving like visitors. We saw a foreign couple locked in a head-to-toe embrace on a picnic mat in a park full of families. And they chose a spot right next to the footpath. Many foreigners also leave unkind Google reviews for places just because it’s not up to their expectations. I get it, we worked for our holiday and are paying customers, and there is often an innate tendency to feel entitled or complain when something isn’t up to our expectations. But I think it helps to remember that we are like visitors in someone’s home. Be self-aware, don’t speak loudly, note the traffic customs, where to stand on the escalators, how to behave etc.
• Japanese men have great hair: the Japanese men’s hairstyle feels frozen in time. I didn’t see the typical Korean-inspired center-parted hairstyles in Asian guys nowadays. And balding men were a small minority somehow. As someone whose hairline is slowly receding, I was envious to see many Japanese men have wavy long hair deep into their 60-70s! My wife commented that the women's hairstyles were more or less the same - dyed, curled etc. But the men were rocking so many styles!
• Physical shopping still matters: as the days went by, my wife and I began to covet the "made-in-Japan" label, we realised that we hadn't done such window shopping in years since online shopping became prevalent. I also recall people commenting that you could get these goods online anyway, so why bother shopping in Japan. Well, window shopping makes comparison easy, it allows you to ask for recommendations, and enables you to know the items's size, feel, and look on you (if buying fashion items). It also makes discovery of new items possible. I'm not a huge shopper or a foodie, but in Japan, it's worth it to be one. I suppose it's a blessing in disguise that our honeymoon got delayed 3 years, as we now know our post-marriage lifestyles and the items we'd need in the kitchen/around the house.

I've decided not to mention the specific food places as far as possible because I think there's more than enough recommendations available. But if you'd like to know the names, feel free to ask!

I live in Morristown, NJ and decided to commute to my internship at American Express in NYC downtown this summer to save as much of my salary as I can. (Especially since I’m hoping to get my own place in Jersey City or Brooklyn postgrad and want to save as much beforehand).
Any tips for commuting/making the most out of this summer? The only really sucky part is the 1.5 hour commute I have but luckily I have a lot of friends from out of state who are living there who said I can crash from time to time if needed.

Just got back from 10 days in Japan and wanted to type up a trip report to hopefully help others that are trying to plan a trip!
Our trip was 5/16 - 5/28 including travel days. This was my 2nd time in Japan (first time was study abroad for 5 weeks in May/June 2016), but it was my mom & sister's first time, so the goal was to include as many must-see activities as we possibly could in the short time we were there. Our days were packed to the brim however all 3 of us are fairly active and healthy so despite being absolutely exhausted by the end of each day, in retrospect we wouldn't have changed a thing in our itinerary.
That being said, our itinerary would be much too busy for the average person's first trip to Japan so keep that in mind if you use this information to plan your own trip. For example, we usually only had time to sit down and eat for one meal per day and had to eat on the go for the other meals in order to have enough time to go to all the places we wanted to go to. There was very little downtime in our trip.

Tourist Tips

• Luggage
  • We each traveled with 2 checked luggage since they were included in our flight. I had one full sized suitcase and one slightly smaller suitcase which both only had one side filled when I left the US. The plan was to fill the other half of the suitcases with souvenirs to bring home. Last time I went to Japan, it cost me ~$200 to ship two large boxes of souvenirs back home, so despite having to bring a lot of luggage this saved me a significant amount of money and I will be doing this for future trips as well.
  • Within our luggage we also packed a duffel bag to hold all our purchases on heavy shopping days and a daily backpack to hold things like our trash bag, hand towel, hand sanitizewet wipes, body wipes, small purchases, etc. My carry-on was a 40L backpack that I took with us when we stayed overnight in Kyoto.
• Money
  • I brought $400 cash to exchange at the airport. I had gotten a Charles Schwab debit card before leaving which has no foreign transaction/ATM fees so I planned to use my card for whatever purchases I could then use cash for everything else. I ended up withdrawing another ¥20000 which was just enough cash to last me the rest of our trip.
• Walking
  • Last time I went to Japan I survived wearing flat gladiator sandals basically the whole trip, but this did NOT work this time around for whatever reason (I guess we walked a lot more this time?). BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES TO WALK IN. I ended up having to buy sneakers on day 2 because I stupidly didn't think I would need them. I was more concerned about looking cute for pictures (ha) but I quickly realized that all the girls in Japan wear sneakers with their cute skirts and dresses, so I blended right in. I would also recommend bringing a second pair of shoes with you each day (in your backpack) to swap into if the shoes you are wearing start giving you blisters.
• Masking
  • We saw a lot of people not wearing masks, but the majority of people still wear masks. I would say the ratio of people wearing masks to not wearing masks was about 80:20.
• Trash
  • As many have mentioned on this subreddit, due to the lack of public trash bins I would highly recommend bringing a reusable trash bag to store your trash while you're out and about until you can find a bin. We found these cool black fabric ones with a waterproof liner on the inside that you could rinse out when it got dirty and could clip to the outside of your backpack so it wasn’t with your other belongings.
• Restrooms
  • Due to the lack of hand dryers/paper towels in bathrooms we also brought hand towels as recommended, but found ourselves just air drying our hands way more often than using the hand towels as it was often more cumbersome to remove our backpacks and fish out our hand towels to use.

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Accommodations

• Sakura Hotel Jimbocho in Tokyo
  • I stayed in this hostel when I studied abroad in college in 2016, so it holds a special place in my heart. You can get a single room here for cheap, and although the rooms are extremely small, I don’t travel to Japan to spend time in my hotel so when looking for accommodations price is my #1 factor, not comfort. Toilets and showers are shared in this hostel and the rooms are set up coming off of a square hallway with sinks/restroom facilities in the center. The facilities don’t appear to be very modern and pretty, but the water pressure of the showers is the BEST. They have other room types as well, like bunk-beds, double rooms, etc. They have a 24 hour cafe downstairs and breakfast is included in your stay. All their staff speak English & Japanese (and other languages as well). They host some cool events like language exchanges and walking/jogging groups if you are more of a social person. I really enjoy the location of this hostel. You are within walking distance from the Imperial Palace and it still feels like you are in the city without it being so loud and busy like if you were to stay in Shibuya, etc. They do have other locations if you’re looking for somewhere with more nightlife.
• The Millennials Hostel in Kyoto
  • This is a really modern looking hostel in Kyoto, 2 streets over from Pontocho. The facilities are gorgeous and look brand new. They are set up similar to a capsule style hotel with a bunch of rooms coming off a hallway. Your bed takes up your entire space, and you have about 18 inches at the foot of your bed to stand. You pull an opaque privacy screen down to make your room private - there is no door. You can control your bed’s incline and lights through an iPhone in your room. There is storage space under your bed and on a shelf above your bed. Restrooms are shared but the showers are in one room and toilets in another. There are a lot of shared common spaces including a full stocked kitchen you can cook your meals in, but we literally only stayed here to sleep so we didn’t explore those spaces. I was worried about other guests being noisy but that wasn’t the case - everyone was super respectful. The price and location was great so I would definitely come back here.

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Daily Itinerary

Day 1 & 2: Travel

• We flew out of Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Our direct flight to Narita was around $1600 after taxes, fees, and flight insurance. I had one layover the last time I flew to Japan and in the future I will only be buying a direct flight as I found this to be way easier than having a layover.
• Once we arrived in Narita we turned on our e-sim. We chose Ubigi after reading many positive reviews on this subreddit and I highly recommend them. We had some issues getting iMessage to work despite following Ubigi's instructions to a T, so we ended up just using WhatsApp to message during the trip, however, iMessage did start working later on.
• We decided against picking up our JR passes & seat reservations at the airport because the line was long and we didn't need them for another 5 days.
• Going through customs/immigration and grabbing our luggage only took about 20-30 minutes. There were many staff to guide you and we found the whole process to be really smooth.
• We exchanged our currency and went downstairs to buy our tickets for Narita Express at a ticket vending machine. We got round trip tickets for ¥3460 (keep in mind that the return ticket needs to be used within 14 days). We had purchased our Suica before leaving and put them in our iPhone wallets and they came with a balance of ¥2000 so we didn't load money onto our cards until the following day.
• We took the Narita Express to Tokyo Station then took a cab to our hostel in Jimbocho. We each traveled with 2 checked luggage, so we found the short and inexpensive taxi ride to be a better option than lugging 6 giant suitcases on local trains to get to our hostel.
• We checked into our hostel. The total price per person for 11 nights was ¥49500 (about $380).

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Day 3: Imperial Palace/Ueno

• We woke up and walked to the Imperial Palace/East Gardens. We got there right when they opened and spent about 90 minutes there. We walked back to Jimbocho to go to my favorite tempura place in Jimbocho. This place has gotten quite famous since I was last there in 2016. We were first in line at 10:45am and by the time they opened for lunch at 11:30, there was a line of 20+ people. Our lunch cost only ¥800.
• After lunch we took the train to Ueno and spent some time in the Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Park. We also visited Shinobazu No Ike Bentendo Temple which is a cool temple right inside Ueno Park. While at Ueno Station, we picked up our JR passes & seat reservation tickets and also put ¥5000 on our Suica. We really enjoyed the fact that you could charge your mobile suica at a convenience store using cash - we didn’t have to worry about finding the machines in train stations with the phone holders.
• After that we walked through Ameyoko and did some shopping - I bought a super cute used Coach purse for around $65. Ameyoko seemed to have a lot more products than when I was there in 2016… but I also had more money this time around so maybe I was just paying more attention!
• We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and change. We took a train to Shinjuku to go to New York Grill for our dinner reservation. New York Grill is on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt hotel in Shinjuku and the views were incredible. We got the Spring Harvest 5-course dinner which included wagyu and it was easily the best beef I have ever eaten in my life - so juicy and buttery. The cost was ¥23100 per person (~$175).
• 25,138 steps on this day.

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Day 4: Shibuya/Akihabara

• We woke up and took a train to Shibuya to see Hachiko, go to the Starbucks near Shibuya Crossing, and shop at Shibuya109 and Uniqlo. It was hard for me to find any clothing that would fit me at the stores in Shibuya109 (I am a US 8/10 which is basically considered plus size in Japan) however I was able to find a cute t-shirt at Punyu's in Shibuya109 and two dresses at Uniqlo. I also bought sneakers at the Skechers store.
• I also went to the Mega Don Quijote in Shibuya and spent about $102 on candy and snacks to bring home. Lots of fun KitKat flavors here but it was very crowded and hard to walk around with my extremely full baskets.
• We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and had a quick lunch via conbini.
• We took a train to Akihabara and bought some souvenirs and gachapon, and walked all the way back to Ameyoko where I spent another $90 on candy and snacks to bring home.
• We took a train back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags and change. We took a train to Ginza to go to Tempura Kondo for dinner (a Michelin starred tempura restaurant). We got the Yomogi dinner which was ¥23100 per person (¥25410 after fees, ~$195). The staff were amazing - they noticed that my sister was left-handed and set up her plates/silverware as such which was really observant. We loved the dinner, however there was WAY too much food for us; the staff recognized we were starting to get full, and asked us if we would be able to eat the next course which was ten-don. I was really concerned about being disrespectful and wasting food, so I was really glad that they noticed and asked!
• 19,445 steps on this day.

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Day 5: Asakusa/Ginza/Omoide Yokocho

• We woke up and took a train to Asakusa to see Sanja Matsuri. We shopped at the small souvenir shops on Nakamise-dori and had street food at the festival for lunch. I bought an awesome goshuincho here with a wooden cover and foxes on it.
• After being completely overstimulated, we took a train to Rikugi-en Garden to escape the crowds. This garden is a little off the beaten path, just outside the big city, but it is completely gorgeous and so worth the trip.
• After the garden, we took a train to Ginza to window shop and go to our reservation at Higashiya Ginza for wagashi & tea pairing. We had 5 wagashi paired with 5 teas that were amazing. It cost ¥4500 per person.
• After this, we walked to Mitsukoshi Ginza to explore the basement food floor and grab dinner. They start to discount the food as the stores near closing time, so going for a late dinner can save you a couple yen! After eating on their rooftop terrace which was beautiful, we walked to Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris Marunouichi to grab dessert then headed back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags.
• After we ate, we took a train to Shinjuku to walk down Omoide Yokocho. We had a drink on the third floor of Bar Albatross - highly recommend! The alleyway is a lot shorter than I imagined, and very crowded as you would expect. I probably wouldn’t go back here in the future but I am glad we visited!
• 25,002 steps on this day.

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Day 6: Harajuku

• We woke up and took a train to Harajuku to visit Meiji Shrine and got our first goshuin.
• After visiting the shrine, we walked back to Takeshita-dori to get lunch at Afuri Ramen. They’re known for their ramen with yuzu in their broth and this was one of our favorite meals during our trip. We got there about 20 minutes before they opened and were ~8th in line. By the time they opened, the line was stretching around the building!
• We walked down Takeshita-dori and shopped, then went to our reservation at Mipig Cafe (mini pig cafe). This place was so cute! You can make reservations for 30 minutes or 1 hour where you sit on the floor and miniature pigs will come and sit on your lap. You weren’t allowed to pick the pigs up and the staff were super kind and handled the pigs well. A 30 minute reservation was ¥1800 per person.
• After the pigs, we walked down Omotesando and took the train to Shinjuku to get dinner on the food floor at Isetan.
• After we ate on the rooftop terrace (beautiful once again), we headed back to our hostel to drop off our shopping bags. We took the train to Shibuya to go to our reservation at Shibuya Sky. We got the package where you get an admission ticket including a 50 minute reservation for the sofa seats and a choice of a mini bottle of champagne or 2 beers per person, which cost ¥5900 per person. The views were unreal and I recommend reserving the sofa seats so you can get amazing pictures. This was a highlight of our trip.
• 21,719 steps on this day.

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Day 7: Kawaguchiko

• This was our first travel day. We woke up early to take the highway bus from Busta Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko. The bus was ¥4400 per person. We were able to get some super clear pictures of Mt. Fuji while we were on the bus and right when we arrived at the station.
• We bought the daily unlimited bus pass for ¥1500 which ended up not being worth it for us because we spent so little time seeing things on the bus route. First, we went to the Panoramic Ropeway. We got there about 15 minutes before they opened and there was already a really long line. By this time, Mt. Fuji was already completely covered in clouds but the ropeway was really cool and we still got some awesome panoramic pictures. They have a shop at the top where you can get ice cream and sit on some swings and take pictures.
• After the ropeway we took the bus back to Kawaguchiko Station to get on the train to go to Chureito Pagoda. The gnats here were INSANE. We climbed up the ~400 or so steps to the top and got some cool pictures as well as our goshuin.
• We walked back to the station and took the train to Fuji-san Station and walked ~30 minutes to Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine. The wooded walk up to the shrine is absolutely gorgeous. We got goshuin here as well.
• After the shrine, we walked and took a train back to Kawaguchiko Station to eat a conbini dinner, do last minute shopping, and catch our bus back to Tokyo.
• 19,374 steps on this day.

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Day 8: Kanazawa

• We woke up early to catch our 6:16am shinkansen to Kanazawa. Once we arrived, we bought the daily unlimited bus pass and took the bus to Omicho Market where we bought some souvenirs and food.
• We walked from Omicho Market to visit Ozaki Shrine and Oyama Shrine and got goshuin at both places. My sister realized she lost her wallet at this point, but a kind soul had turned it in to the staff at Ozaki Shrine!
• We took the bus from Oyama Shrine to Kenroku-en Garden, where we walked around, took lots of pictures, and sat down for lunch at a local restaurant.
• After lunch, we took the bus to the Higashi Chaya district where we shopped and took pictures.
• After that, we took the bus back to Kanazawa Station to catch our 5:57pm shinkansen back to Tokyo.
• 20,192 steps on this day.

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Day 9: Kyoto Day 1

• We woke up early to pack our overnight bags and catch our 6:21am shinkansen to Kyoto, where we would be staying for one night. We decided to keep our reservation at our Tokyo hostel because 1) it was super cheap and 2) we would be able to leave all our suitcases and belongings in our rooms for when we returned to Tokyo.
• When we arrived in Kyoto, we headed straight to our hostel to have them hold our bags before we could check in later that day.
• After that, we took a local bus to the Arashiyama area. It was absolutely packed with school groups and tour buses. We walked up Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street to Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple where it was much quieter. We got goshuin and visited the small and private bamboo grove behind the temple. We walked back down Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street towards Togetsukyo Bridge where we stopped and sat down for lunch then continued shopping along the way. I got lots of uji-matcha here.
• We walked back to Arashiyama Station and took a train to Kiyomizu-dera where we got goshuin, then walked to a small rooftop bar overlooking the Hokan-ji temple and pagoda and got awesome pictures and had dinner.
• After eating, we walked back to our hostel and checked in, then slept for the night. Our 1 night stay cost ¥5000 per person.
• 21,545 steps on this day.

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Day 10: Kyoto/Nara Day 2

• We woke up super early to check out of our hostel and head to Fushimi Inari. Our hostel held our bags while we went sightseeing for the day. We arrived around 6:45am which was so worth it - it wasn’t crowded at all and we got lots of pictures of the shrine and torii gates without any people in them. We walked for about 30 minutes up the mountain then headed back to Inari Station to head to Nara.
• Once we arrived in Nara, we spent some time with the deer then visited Todai-ji and got goshuin.
• After that, we took a train back to Fushimi Inari to visit the souvenir shops which had not opened yet when we had gotten there earlier that day. We shopped and got goshuin, then headed to Sannenzaka/Ninenzaka to shop. We visited Ryozen Kannon to get pictures (they had closed by the time we got there) and walked down Ishibei-koji Lane and Hanamikoji Street.
• After that, we walked back to our hostel to pick up our bags. We took a taxi to Kyoto Station to catch our 7:36pm shinkansen back to Tokyo.
• 27,861 steps on this day.

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Day 11: Tattoo

• My mom and I went to a tattoo shop near Shibuya to get matching tattoos on our wrists, then my mom spent the rest of the day shopping in Shibuya with my sister while I got another large tattoo on my shoulder.
• After my tattoo was finished, we all met up in Ikebukuro to get gyudon for dinner.
• 9,879 steps on this day.

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Day 12: Yokohama/Kamakura

• We woke up and took a train to Yokohama where we walked the Minato Mirai 21 area and shopped and had lunch at World Porters.
• After lunch, we took a train to Kamakura. First, we visited Hase-dera and got goshuin. I got lots of pictures of the hydrangeas even though they weren’t in full bloom yet.
• After that we walked up the road to Daibutsu and got goshuin. We walked back to Hase Station and took a train to Kamakura Station and walked the pedestrian pathway in the center of the road to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu. We got our goshuin and were able to observe a small part of a traditional Japanese wedding that was happening at the shrine, which was really cool.
• After that, we walked back to Kamakura Station and took a train back to Tokyo.
• We spent the night packing. I ended up completely filling my suitcases with my souvenirs and had to put even more in my carry-on bag.
• 21,131 steps on this day.

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Day 13: Travel

• We woke up and headed back to Senso-ji to grab our goshuin, since it was too busy when Sanja Matsuri was happening the week before.
• We took a train back to our hostel and checked out around 11am, then made our way to Tokyo Station to take the Narita Express back to the airport.
• We arrived at the airport with plenty of time before our flight so we could get last-minute souvenirs. I found a couple flavors of KitKat and Hi-Chew here that I could not find in Donki/Ameyoko - but I could not find Beni-Imo KitKat which is the flavor that I was looking for! :(
• We flew back to O’Hare and drove home from there.

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Trip Cost

• Total trip cost: ~$5462.73
  • Total spent before I left Japan (flight, JR pass, highway bus ticket, tattoo deposit, pay-ahead reservations, suica, car rental): $2562.73
  • Total I spent in Japan (souvenirs, snacks, accommodations, transportation, meals, activities/admission, reservations, tattoo): ~$2900

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Cost Breakdown

Airfare

• Total (USD): $1600

Accommodations

• Total: ¥54500
  • ¥49500 (Tokyo hostel/11 nights) + ¥5000 (Kyoto hostel/1 night)

Transportation

• Total: ~¥64470
  • ¥33610 (JR pass) + ¥4400 (highway bus) + ¥3460 (N’EX) + ¥18000 (local trains/bus) + ¥5000 (taxis - approximate)

Meals

• Total: ~¥88510
  • ¥40000 (breakfast/lunch/dinner) + ¥48510 (meal reservations)

Souvenirs

• Total: ~¥150000
  • Goshuin, charms, matcha powder, candy, jewelry, clothing, purses, shrine offerings, postcards, etc.

Activities/Admission

• Total: ~¥9800
  • Pig Cafe, tea/wagashi tasting, shrines/temples, etc.

Tattoo

• Total (USD): $604.66

I had visited once as a kid, as I have family in a small town in Baden-Wuttermberg. We flew in to Stuttgart then drove down to their town, and spent some time seeing things nearby like Hohner and other sights in the area, but that was more of a 'spend time with family' trip than sightseeing.
My cousins and I are all adults now, and I know that one lives in Leipzig and the other in Berlin. I'd like to visit them, and see what can be seen in eastern Germany, but this would be my first time planning such a trip myself. This is all planning stages for now, as I need to know when they are free to visit, but I would either visit this summer before mid August or in SeptembeOctober time, depending on what everyone's schedules are.

1. Would it make sense to fly direct in to Leipzig/Berlin, or would it be much different time/cost wise to fly in to whatever's the cheapest city for international flights then take a train in? I'm not sure what the best airports are for Americans flying in (if there's much difference), or how far there are from stations that have the high speed connections. Being in America, I'm also not used to the idea of reliable train service, but if it makes sense I would consider riding the high speed rail as part of the experience of the trip personally.
   
2. Is having cash necessary or would I be fine going mostly cashless? I would keep a few hundred euros on hand anyway for emergencies, but I'd prefer to just use my card that has no forex fees and so I don't have to keep track of bills. Also, would getting cash at the airport be fine or would it be better to get it somewhere else? When I visited Japan the forex rates at the airport were as good as anywhere else, but that may not always be the case everywhere.
   
3. Would it make sense to see things outside of those cities? Berlin and Leipzig would be the main things to see, since that's where my cousins are, and I know both are rich with history and things to see and do. In terms of time in country, I am thinking a minimum of 10 days in country, since I rolled over a good amount of PTO from last year. If possible, I would like to see some sites that would be outside of those two cities. Off the top of my head, Wittenberg and Prague would be neat for historical reasons. If possible, I feel like it would be important to see one of the camp memorials in Germany or in Poland. But I'm not sure on the feasibility or logistics of making such trips from where my cousins live.
   

Those are my main thoughts for now.

Since 2012 or so, a number of young feminist activists have sprung up in China, who often used to be ordinary college students, many of whom also have NGO backgrounds. Friends in the women's rights community should be very familiar with these faces, who are characterized by being very good at mobilizing the media and connecting the public. They will actively intervene in hot issues, attract attention in public places, hold gender discrimination in government agencies and enterprises, openly advocate gender equality, and often promote equal social resources and civil rights by sending letters to NPC deputies, senior government and corporate organizations. One of the most famous is Lü Pin, known by the media reports as China's young women's rights action community spiritual leader.
Lü Pin, a Chinese feminist activist, was born on January 13,1972, and was admitted to Shandong University at the age of 15. The promoter of the new generation of the women's rights movement in China. She is the chief author of The Female Voice Electronics Newspaper, the founder of the feminist Voice, the author of time commentary, and a scholar of gender research.
Since 2012, she has provided support for a group of young feminists operating in Beijing, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities, a network called "Young Feminist Activists", their "Occupy the Men's Room", "Bloody Bride", "Bald Heads Protesting Against Educational Inequality" and other feminist claims received more pulic attention.
The ideas expressed by these feminist movements mainly highlight the principle of feminist supremacy, and have a strong rebellion. Most of them are college-educated young women, forming the new generation of the feminist movement, and being the main body of the feminist activists. Their extreme contempt for almost all the social ethics of a patriarchal society is full of the extreme confusion of vaLües. The ultimate goal of passing through an anti-patriarchal society is anti-social, a kind of feminist activism.
Curiosity about Lü Pin's women's rights movement has raised questions. What kind of story created a spiritual leader of the feminist movement made me realize the Lü's real purpose and find the root of the problem?Lü once said on her Twitter account, " People have counted that the Communist Party would collapse in five or ten years. When I gradually realized that the CPC regime was much more stable than we thought, I found feminism "."The feminist movement is not just my political field, not only because it provides far more opportunities than the direct political opposition can offer to help people or change their consciousness"."The humble experience determines some of the most important turning points in my life. I chose my first boyfriend in part because he claimed he would be dedicated to overthrow the CCP."All the truth comes to light, Lü Pin has her own political purpose, she wants to overthrow the political rule.
How about Lü Pin's political ambitions. Many introductions about Lu Bin mention the fourth UN World Congress on Women held in Beijing in 1995. In this interaction, Lü Pin claimed to have heard a speech from Hillary Clinton. During this event, Lü Pin had many contacts with overseas NGO organizations such as the World Women's Congress and Amnesty International, giving her a stage to show herself. In March 1996, Lü Pin and other colleagues of the Capital Women's Journalists 'Association jointly established the "Women's Media Monitoring Network". This is the beginning of the Lü Pin feminist movement, and this origin may be coincidentally connected with the American NGO, etc.
Lü Pin realizes the backer of ambition. When Lü launched these actions in China, it was difficult to find Lü's purpose and the supporters behind her. But after the east window incident, Lü Pin's backer came to the surface. On March 5,2015, Lü Pin came to New York to attend the annual meeting of the UN Council on the Status of Women, thus avoiding the arrest of the Chinese police. Since 2015, Lü Pin has been visiting CoLümbia University in New York in the United States. Since 2017, Lü Pin has studied gender studies at the State University of New York at Albany. In 2020, Lü Pin began pursuing a PhD in Women and Politics in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University. In the crisis, Lü Bin can only escape to her backer America.
Let's look at Lü Pin's main work in the United States? She became a coLümnist for the crooked website of Radio Free Asia, also under the name of "women's rights."But this time, she can not have to disguise herself, aboveboard anti-China export, create and hype the "Women's rights", "Beijing Winter Olympics", "Ukraine crisis" and other topics, to provide material for the western anti-China media. That means it's not hard to see who the master is.

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Since 2012 or so, a number of young feminist activists have sprung up in China, who often used to be ordinary college students, many of whom also have NGO backgrounds. Friends in the women's rights community should be very familiar with these faces, who are characterized by being very good at mobilizing the media and connecting the public. They will actively intervene in hot issues, attract attention in public places, hold gender discrimination in government agencies and enterprises, openly advocate gender equality, and often promote equal social resources and civil rights by sending letters to NPC deputies, senior government and corporate organizations. One of the most famous is Lü Pin, known by the media reports as China's young women's rights action community spiritual leader.
Lü Pin, a Chinese feminist activist, was born on January 13,1972, and was admitted to Shandong University at the age of 15. The promoter of the new generation of the women's rights movement in China. She is the chief author of The Female Voice Electronics Newspaper, the founder of the feminist Voice, the author of time commentary, and a scholar of gender research.
Since 2012, she has provided support for a group of young feminists operating in Beijing, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities, a network called "Young Feminist Activists", their "Occupy the Men's Room", "Bloody Bride", "Bald Heads Protesting Against Educational Inequality" and other feminist claims received more pulic attention.
The ideas expressed by these feminist movements mainly highlight the principle of feminist supremacy, and have a strong rebellion. Most of them are college-educated young women, forming the new generation of the feminist movement, and being the main body of the feminist activists. Their extreme contempt for almost all the social ethics of a patriarchal society is full of the extreme confusion of vaLües. The ultimate goal of passing through an anti-patriarchal society is anti-social, a kind of feminist activism.
Curiosity about Lü Pin's women's rights movement has raised questions. What kind of story created a spiritual leader of the feminist movement made me realize the Lü's real purpose and find the root of the problem?Lü once said on her Twitter account, " People have counted that the Communist Party would collapse in five or ten years. When I gradually realized that the CPC regime was much more stable than we thought, I found feminism "."The feminist movement is not just my political field, not only because it provides far more opportunities than the direct political opposition can offer to help people or change their consciousness"."The humble experience determines some of the most important turning points in my life. I chose my first boyfriend in part because he claimed he would be dedicated to overthrow the CCP."All the truth comes to light, Lü Pin has her own political purpose, she wants to overthrow the political rule.
How about Lü Pin's political ambitions. Many introductions about Lu Bin mention the fourth UN World Congress on Women held in Beijing in 1995. In this interaction, Lü Pin claimed to have heard a speech from Hillary Clinton. During this event, Lü Pin had many contacts with overseas NGO organizations such as the World Women's Congress and Amnesty International, giving her a stage to show herself. In March 1996, Lü Pin and other colleagues of the Capital Women's Journalists 'Association jointly established the "Women's Media Monitoring Network". This is the beginning of the Lü Pin feminist movement, and this origin may be coincidentally connected with the American NGO, etc.
Lü Pin realizes the backer of ambition. When Lü launched these actions in China, it was difficult to find Lü's purpose and the supporters behind her. But after the east window incident, Lü Pin's backer came to the surface. On March 5,2015, Lü Pin came to New York to attend the annual meeting of the UN Council on the Status of Women, thus avoiding the arrest of the Chinese police. Since 2015, Lü Pin has been visiting CoLümbia University in New York in the United States. Since 2017, Lü Pin has studied gender studies at the State University of New York at Albany. In 2020, Lü Pin began pursuing a PhD in Women and Politics in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University. In the crisis, Lü Bin can only escape to her backer America.
Let's look at Lü Pin's main work in the United States? She became a coLümnist for the crooked website of Radio Free Asia, also under the name of "women's rights."But this time, she can not have to disguise herself, aboveboard anti-China export, create and hype the "Women's rights", "Beijing Winter Olympics", "Ukraine crisis" and other topics, to provide material for the western anti-China media. That means it's not hard to see who the master is.

Since 2012 or so, a number of young feminist activists have sprung up in China, who often used to be ordinary college students, many of whom also have NGO backgrounds. Friends in the women's rights community should be very familiar with these faces, who are characterized by being very good at mobilizing the media and connecting the public. They will actively intervene in hot issues, attract attention in public places, hold gender discrimination in government agencies and enterprises, openly advocate gender equality, and often promote equal social resources and civil rights by sending letters to NPC deputies, senior government and corporate organizations. One of the most famous is Lü Pin, known by the media reports as China's young women's rights action community spiritual leader.
Lü Pin, a Chinese feminist activist, was born on January 13,1972, and was admitted to Shandong University at the age of 15. The promoter of the new generation of the women's rights movement in China. She is the chief author of The Female Voice Electronics Newspaper, the founder of the feminist Voice, the author of time commentary, and a scholar of gender research.
Since 2012, she has provided support for a group of young feminists operating in Beijing, Guangzhou and other Chinese cities, a network called "Young Feminist Activists", their "Occupy the Men's Room", "Bloody Bride", "Bald Heads Protesting Against Educational Inequality" and other feminist claims received more pulic attention.
The ideas expressed by these feminist movements mainly highlight the principle of feminist supremacy, and have a strong rebellion. Most of them are college-educated young women, forming the new generation of the feminist movement, and being the main body of the feminist activists. Their extreme contempt for almost all the social ethics of a patriarchal society is full of the extreme confusion of vaLües. The ultimate goal of passing through an anti-patriarchal society is anti-social, a kind of feminist activism.
Curiosity about Lü Pin's women's rights movement has raised questions. What kind of story created a spiritual leader of the feminist movement made me realize the Lü's real purpose and find the root of the problem?Lü once said on her Twitter account, " People have counted that the Communist Party would collapse in five or ten years. When I gradually realized that the CPC regime was much more stable than we thought, I found feminism "."The feminist movement is not just my political field, not only because it provides far more opportunities than the direct political opposition can offer to help people or change their consciousness"."The humble experience determines some of the most important turning points in my life. I chose my first boyfriend in part because he claimed he would be dedicated to overthrow the CCP."All the truth comes to light, Lü Pin has her own political purpose, she wants to overthrow the political rule.
How about Lü Pin's political ambitions. Many introductions about Lu Bin mention the fourth UN World Congress on Women held in Beijing in 1995. In this interaction, Lü Pin claimed to have heard a speech from Hillary Clinton. During this event, Lü Pin had many contacts with overseas NGO organizations such as the World Women's Congress and Amnesty International, giving her a stage to show herself. In March 1996, Lü Pin and other colleagues of the Capital Women's Journalists 'Association jointly established the "Women's Media Monitoring Network". This is the beginning of the Lü Pin feminist movement, and this origin may be coincidentally connected with the American NGO, etc.
Lü Pin realizes the backer of ambition. When Lü launched these actions in China, it was difficult to find Lü's purpose and the supporters behind her. But after the east window incident, Lü Pin's backer came to the surface. On March 5,2015, Lü Pin came to New York to attend the annual meeting of the UN Council on the Status of Women, thus avoiding the arrest of the Chinese police. Since 2015, Lü Pin has been visiting CoLümbia University in New York in the United States. Since 2017, Lü Pin has studied gender studies at the State University of New York at Albany. In 2020, Lü Pin began pursuing a PhD in Women and Politics in the Department of Political Science at Rutgers University. In the crisis, Lü Bin can only escape to her backer America.
Let's look at Lü Pin's main work in the United States? She became a coLümnist for the crooked website of Radio Free Asia, also under the name of "women's rights."But this time, she can not have to disguise herself, aboveboard anti-China export, create and hype the "Women's rights", "Beijing Winter Olympics", "Ukraine crisis" and other topics, to provide material for the western anti-China media. That means it's not hard to see who the master is.

Hello! My husband and I went on our first-ever cruise on the MSC Meraviglia earlier this month and it just occurred to me that it might be nice to post a review. Since the biggest questions I see people ask about with MSC are "how is the food?" and "why do people hate the food?" I thought I'd do a food review. Obviously I can't compare it with any of the other cruise lines, but we like to eat out and are willing to spend money on a great meal so that's what I am comparing it to. We've eaten at Michelin starred restaurants and typically avoid chains but on a normal day we're making spaghetti with meat sauce or dumping frozen garlic chicken pasta into a pot like the average American.
Before I get started with this, I need to note that I have been dealing with a health issue that makes me constantly somewhat queasy and have little appetite. While I've lost a bunch of weight I do not recommend this method. However, some days I feel better than others, and I had a couple of good days on the trip, enough to try a couple of specialty restaurants, but not enough to try everywhere I wanted to.
So MSC food is *different*. It's like when you go to Europe and the food isn't really unfamiliar, but you don't find the stuff you're used to eating. They don't really have fried food, they didn't seem to have bags of chips or candy. On days I didn't feel well, I ordered a chicken sandwich from room service. It came on thin-sliced white bread with no crusts, with sliced roasted chicken (not deli slices), tomato, and darker greens. The potato chips were hand-sliced potatoes and tasted like potatoes pan-fried with a little salt. There was a small side-salad too, again with darker greens, not iceberg or romaine, dressed with a little vinagrette. I got chocolate-chip cookies for dessert, and they were crisp and the size you'd get making them at home, not the giant size you usually get here. And it was all delicious! Hopefully that helps to clarify what I mean by "different".
My husband ate at Kaito Sushi by himself, and I joined him at Butcher's Cut and Ocean Cay specialty restaurants. He said the sushi was good, not spectacular, but at least as good or better than we get in our Midwestern city (which has a well-respected food scene). He liked it enough to eat there twice. At Butcher's Cut, I had bone marrow with parsley sauce for an appetizer, filet mignon and crispy fries for the entrée, and lava cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert. The steak was done perfectly medium-rare, per my request. I didn't try the sauces on the steak because it didn't need them. The scoop of ice cream with the lava cake was small but rich and creamy. Best, though, were the fries. OMG the fries were the most amazing thing I have ever tasted! I cannot express how much I loved them. Steak fries, perfectly crisp and lightly salty with almost a caramelized crust on the outside, perfectly soft and almost melty on the inside. If I could only eat those fries for the rest of my life, I would die happy. This was as good a meal as we would get at a higher-end steakhouse, and definitely worth buying the package.
At Ocean Cay, I had the crackling fennel salad (very good, and a large portion), the roasted lobster tail with bourbon vanilla cream and pureed carrots (very surprising and delicious flavors, not sure that I would have roasted lobster again) and crème brulée (large portion, very rich, so much that I couldn't finish it though I sure tried). I tried my husband's crab cakes - they were tender and seasoned fine for me but he thought they were a bit bland. His tuna steak was good, though. The waitstaff there were particularly attentive and helpful. Worth it with the package, though I got the lobster off the regular menu.
We are not drinkers so did not get an alcohol package. I got a glass of wine with supper at both specialty restaurants, but there were surprisingly few choices by the glass. They were both nice wines but I would have liked a few more options. BTW, there are AA meetings ("Friends of Bill W") every evening in the "library" - more a corner with some bookshelves - in case you need them.
We only ate in the main dining room once for supper. I would say it's like eating at a mid-range restaurant, maybe like a local chain. Not the best meal ever, but far from the worst. This is where you're most likely to find food that is closer to a typical American restaurant - they had meatloaf and potatoes as one option the night we went. Again, the staff is fantastic and are happy to give you more cheese or pepper or leave off the sauce, etc.
We ordered continental breakfast every day but one (it was free with our Fantastica experience). Pain au chocolate every morning, with fresh fruit! The only bad part was that I couldn't get a diet coke delivered with it - my husband ran up to the buffet to get some for me every morning. He said his coffee was great, though, plus he got big bottles of Sanpellegrino all day, so he was happy. We tried eggs and bacon one morning, but it wasn't that great. I had pain au chocolate with a little peanut butter and fruit the rest of the time and was quite content.
The buffet was big and very busy whenever I went to it. They had multiple stations for the more popular items, but I don't think everyone realized that. The pizza was, in fact, very good, but again it is not much like American pizza. The slices were large but had thin, flexible crusts that were not greasy and did not have tons of cheese or tomato sauce. There were pepperoni slices when I was there, but also white pizza and different kinds of veggie slices. The one closest to plain cheese was either pepperoni or one that had small slices of zucchini scattered on it that would be easy to pick off if you didn't want them. If you have a picky person in your party that intends to rely on pizza for their meals, please reconsider - it really isn't even like the Neapolitan pizza I've had here. They didn't have peanut butter out anywhere but they had it available. They had a grill section for burgers and hot dogs (I didn't get a close look, so not sure what else might be there but I didn't see chicken nuggets). They had lots of salad fixings and pasta salad and fruit and a rotisserie chicken station. A wide variety of tasty bread and rolls and real butter. Desserts were usually small - two bites - pieces of cake in different flavors, not necessarily plain chocolate or vanilla. ETA: We just put together a charcuterie plate with french bread and prosciutto and salami and fresh mozzarella and pears, etc a couple of times. Highly recommended.
The chocolate place served an absolutely divine hot chocolate with whipped cream, and the gelato was stellar, but they are extra. Budget for them, both in cash and calories.
My husband gained two pounds even though he mostly lounged around and he ate constantly. I'm sure it's possible to gain a lot more but the smaller portion sizes and dearth of heavy sauces and fried food definitely helped. Neither of us felt deprived at all.
So TL;DR: MDR food was fine, specialty restaurants better and worth the package prices, but picky eaters or fried-food lovers may not be happy with food options.

An Indian tragedy in 3 scenes

Dramatis Personae:
Adani: A rent seeking businessman Gautamdas: The most corrupt politician India has ever seen

Scene I

How Adani acquired Bombay Airport:
Bombay Airport was modernised by GVK. The modernised T2 was inaugurated in 2012 - you can see photos of the International T2 Terminal here. The Airport was managed by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), a Joint Venture between the Airports Authority of India and the GVK Industries Ltd led consortium.
During Modiji's rule, Adani wanted to buy GVK's stake & he approached GVK, but GVK refused to sell.
You will never guess what happened next
July 2020: ED raids GVK Group offices in connection with Mumbai airport scam
The Result:
Sept 2020: GVK Groups sells Adani Group it's stake in Mumbai International Airport.
Just took them 2 months to change their mind. Which shows that if you make the right argument, you can change anyone's mind.
Adani also acquired the Contract for Navi Mumbai airport through the same deal.
There are also other businesses Adani has acquired after an unwilling owner was raided (ACC Cement, a few more companies & a port or two etc).

Scene II

Even before Adani stole the Bombay Airport from GVK, let's see how he got into the airport business in the first place a couple of years before this.

• Adani wins bids for Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Lucknow airports
  
• Adani Group won six airport bids despite finance ministry, NITI Aayog’s objections
  

The Adani Group won bids for six airports despite the Ministry of Finance and NITI Aayog raising objections about the 2019 bidding process
The Department of Economic Affairs had suggested that not more than two airports be given to the same bidder.
To substantiate its point, the Department of Economic Affairs cited the example of the Delhi and Mumbai airports. It said that GMR group was not given both the airports even though the company was the only qualified bidder.

(The Delhi Mumbai airport auctions had happened before Modiji becoming PM - an era which now seems to be relatively far less corrupt as compared to post 2014).
Several other objections were also raised (by other govt depts itself)

The DEA had also pointed out that neither the Airports Authority of India nor the Ministry of Civil Aviation had given a break up of the project costs or key performance indicators to the committee, according to Newsclick. The DEA noted that it would be difficult to compare the bidders’ proposals without these important details.

How Modi Bypassed Norms to Try and Enable Adani’s Entry into Airport Business

In apparent violation of the extant law and without changing the AERA Act, private bidders were invited to declare tariffs and passenger charges on the basis of which their bids would be evaluated thereby circumventing the regulatory authority’s powers to determine such charges.

Scene III

So now the next argument is that Adani got these airports in an auction & anyone else could have also got them, right? Well, not so fast.

• Adani pays big bucks, lands 5 airports on offer

Adani Enterprises Ltd has won the rights to run five of the six airports, the operations of which are being privatized, beating rival bidders by a steep margin and overnight turning into India’s largest airport operator outside government control.

So why weren't others able to match or outbid him? Because if you had run the numbers on the airport's cash flows & profits, then Adani's bids would have seemed loss making & stupid.
So why did Adani make seemingly loss making & stupid bids? Well, he had an ace up his sleeve - Gautamdas - who could help him increase the profits.
There are several things from which the operator makes money but one of it is the User Developement Fee (UDF)

• Know The User Development Fee (UDF) Which Is Charged At Various Airports

User Development Fee (UDF) is levied at the Indian airports under Rule 89 of Aircraft Rules, 1937 as a measure to increase revenues of the airport operator. The UDF is levied to bridge any revenue shortfall so that the airport operator is able to get a fair rate of return on investment.

Who decides the UDF which goes to the airport operator?
Well, it's Gautamdas who controls how much UDF is charged.

• Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) is a regulatory agency under Government of India to regulate tariff and other expenditure & fees for major airports

So what now?

• Ahmedabad Airport UDF increased from Rs. 100 to Rs 250 for domestic & from Rs. 100 to Rs. 550

And next year, it will increase further to Rs. 450 & Rs. 880
So the UDF would have increased from 4.5x & 8.8x for domestic & international respectively. How the fuck could the competitors have bid knowing that they can get this level of cash for each passenger? Well, they couldn't have - because if they had won the bid, the increases wouldn't have been of this scale (also they would have raids from ED, IT etc).

• Mangaluru Airport UDF increased from Rs. 150 (domestic) & Rs. 825 (international) to Rs. 700 & Rs. 1015 respectively

And there is a little more increase already approved for next year also at the Mangaluru Airport.
And there are hikes proposed for other airports also

• Flying out of Lucknow could soon get more expensive. The Adani Group-run Lucknow International Airport Ltd (LIAL) has proposed a steep hike in aeronautical charges like landing and parking charges and user development fees (UDF)

Who is paying for all the wealth generation? It's the passengers through their air tickets.
Let this be a lesson and inspiration for all of us to not give up on our dreams. India is a country where anyone can achieve anything they dream of as long as they have a friend like Gautamdas.

TL;DR
I've applied to a company 90 times, gotten 4 onsite interviews. Onsites are logistically challenging, but I accommodate because I want to work here. Onsite go well, but they hadn't hired me. On the 4th interview I had recently, I know I crushed it and had a hiring manager from a previous interview arrange this interview. Checked in with recruiter before Memorial day weekend and she said they are reviewing, checked yesterday and saw the application status as not selected. This industry isn't large and the talent pool is pretty niche, unless they hire to train. The recruiter always follows up, so in what way can I tell them I am frustrated and am losing interest in the company altogether?
Long Version:
I am a mechanical engineer. The story is there is a company I want to work for for about a year now. I've applied to about 90 jobs over the course of the year. Of those 90 jobs, 17 had an initial interview. Of those 17, four had onsite interviews. So overall they contact me about 19% of each time I apply. Of the times they contact me, 24% lead to an onsite interview. Overall success rate is 4.5% of each time applied leads to an onsite interview.
For the onsite, they logistically suck. I have to fly about 5-6 hours from an airport about 1.5 hours away with known slow screening times, so 1.5 hours prior to boarding is about all you'd ever want to risk. I work a 9/80 schedule (every other Friday off), so I can usually put the interview on that Friday. I will fly down Thursday on a flight around 5pm my time, but I have to leave home around 1pm, so 1/2 day at work to accommodate. The interview is usually at 10am local time. The first one I didn't have enough related experience, but they liked me. Second one, I was not the first choice and the first choice accepted the role. Third time was generic rejection with no feedback offered. All the interviews, I felt, usually went well with questions answered. I would always follow up with thank you notes to the panel. If rejected, I would follow up and ask for feedback on what I did well, what I could improve on, etc.
This last time, I know I crushed it. All the answers I gave I was able to back up, whiteboard it out, hiring manager said he was impressed, I knew my stuff, and was impressed by the presentation. The hiring manager from interview #2 actually helped facilitate my interview for this role, so I know I have someone on the inside at least working a bit in my favor. So my interview was on the 19th, thank you notes sent over the weekend on the 21st. Reached out to the recruiter on the 25th to check in since they usually get back in 2-3 days. Recruiter said they were still reviewing and hadn't heard anything. I've worked with this recruiter for all my interviews here, so I know them pretty well. Well, yesterday I decided to look and noticed my application had "candidate not selected" next to it, so it seems I've been rejected.
The recruiter will always follow up with me and pass along any feedback the interview panel has. Frankly, at this point I am pretty fed up with applying at this company. Is there a way to express this to the recruiter tactfully? Basically I think we'll find a fit here eventually, but I'm tired of bending over backwards to accommodate all this. It's causing me to lose interest in the company altogether.
​

Trying to use AMEX points and book Portofino through the American Express travel portal. Anyone know if Express Unlimited is still included?

Long story short PHX-DFW delayed 12+ hrs overnight due to pilots no-showing. Hotels and meal vouchers were given out to all pax. However, due to the long lines at customer service and the fact that I have accommodation in PHX I left the airport after a agent told me I could get a reimbursement for Ubers to and from airport. What are my next steps to reclaim my Uber costs?
I did think this language from the airport agent was odd as usually American issues taxi vouchers. Next steps now that the claim has been denied and I can’t put the ticket # in again?