Everyday life like a manga. "The day I beat the smartphone."

Postscript on my niece and nephew's visit.

My niece and nephew came from Narita International Airport.

Apparently, when my nephew booked the cheap flight tickets, they were from Narita. It is clearly closer to their home to use Haneda Airport. However, since it said "Tokyo," I assumed it was Haneda.

Well, that makes sense.

Narita International Airport is in Chiba Prefecture.
Tokyo Disney Resort is also in Chiba Prefecture.

The departure time for the tickets he booked was early. And Narita was far away.

Realizing they wouldn't make it in time for the first train from home, their mother, my older sister, booked a hotel near Narita Airport, and they all stayed there the night before and saw them off.

The journey had already begun before they even arrived in Hokkaido, hadn't it?

It was a chaotic and fun trip in Hokkaido, too.

Convenience store hopping, something I would never normally do. I learned about the unique features of Seicomart from my nephew, who isn't a Hokkaido native.

Even among the same convenience store chain, each location has its own characteristics. Whether they have a fryer or not. Whether they have Zangi or not. What kind of ice cream they have, and so on.

There isn't much to buy, but it's fun to look around, and it's cute how my nephew excitedly tells me, "This is only available in Hokkaido!"

I remembered the "Secoma Hokkaido Toyotomi Yogurt" that Masamune Kusano from Spitz recommended at a concert, and when I mentioned it, my nephew bought it for me.

It feels too precious somehow, so I haven't touched it yet. I have to eat it before it expires.

They returned to Narita International Airport, and it takes well over three hours to get to the station nearest their home. Since the time spent on the plane is shorter than that, I think airplanes are amazing.

It takes less than two hours from New Chitose Airport to Haneda or Narita. Hokkaido is vast, so even if you drive for two hours, you can't get very far. I realized once again that airplanes are incredible vehicles.

I hadn't heard from my niece and nephew since they arrived, so I was wondering what was going on, when...

"We were having tea at Narita!"
"We drank lemonade at Freshness Burger."

Freshness Burger's lemonade.

We all drank it when they arrived at New Chitose Airport. While munching on the rice balls and sandwiches I had made.

The lemonade was packed full of lemon slices in the cup. I was surprised by how luxuriously it was filled with lemon slices—I wondered if there was a whole lemon in there. I worried from the bottom of my heart about the management of Freshness Burger, wondering if they could stay in business by putting so much in. Well, I know it must be fine, but still.

Maybe they were reminiscing about that while having tea together as siblings. "Is liking to have tea genetic?" my husband asked. My sister, I, and our children all love having tea.

I received a message from my sister, who had gone to pick them up at the nearest station.

"They came home with satisfied, happy faces. I was surprised to hear that they were having so much fun and were so busy that they didn't have time to look at their smartphones. They are always looking at their phones! I was worried because they never read my messages, but that's what it was!"

Wow! Was it a week where you beat your smartphone!
Isn't that amazing?!
"We beat our smartphones!" my anti-smartphone children dance with joy.

But, I understand that feeling.

For the younger generation, it's somehow heartening to know that there are still things that can beat a smartphone. It makes this middle-aged woman think that the real world isn't so bad after all.

Click here for the record of my niece and nephew's stay.