Rather then head up to breakfast at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel, we did a bit of packing and then went downstairs to queue for ぴよりん Piyorin. They had special 2026 Year of the Horse ones! After eating them all, we visited 矢場とん Yabaton for one last meal in Nagoya before taking the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. We enjoyed the ANA Lounge at Haneda before flying back to the US on United, ending our nearly one month long trip!
Piyorin
We woke up at the 名古屋マリオットアソシアホテル Nagoya Marriott Associa Hotel in time to see the sunrise.
The view looking straight out of our room’s window rather than a panorama like the first photograph.
We decided to skip going up to the lounge this morning as it has been pretty mediocre every morning and the items haven’t changed in any meaningful way. Instead, we did a bit of packing to try and get everything to fit as compactly as possible!
We decided to go downstairs to queue for ぴよりん Piyorin. We wrote about Piyorin two days ago and had this to say about it:
Piyorin is the name of a shop and its product, kawaii little chick shaped puddings. On our first day here, we noticed a huge queue in front of their shop, which is actually right by the ground floor entrance to the Marriott from within Nagoya Station. Batches of Piyorin are released at fixed times each day. To get them, you must queue.
The current release schedule is every three hours daily at 9am, noon, 3pm, and 6pm. We don’t really know how many are released at each time or how early you need to show up. Although each customer is only allowed to buy two, they reliably sell out each time.
It does take some time for the line to proceed as they interact with each customer. After queuing for about an hour, we got to the counter at 9:18am. There was an ample supply of both varieties that were available today.
The basic Piyorin is mainly vanilla flavored and looks like a standard chick.
Piyorin
This fresh confection is shaped like a fluffy chick. It features a pudding made with eggs from the "Nagoya Cochin"—a local Aichi Prefecture breed—encased in a vanilla-scented Bavarian cream, coated in finely crumbled sponge cake, and decorated to resemble a baby chick.
#AvailableYearRound
– Text from the screenshot above, translated using Google Translate.
A special Piyorin was available for the New Year. It is strawberry and white chocolate flavored and includes a 2026 Year of the Horse sign!
New Year's Piyorin
2026
January 2026
Rich pudding made with Nagoya Cochin eggs and sweet-and-tart strawberry gelée are gently enveloped in a mildly sweet white chocolate bavarois. Its wings and crest are finished in celebratory red and white, and—in honor of the upcoming Year of the Horse—it is adorned with a chocolate piece featuring a horse illustration on its chest.
This auspicious, limited-edition New Year's Piyorin is a delight for both the eyes and the palate.
#Winter
#NewYear
– Text from the screenshot above, translated using Google Translate.
They’re pretty fragile and need to be kept cool or they will melt. One hour of cooling packets are provided in the box. Luckily for us, the hotel entrance is right by the shop so no real transportation was necessary.
These were the four Piyorin that we bought! They came with little ice packs to help keep them cool while in the bag!
Our four little Piyorin, staged in front of the bag!
Two New Year’s Piyorin…
And two standard Piyorin!
We cut open our Piyorin to take a look at what was inside! The pudding is at the center. It is surrounded by vanilla flavored cream and sits upon a bit of sponge cake.
The New Year’s Piyorin has the same pudding in the middle but with a layer of strawberry gelatin below it. The white chocolate flavored cream is visually indistinguishable from the vanilla flavored cream in the standard Piyoron. The sponge cake layer is the same.
They’re pretty good, although most of their value comes from how kawaii they are!
Later on in the morning, we decided to have one final meal in Nagoya before leaving.
We visited the 矢場とん Yabaton location in the ESCA underground shopping mall and ordered the same thing that we did previously, the rib loin and fillet. It felt like the pork was a tad lower quality, although maybe it was just bad luck. There was also a bit less miso sauce applied.
Tokyo
After checking out, we boarded a Shinkansen for the trip back to Shinagawa Station in Tokyo.
富士山 Fujisan always looks good! Our third and final sighting of this trip!
After arriving at Shinagawa, we transferred to the Keikyu Airport Line bound for 羽田空港 Haneda Airport‘s Terminal 3. After heading over to the checkin counters, we noticed a giant Godzilla sculpture above!
After checking in, it took us about 20 minutes to effectively leave Japan and walk over to the ANA Lounge.
The food items in the lounge have been pretty consistent over time. They’re generally pretty decent and much better than the average lounge food in the US.
The highlight of the ANA Lounge is the noodle bar!
Almost a full moon! The full moon will occur tomorrow night around 7pm here in Tokyo.
We saw our aircraft, a Boeing 787-10, arrive. We captured this photo as it was passing by in front of the domestic Terminal 1 with its thrust reversers still deployed.
Flight Home
We departed on time for the trip back to the US destined for Chicago O’Hare.
The menu in Polaris business class for the flight.
There is always a Japanese meal option for flights to and from Japan. It’s never as good as actual Japanese food in Japan…
For the western options, the beef tends to be the most reliable.
The highlight of meal service is the ice cream sundae! Its more reliably decent than everything else.
The pre-arrival meal choices were both Japanese. The pork katsu had red miso sauce, just like Nagoya! Well, not really, it wasn’t comparable at all!
After entering the US and rechecking our bags, we went through security and right to the Polaris Lounge. The aircraft that we flew in on, N17002, was parked at gate C18 right by the lounge.
Apple Slaw, Smoked Paprika Rémoulade
Spicy Tomato Chutney, Crostini
Spiced Cake, Vanilla Chantilly Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream
We went to the restaurant in the lounge as the food is typically much better than the buffet. We actually weren’t too hungry so we just ordered two of the appetizers and some desserts.
There was still a Christmas tree in the lounge! And it had unopened presents!
The aircraft for our final flight was a Boeing 737-900.
This particular aircraft had new seats and the new domestic in flight entertainment system, which brings it up to the standard set by United’s international widebody fleet. This time, we’re flying to BWI. It has been along time since we’ve been there!
We had a beautiful night time view of Chicago as we departed. We arrived a few minutes late at BWI, thus ending our almost one month long vacation, the longest by far that we’ve ever taken!