I feel like I’ve got a lot I’d like to talk about concerning Japan, and I would need sometime to organize all of those thoughts and let things sink in, but I figure I’d just throw up my raw and unedited impressions — these are basically my notes for my trip to Japan. This first batch of notes I wrote after getting into Asakusa on Day 1.
Tokyo Day 1
Some quick thoughts so I don’t forget.
JL001 was my JAL flight from SFO to NRT. It took about 11 hours. I arrived around 5 PM Tokyo time — or midnight Pacific time.
NRT doesn’t strike me as a massive international hub airport like I thought it might be like. It feels like an airport out in Wisconsin, but then I haven’t seen all of NRT. The trains for the JR and Keisei lines are right in the airport down the escalator.
As soon as I got off the plane I followed the rest of the passengers out to the customs area and went where the foreign passport people went and got fingerprint and photographed by customs and then sent on my way. Once I was through I had to go and declare my items.
During the flight you get two sheets to fill out — one to declare alcohol or other expensive stuff and then another to write down your passport information and where you’ll be staying and what not.
The flight itself wasn’t too bad, but you gotta stand up every couple of hours. Every seat has a tv in the headrest and a controller attached to the armrest that you can use to watch movies (american, japanese, indian, anime, etc), listen to j-pop, or even play some simple games such as solitaire, mahjong, pac-man, tetris, and bejeweled — Popcap teamed up with whomever did the software and lent them their game. Tetris interestingly was multiplayer — you could play against other people on the plane, but when I went on nobody else was waiting to play multiplayer — sounds cool if a bunch of friends were to go to Japan together.
Once I got into NRT and past customs I got my bags and went to grab as many maps and literature as I could so I could find my way around.
I got my JR pass exchanged at the travel information booth for the JR. It’s to the left after you pass the 7-Bank ATM machines. I also tested exchanging currency with the ATM machines — took out 10,000 yen from my bank of america account. I know I should withdraw more, but it was a test run.
I decided to go with the Keisei Skyliner because A. I couldn’t use my JR Pass yet, since it starts tomorrow (the 10th), and B. due to that, I decided the Keisei was the cheaper way to go. I didn’t get as lost as I thought I might. I asked a few people as to which track the Skyliner was on. The extent of my Japanese is “Sumemaisen” and “Arigato.” It’ll be very interesting and intertwining. I’ve already been to a 7-11 and the clerk gave me a look when I said “Hello” in a more than chipper voice, more on that later.
I took the Skyliner to Aoto Station and then transferred to the Asukasa line. Once I got off at Asukasa Station, I was promptly lost. I was able to use my P&S camera to get some informational shots, maps and whatnot, but it didn’t totally help. Also didn’t totally help that Asukasa is just one giant backalley. It’s got large main roads but then the nooks and crannies are just filled with little places to go. There are things hiding everywhere. So I bet it’s a great place to explore and get lost in.
I ended up getting lost and turned around while looking for my hotel: Unizo Asukasa Hotel, but here I am, I found it. As I write this it’s 4:35 am in the morning back in San Francisco, and right now it’s 9:35 pm here in Tokyo. So I’m beat and hungry and dehydrated. I need food and water.
When I got out of the station it was snowing. Freakin’ snowing. I haven’t been in snow in a while. My sneakers got soggy, so…that should be interesting too since I’ll be doing a lot of walking. I might want to bring some extra socks with me and I might have to do the laundry more with them.
Umbrellas are cheap. I got a 399 yen one. So don’t bother bringing an umbrella with you. I got a plastic transparent one, it’s a lifesaver otherwise I’d be totally hosed and wet.
Tags: Japan
