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The Japan Diaries (Day 1)

2007.09.26

Matt and I on the plane while watching a movie (Spiderman 3, I think?) on the plane overnight.

Malaysian Airlines always start their flights with juice and some salted peanuts (more airline food pictures included, as per requests!)

This was dinner (which I couldn't finish!), I was expecting worse so this was a surprise.

(Spinach and rictotta scroll, at about midnight on the KL-Tokyo flight). We boarded at 11:30pm

2:30am snack, an anaemic-looking cream-cheese roll. I have a little bit, but it sits as a lump in my stomach for most of the night. Unfortunately there is a lot of turbulance during the night, and I'm left shaken and scared (not the best flier in the world!). While Matt sleeps, I grip my seat and try to focus on movies for the night (I go through 3 films and there are still lots of bumps :/)

On the upside, sunrise is beautiful, viewed from 40,000 feet! Matt wakes and the breakfast trolley comes around (though the huge breakfast we're presented with makes me feel nauseous and I barely eat anything. A bundle of nerves and worn-out from the adrenalin bursts all night, I pass out and miss most of the descent into Tokyo!

This is Ginza, the district within Tokyo we're staying in.

I pass a florist, whose speciality is creating multi-coloured roses... I touched one to test it, and sure enough it's real! I wonder how they created it??

First strange Engrish-spotting of the trip! Can't say owning "beigy colours" (even in make-up) sounds all that appealing to me!!

Matt watching the world go by, while sight-seeing in Ginza.

Our hotel room - small, but roomy for Tokyo standards! After all that time flying and walking around, it's sheer bliss :)

Our room with a view! ;)

Japanese cereal that we bought for breakfasts.

Toilet!

Here I start my Japan Diaries, cross-posted from my other blog. Plenty of words to go with the pictures, for friends and family to enjoy also! :)

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Day 1 [September 25/26th]

* After experiencing flights with little/no delay from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, then KL to Tokyo, we arrive at Narita Airport at around 7am on September 26th. The time delay is minimal (only one hour behind Melbourne time, so no real jet lag, just tiredness!)

* Narita Airport is easier to navigate than anticipated, dual-language (Japanese/English) signage helps a lot! Immigration and customs barely give us a second glance and eagerly let us through, to start our adventures.

* The train network in Tokyo looks very daunting and was busy, despite arriving in Tokyo (the airport is 1.5hrs away) at 11am. Big mix of people everywhere, though mainly seen adults so far (guessing that most/all the children are in school since it’s a weekday). Tokyo has the biggest rain station I have EVER seen, though surprisingly easy to get around.

* Check-in at the hotel isn’t until 3pm, so we nervously explore Ginza until our room is ready. Weather is very warm and humid, a stark change from Melbourne. Figuring out the street network was hard work, though getting the hang of it now. Our hotel is off the main streets, luckily Matt printed out a small picture of its front, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have recognised it.

* Ginza (or at least the area of it we’re staying in) is probably the equivalent of Southbank in Melbourne. Big-name posh shops, mixed with hotels, etc. Found an awesome store called Toyland that is five floors of plushies, games and other children’s toys – entertained us for ages! Definitely going back there before we leave Tokyo. Ginza surprises me, it can’t seem to decide whether it wants to be Japanese or faux-European. Although when heading out to find dinner in the evening, we walk too far and discover the district of Shimbashi. Very alive and full of Pachinko (a combination between pinball/slot machines; very popular in Japan) parlours, bars and places to eat. Shimbashi is very busy, even at 11pm - on a Wednesday night, too! People surprisingly conservatively dressed (I expected otherewise). Easy area to get lost in, looks the same on every street block (to my unaccustomed eyes) ~ blisters on my feet remind me of this, ouch!

* Matt and I eat our first real Japanese dinner, a small place bustling with people and little English signage, under a rail bridge. Food is cheap, filling and delicious! Huge bowls of noodles/soup for 750¥ (about $7.20 AU), which is right up our alley.

* So far, most people in Tokyo try to communicate with us in English, especially in the big stores – the few words I know in Japanese are serving me well so far (Matt manages to order a beer - “biiru” – in a bar was very happy with himself!). People seem to appreciate us trying with functional Japanese and give us BIG smiles in return. However, they then assume we know more language and keep talking… oops!

* To save money, we decide to buy a little Western food for breakfasts in our hotel room – a box of cereal, milk, bread and some jam. Western food is pretty expensive here, which I’d heard about before arriving. But if it lasts us, it will work out a lot cheaper than eating out every morning, even traditional Japanese style (miso soup and rice). Will try this at some point though, my stomach isn’t accustomed to such foods in the early morning at the moment!

* Our hotel room is small, but roomy enough to fit our bags into. Oh my gosh – high-tech toilets! Our hotel room has a seat warmer (which I end up becoming addicted to!), bidet, special ‘washer’ and other strange buttons… I’m scared to press any of them!

* Japanese TV seems (predictably) strange! A lot of it appears super-exaggerated, which puts shows such as Iron Chef into perspective. Night-time TV brings drama, game shows, anime (alas, no subtitles!) and variety (lots of… the Japanese people LOVE their variety shows). We find a strange TV show with the hosts visiting Australia ~ wildly exaggerated of our customs, and according to locals, our favourite drink is cordial (WTF?) and most-loved city is Perth. Also doesn’t do much to dispel the myth that we grow up surrounded by kangaroos!

* The Japanese seem to have a preoccupation with wrapping EVERYTHING! Unless you say otherwise, they will wrap food items (etc) all individually before putting into paper, and then a bag. I think I need to learn the phrase for “I don’t need a bag”!!

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