May 21/22: Washington to Tokyo

So today was the start of the journey. A few random thoughts before describing the day:

- One, I did not realize that I was, in fact, going to Asia for a month until this morning. More on that later.
- Two, missing the season finales of Lost/24 AND the 1st game of the Pistons/Cavs series really was poor timing. I should have left Tuesday morning!

Anyway, onto recounting the day's travels:

We made it to the airport and onto the plane fine, with a decent Potbelly's sandwich in our stomachs and a new book or two in hand. The flight was l-o-n-g long. I sat between Chris and a Navy researcher named Katie who was nice enough (other than having recieved her Ph and Masters from UF - not acceptable). After blowing through a Patterson novel in a couple of hours, I washed two sleeping aids down after dinner and knocked out for a couple of hours at what felt like 3 PM EST, but was 4 AM in the time zone I would soon be joining.

After waking up, I flipped through the in-flight movie (Pursuit of Happiness, which was not great) and worked on the computer for a bit. A short nap and another meal later, we landed in Japan around 3:20 PM - 15 minutes early:


Chris and Alex and I cleared customs and immigration (you had to disclose whether you had guns, explosives, drugs, SWORDS, and more - something doesn't fit in that list) and headed to the "Sakura Hostel" where we were to stay. Along the way we met a terrific young woman who explained in broken but clear english that she had just finished a triathalon in Hawaii. She gave us a few suggestions about places to go and things to do, and wished us in Japanese an "official welcome to Japan" before departing the train.

But there was one problem. We took the directions provided, through a part of Tokyo (Asakusa), past the famous Senso-ji temple and its smoking well (breathing in its air is thought to provide a year's worth of good luck),


We went past a run-down amusement park, to the Sakura Hostel. After reading through the reservations, we were told that we had instead made a reservation at the Sakura HOTEL, which was the sister building - located nowhere near where we had arrived. So we backtracked to the hotel, which was actually in a nicer part of Tokyo, and finally were settled in, for about 14,000 yen each for the 4 nights we will be staying here.

We then headed back out for dinner and a drink in Shabuia, a district of Tokyo with the largest street corner in the world. The subway ride to the district was packed with well-dressed commuters (even in a polo and slacks I felt underdressed) and perhaps most strikingly: 1) there were no bums anywhere. 2) there were no trash cans, which might explain the lack of bums. 3) despite this, there was no trash anywhere and 4) unlike anywhere I've ever been, you could hear a pin drop on the subway. Except for Chris and Alex and I, of course.

We had forgotten the map of the subway and thus the trip became more arduous as picking our destination became more about matching the "house-like symbol and the woman with a box on her head" to a metro stop. Hilarious. The machine rejected my first ticket before a random button-pushing escapade spat out something that matched the symbols on the map. success! we made the train and headed to Shabuia. It was wall-to-wall people, Times Square style, except alllllll Asian.


And everything was smaller - the steps, the bathrooms, everything - except this square. Huge buildings, tons of people, Starbucks - this was the big city of Japan, no question about it.


We stumbled around looking for a legit sushi place, but having no success, tabled that meal for the following day. We instead found what Chris called a "hot pot" joint, one where everything was cooked at the table, fondue-style, also similar to Korean BBQ. However, there were two problems - the menu translations were awful, as you can see; one item was Jew's Ear:



Problem two was that the broths were SPICY - not hot, but cry-while-you-eat-but-shit-its-still-good spicy.


Anyway, we finished dinner (12,000 yen for the three of us, including a couple rounds of Sapporo) and headed back for an early bedtime, a bit jet lagged and ready for the next day. The hotel has an old stack of Japan travel books, and I discovered a recent Lonely Planet - Tokyo guide, which will become a great resource in the coming days. Their walking tours have never let me down before, and thus I plan on doing one of those tomorrow morning if possible. And I've got to find some real sushi.

That's all for now. More soon!