My day started early, 6 am. The 2 hour drive to the airport went well and check in at Calgary's new International Terminal was the easiest, quickest ever. I was surprised when many of the staff I encountered said, "Tokyo?" to me. But then I saw it was the only international flight leaving for hours, haha!
The terminal is big and bright with a few shops and places to eat, none of which I needed. I had an aisle seat with one seat-mate, a polite young man (maybe Siek?) on his way to India. I was quite tired and dozed off easily.
Due to turbulence, first meal came about 2 hours into the flight. I chose 'western' food thinking I would get enough Japanese food in the days to come. Although I had brought plenty of reading material, I decided to try and sleep and was able to grab a few more winks. Then I watched "Eddie the Eagle", a movie I had been wanting to see. It was a perfect choice, a feel-good, humorous flick based on a true story.
Tokyo time is 16 hours ahead of home so I wasn't sure if we were going to get breakfast or what. But we were served another hot supper type of entree. The 11 hour flight, which I had been dreading, passed surprisingly quite well.
The Narita Airport, which is 60 km from Tokyo, was quite cloudy with a light rain. The walk to customs & immigration was a very long one and I made use of the many 'moving sidewalks'. It went well though, unlike arriving at the Delhi Airport. You get your index fingers printed and they take a photo of you. I am always overjoyed when I see my luggage on the carousel. You just never know!
I had decided to take the Airport Limousine Bus into the city in order to avoid changing trains with my luggage at a busy station in rush hour traffic. I thought it would be a nice way to see the sights. For quite a bit of the drive we were on a freeway with high fences so I saw very little.
I am surprised to find out they drive on the other side of the road than we do. And of course all the road signs are in Japanese kanji. Closer to the city, I began to see lots of very tall buildings and we have crossed over water several times. I was looking forward to taking photos from the bus windows but it got dark by 4:30 pm! Yuck! Same as home.
I got a talk/text/data plan for my phone and tried to book a morning tour for tomorrow but I am too late. Darn! I thought I'd have plenty of time. Oh well, I'll have to figure it out for myself I guess.
The traffic was pretty slow towards our final destination, but all in all, it didn't take as long as I thought it would. The bus dropped me off at a different hotel about 10 minutes walk from mine. I had a map and thought I knew which direction I was going. I didn't. I knew it was by a McDonald's so when I spied one I thought 'what the heck!' So my first meal in this country ended up being a Big Mac. Oh well, there was free wifi too and I got my bearings.
I'm glad I got a data plan before I left as I needed to use Google Maps for turn by turn directions. My hotel, Shibuya Tokyu REI, is beside a big camera store so that is a good landmark.
The room is small but the bed is big and apparently I don't have to share with anyone despite not paying the single supplement for this tour. Huzzah! I thought there was no window in the room but then later I realized the decorative wooden panel is a sliding window covering. The bathroom is about the size of a trailer bathroom and I needn't have worried about whether to pack shampoo etc. (I didn't.) There are lots of soaps and shampoos as well as a toothbrush, razor, brush, slippers, etc. Oh, and even my own Japanese type of dressing gown.
Since it was only 7 PM Japan time (which translates to 3 AM Hometime) I decided to go outside and see what was in the neighbourhood. I can't begin to explain everything I saw in the hour I was gone. There are hundreds of people on the street. The traffic is busy and there is loud raucous music coming from businesses, even from speakers on streetlights. There are many places to eat and shop. Most of the shops though, are places I have no interest in: electronics, eye wear, furniture. I did go into a 'family mart'. Although the store is small, they sell ready-made single portions of food, pop, liquor, junk food, face masks (you see many people wearing these on the street), and items such as stationery, men's packaged dress shirts and many other items too weird to remember.
I came through the famous Shibuya Crossing. When the walk light turns green all the pedestrians cross every which way. My guide book said it is the worlds largest pedestrian crossing with up to 2000 people crossing at a time.
It was all just too much to take in and I was back within an hour. It is almost 9 PM here which translates to 5 AM back home. I'm kind of glad now that I don't have to get up early to take that morning tour I was thinking of. I'll figure things out tomorrow after a good sleep.
