The Journey...

Well, after a long trip that started with our taxi never showing up to pick us up (that`s now a $150 parking cost at the airport we weren`t expecting), we made it to Narita airport yesterday. I barely slept at all on the plane for some reason, so I was dead tired when we got here, having been up for about 25 hours straight. We forced ourselves to stay up since it was about 4PM local time when we checked in. We chilled in our tiny room for a bit, checking out the sumo match that was on NHK, and then strolled around looking for somewhere to eat. We hit a Royal Host and I had a Japanese version of pot roast that was good. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was all I could do to stay awake until 8P so I crashed. I got up at 6A this morning and am hopefully adjusted to the time change. The plan is to hit the sumo matches if we can get tix today.

THE FLIGHT:

It wasn`t really the ordeal that I dreaded. They feed you constantly and I spent most of the time watching movies and playing the little touch screen games on the monitor that is imbedded in the seat in front of you. Though I regret seeing it on a tiny screen instead of in its full glory, Pan`s Labyrinth was awesome. Hollywoodland was OK. We lucked out because someone had actually taken the seat between Bagley and myself (which we were hoping would be unfilled tio give us more room), but the stewardess moved him somewhere else to make us all more comfortable. Let`s see if we`re that lucky on the way back.

THE TRAIN:

Even Customs and getting our baggage wasn`t much of an ordeal once we arrived. I withdrew some yen from the ATM to have cash on-hand. You need to take a train from the airport (which is outside of Tokyo). After a little confusion and apprehension with the scary Japanese ticket machine (and some help from a woman working for JR that spoke English) we took the trip to Shinagawa which was a little over an hour. Between fighting to stay awake and feeling run down, I managed to gaze out the window as we made our way. If not for the rice paddies that surround the tracks most of the way and the more ornate Japanese tile roofs on the houses, I was struck by how familiar it actually looked. I could have been looking at Atlanta or Philadelphia for most of the way. The tightly packed apartment buildings, each one with a line of laundry decorating its balcony, reminded me of Jersey shore towns.

THE HOTEL:

The Shinagawa Prince is a beautiful hotel. It has a movie theater and some kind of aquarium stadium show (which we need to check out at some point). The room is small, but I understand that is typical. You have no choice but to stow your luggage under that bed in order to conserve precious space. We`ll post pix at some point. The bathroom has a super-toilet that is heated and has a built in bidet (certainly an interesting experience for the unititiated).

That`s the rather bloated but quick update for day one from me. Pix are to follow.
-Will