Japan Day 1

Published on by Yinglan

After 24 hours in transit – a train ride to the airport and 3 plane changes later, I finally arrived in the land of the Rising Sun. I can’t say the flight was at all comfortable and I can’t say I liked the part where I am waiting at airports with inconsistent internet speed but I’m glad to the transit is at least temporarily over.

One thing I would say, of all the flights I’ve been on in the last year, this has been one of those flights where I got to doze off for a couple of hours, which is a sign I’m probably very tired. It might also be a sign I’m getting used to flying. I remember last year to New York. My brain wouldn’t shut off and let me sleep for the duration of the flight and ended up getting next to no sleep for 20 hours.

As I’m writing this post on my phone, I’m about 3 hours from landing. It will be around 4 AM by the time the plane lands, which is early for this flight.

I can’t say I’m well-rested after the people sitting next to me decided to turn on the reading light and practice writing Japanese characters. No, I’m not talking about my mother. We were separated in our seat assignment. I guess it’s one of the perks and disadvantages of these low-cost fares, we don’t get to pick our seats. No, it’s a middle-aged couple sitting next to me while I get the window seat. I can’t say I like the window seat on these long flights as I can’t get up and move about if I needed to. My knees began screaming at me about an hour into the flight. All I could say was, “Sorry knees, 9 more hours to go.”

Oh, I am wondering what my next meal will be. About 2 hours into the flight, the flight attendant handed out a box with a tuna croissant sandwich, banana, and a brownie, not what I was expecting on a Japanese airline. But I was hungry enough to eat anything placed in front of me. So…

Breakfast

The other thing I was not expecting was the headphone jack didn’t work. So the only way to keep myself entertained was playing word search on my phone, writing this post, start reading a James Patterson novel, and of course, sleep.

I didn’t take many pictures today. We went straight to the hotel from the airport and once we were there, I didn’t really want to go out, not when it was 90-degrees with 70% humidity outside. On our way to the hotel, I was sweating through my shirt and by the time we reached the hotel, my shirt was dotted with blobs of sweat. Ugh, I hate this humid weather. It reminded me of the summer in Texas and thank goodness I’ve brought enough clothes as I had a feeling I might be changing my shirts often.

11 thoughts on “Japan Day 1”

  2. Welcome to Tokyo… I see you’re in Shinjuku. Fun area. You could spend your entire trip exploring the surrounding neighborhoods. Unfortunately, it’s usually a few more weeks before it really cools off. If you check out the “salaryman” suits carefully, they’re see-through thin.

    I used to love ANA, but their 787 seating changed that. JAL runs 8-wide in economy. But ANA’s 9-wide makes for 17-inch seats – cattle flights. The crowding also limits luggage and carry-on capacity. You have my sympathies.

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    1. Thank you. I’ll be staying in Shinjuku for the next few days and I agree, there are plenty to explore but the weather, oh my, and not many people can understand English and all the Japanese I learned the past 2 months seemed to had flown out the window.
      Meanwhile, my mom and her friend seem to assume everyone speaks English, which is frustrating on so many levels.

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      1. Ha! Yeah… maybe 5% of Japanese in downtown Tokyo can actually *speak* passable English… and mostly in places that deal with foreign visitors. Shinkansen announcements are also in English, and local rail stops in Tokyo always have a station sign in English. But you’ll recognize the name in the Japanese stop announcement anyway. If you use a taxi, you can simply write the kanji for the destination on a piece of paper and hand it to the driver. If you ever really get stuck, go to a police koban. Especially in places like Shinjuku, at least one of the officers will likely speak English. But people will be very appreciative of any attempts at Japanese… even just, “Gomen nasai… Wakarimasen,” or an “arigatou”.

        Good place to be adventurous… It’s pretty safe, even at night, even in Kabukicho (the red light district to the northeast). Have fun!

        As for the weather, even the locals just hang in there until October.

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      2. Ha, my mom won’t use public transit, for some strange reason, let alone a taxi. She just wanted to walk almost 2 miles from Akihabara to Asakusa. I was like, “not in this pouring rain and sticky weather.” 😄 I have been attempting to speak Japanese in certain situations and it seems to help.

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