Tune in Tokyo! (Day 1)

Ohayoo! Or at least, good morning from Tokyo...it's 7 AM in on Monday the 15th of January, where my story begins. Technically, it started at 7:30 on Saturday morning in Abbotsford, when I woke up to head to the airport, but that sounds less cool.

Here is my message, to you, which I started to document from my lovely hotel room at the Tachikawa Grand Hotel...which is about the size of your average bedroom in Altona.

I left Vancouver at noon on Saturday the 13th…








Snowy at my departure (poop sandwich)








(My up, up, and away shots)




(Only ONE hour left!!!! Shizz!)






(My first sign of Japan life!)


(Land! Japan land! Shizz!)




(What is this crap? Did I fly to Manitoba by mistake?)

…and I arrived 3:20 PM local time (about 10 PM BC time, and midnight MB time) Sunday afternoon (the 14th) at Narita.



The whole flight was really sunny, so it didn't feel that long, which is good when you are flying almost 10 hours. Upon arrival, I grabbed my (ONE!) bag (be impressed…be very impressed) and managed to get to the train and hop on the Narita express for Shinjuku, which is where I was going to meet my dear buddy Jean.


First Japanese bathroom sign! (I was amped at this point that I was someplace foreign.)


Waiting for the Narita Express.


Whoo hoo! We have train!






My first peak at the Tokyo Station.

Upon arriving in Shinjuku, thankfully I found Jean almost immediately. We then proceed to lock up my luggage in a train station locker and ate at a ramen bar in the station.




First meal! Oishi! (Delicious!)

Then it was off to Shibuya, where we went to a café for the movie Nana 2.






Aaaaaand there was no cake left. Bunk….BUNK! Anyways, Nana is basically my favorite Japanese movie of all time, and the manga (comics) are really fun. I went to see that movie on Monday the 15th and understood only miniscule parts because it was in Japanese. Best. But back to Sunday night...upon arriving in Shibuya, it was another world! One which I had previously only imagined. The highrises, the neon lights, the people...it was like Times Square in New York, but far busier and filled with Japanese people!







We didn't hang around down there too long since I needed to come check into my hotel, but we were heading back there on Wednesday.

This is my hotel…













After checking in, we went to a mini-supa (supermarket) across the street from my hotel in which we elicited some people trying to talk to us in English and a lady asking where we were from (which became the norm after a few days).



I picked up your standard fare of noodles, pocky/pretz, and some yogurt.


How happy I was to see this face again!

Today (Monday) I woke up at 6 since I can't sleep due to the excitement. At 10, I'm heading over to Hino where Jean is and we are going to go eat some tonkatsu (breaded pork!) and have people stare at us.

Tuesday I will meet up with Haruka (exchange student from good ol’ W.C. Miller days), since she took the day off. We are going to be heading to Harajuku for some Gwen Stefani song-type fun. No big deal.

I'm going to be meeting up with Jen (my oldest-skool buddy) on Saturday (the 20th) in Kyoto and will be with her until next Wednesday (the 24th), when I head back into Tokyo until Sunday (the 28th), when I leave for home...boo! I don't want to think about that yet. We have SOOOOO much planned (including a new tattoo!) so I will have lots of fun.

”As of now” update: I know my verb tenses vary here, but this is merely for narrative purposes and I apologize for any inconsistencies.

NEXT ON THE DOCKET: Day of shopping fun in Shinjuku and Nana 2! I’m going to break this down daily so I don’t O.D. on the blogging. Lots more to come.

Ja nae!