Day 3 - The Longest Day, pt. 2b

I said it was the longest day so might as well make it the longest journal! As you saw in the last journal, I just arrived off of the plane into the terminal at Narita airport. I found it unusual because it looked exactly the same as other airports until you tried to read things. Here's the first sign I saw...

Here is a door with a strange sign...

A close up...

I figured it had to be important since it was so close to the exit.

I tried to do the "running man" but the door would not open!

I had numerous Japanese people walk by and murmur something. Using my advanced Japanese language, I quickly translated their expressions into "Wow, look at that amazing American specimen! We must go to the United States and bring more here to populate our country!" Well, that's what I think they said...

Here is a sampling of pictures walking through the airport...The one thing that really stuck in my mind about this stroll was that it was extremely clean and quiet. There were people running around everywhere but the only people making noise or talking loudly were those Americans. How rude!

Welcome to Japan!	Want to make a call back home?
Couldn't read anything except for the numbers...
Advertising still the same!	I guess this means I go down...
I had to take this picture quickly at customs because I was being scolded by a security guard. Apparently I just walked past a sign that says "No cameras"!	Being the rebel I am, I waited in line and snapped this photo. I had to give this along with my passport to get out of this area.
They sold tons of every item in here...	Look! A Post Office!

We picked up our bags, got a cart, and had to walk about a good distance to our buses. The JFMFer's looked like a trail of ants going through the airport. I was just hoping that the person in front knew where they were going! Then, I started passing people in the JFMF program. They had huge smiles and would bow repeatedly at the line walking by. What a weird experience!

Here's our ant line...

A view of the front of the airport...

Now you can see why I looked so cool!

We threw our luggage on the back of the truck below and boarded the bus with other members of our prefecture (again, mine is Soka, Saitama). A prefecture in Japan is like our states. When Japanese people ask where we were going, you would reply Saitama and not Soka. It's like asking a Japanese tourist in the U.S. where they are going and they reply "Smallville". It could be anywhere...

I was a little concerned throwing my bag into the back of what looked like a U-Haul!

After boarding, we were handed our meals cash for the week. Here it is! Woohoo!

Oh yeah...daddy likes the cash!

A total of 26,000 Yen for our trip! How much is that?

Here are some shots of Tokyo on the bus ride in to the hotel. It was an HOUR ride from the airport!! Keep in mind that this was after an 11-hour flight, waiting around all day, etc. I was fine because of the adrenaline rush!

Finally, we arrive at the hotel! Whenever we mentioned to somebody that we were staying in the New Otani hotel, we got quite pleasing responses. Many "oooohs" and "aaaaahs" and even one "mmmmm"! Here are some pictures of my room.

View from my front door	My bathroom
Too bad it won't stay this clean	Ahhh...time for a bath! I'll include those pictures later...
More explanation to come on this...Stay tuned!

What a relief! It is now 5:00 in the afternoon (Tokyo time) and there is no time for rest! We were told that dinner would be on our own but there would be some Fulbright volunteers available to meet us and take us out to dinner if we wanted. Some went to their rooms and crashed for the night but I didn't think twice about the opportunity! Besides...I can rest in 3 weeks.

Music was played on these Japanese instruments

We met with Eiji Tanaka, a fellow Fulbrighter 40 years ago, and he took us to the Ginza region. In order to get there, we had to ride the Metro. It was a little more difficult not being in English. We managed to insert our money into the machines with help from Eiji.

We put in our money to get our subway ticket.	See, I told you we did!
Hey kids...don't step in front of moving vehicles	My first Japanese subway ride...how special

The Ginza district is a lot like what I imagine New York to be. A lot of lights, action, people, etc. Here, see for yourself!

I wonder who thought of that pose...And what is that sign over my right shoulder?

It was beautiful ! Keep in mind that we had not slept in about 24 hours at this point!

Notice the traffic. Cars drive on the left hand side. You have to be careful when crossing the street!

Before eating, we went into two traditional Japanese stores. One was a paper store and sold postcards, pens, paper, basically anything paper. The other store specialized in chopsticks. I didn't realize all the different varieties of chopsticks. No pictures of these...you'll have to take my word.

Off to dinner we go...We went to a place called Tori Gin. Here are pictures of the evening...

Sign outside of the restaurant	This was the menu. Thankfully, Eiji ordered for us!
That's right...There are a lot of women on this trip!	Our meal arrives. We split three different meals throughout the group. The meat consisted of a variety of chicken, pork, shrimp, and fish.
The other items included chicken egg yolks, quail eggs, ginto, onions, peppers, white rice, and green tea. Yes, mom, I tried it all!	We split the bill between us all. My contribution was 1500 Yen (shown). I did get a 100 Yen coin back in change.
Photo opportunity	Display of the different meals in the store window.

We left the restaurant and headed back home. Current time in Tokyo is 20:40 (8:40 p.m.) This now means that I have been awake a really long time!

While these two pictures are blurry, the artist in me feel that they really capture the action.... As of right now, these are my favorite "artsy-fartsy" photos.
See, I told you it was 20:40!

The final thing to do was to get back on the subway and head home. Eiji rode with us to our stop and then continued home. He lives about 30 minutes away via the subway and describes this as very close in Toyko time.

Signs in the subway

Here's my subway ticket. You don't get to keep them.

I'm finishing up this (Tuesday's) journal Wednesday evening...so far I haven't had much free time so if I get a little behind, please forgive me. I want to make sure I give my best effort!