Day 3 - Japan
Well part of this day was actually from yesterday, but after i got back at 7:30, I went to bed thinking I'd nap for a few hours, but I ended up sleeping for 12 hours. By the time I woke up, there wasn't much I could do, so I planned out the next day and figured out how to ride the trains by myself before going back to bed. I think I was only awake for something like 6 hours...
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Day 2 - Japan
I met with Sherry at Mister Donuts to catch up and so that she could show me around a bit. Well I was supposed to, at least. I walked right past the building and got a block further before I happened to run into her in the street. That was a close one. We went back to the shop which was only two doors down and across the street from my hotel ( I had walked right next to it the previous night). The door said push, but it was clearly a sliding door, so I tried to slide it open, to which Sherry freaked out. Turns out it really did mean push: what I thought was a handle was actually a button... whoops! After realizing the store wasn't even open, Sherry took me around Hachioji to show me the two stations, Keio and JR, as well as some of the local shops. It was definitely interesting to see what was the same and what was different, although I didn't get anything. Sherry bought a pair of boots, and it was entertaining watching her try to communicate with the staff. Lots of awkward laughter. It turned out that Sherry hadn't slept at all because of a screwed up circadian rhythm, so after we went back and got those donuts before she went home.
I went back to my hotel for a bit to figure out my internet situation, and then set out to explore Hachioji. I only went South, and stuck to one main street, since I really didn't want to get lost. After a while, I took a detour through a park. It was pretty. (awkward segue for pictures woo!)
It led me to a path along the Asa riverbed which looks somewhat like the Santa Ana riverbed and connected trail in California, except that the writing on the trail was in Japanese.
Two things that stood out: under one of the bridges, there was a ton of koi fish, one of which was white, so it actually showed up in pictures.
And, there was a guy playing an instrument under a bridge, but he was on the side away from the trail, so he obviously wasn't soliciting money. You can hear a little in this video
After a long train ride to Yokohama, we met up with a bunch of other people and went to Ayani's house for dinner before going to Yokohama square for the count down. Afterwards we wandered around Yokohama for a few hours before going back to Ayani's house and playing games. We were out all night, and by the time I got back, breakfast was being served at the hotel!
I met with Sherry at Mister Donuts to catch up and so that she could show me around a bit. Well I was supposed to, at least. I walked right past the building and got a block further before I happened to run into her in the street. That was a close one. We went back to the shop which was only two doors down and across the street from my hotel ( I had walked right next to it the previous night). The door said push, but it was clearly a sliding door, so I tried to slide it open, to which Sherry freaked out. Turns out it really did mean push: what I thought was a handle was actually a button... whoops! After realizing the store wasn't even open, Sherry took me around Hachioji to show me the two stations, Keio and JR, as well as some of the local shops. It was definitely interesting to see what was the same and what was different, although I didn't get anything. Sherry bought a pair of boots, and it was entertaining watching her try to communicate with the staff. Lots of awkward laughter. It turned out that Sherry hadn't slept at all because of a screwed up circadian rhythm, so after we went back and got those donuts before she went home.
I went back to my hotel for a bit to figure out my internet situation, and then set out to explore Hachioji. I only went South, and stuck to one main street, since I really didn't want to get lost. After a while, I took a detour through a park. It was pretty. (awkward segue for pictures woo!)
It led me to a path along the Asa riverbed which looks somewhat like the Santa Ana riverbed and connected trail in California, except that the writing on the trail was in Japanese.
After finishing my little adventure, I met back up with Sherry for New Years. We met with three of her friends: Yoko, Wesley and Geoffrey. While waiting for Wes and Geoff, the other three of us went to burger king and an arcade. We played a taiko game and got a burger king crown which we passed around all night.
Day 1 - Japan
My flight touched down in Narita at about 9:00 pm, almost half an hour ahead of schedule. It's my first time in Japan--Asia even--I'm alone, and I don't know a word of Japanese. For some reason I'm nervous... huh, go figure.
It's a long walk from the gate to the immigration checkpoint, and by the time I've made it through, the bags are already on the carousel. My bags in hand, it's now time for customs, and my first interaction with a Japanese person. The customs officer spoke to me in Japanese (obviously) and I just stared wide-eyed for a few seconds before finally saying, "I don't speak Japanese." Narita's a huge airport, with tons of international flights, so the customs officers all speak English, and I was worried over nothing. For the moment.
After customs, a lot less people spoke English, and I went to the bathroom twice before mustering up the courage to talk to the people at the information desk. I found out that I needed to take a bus to Keio Station Hachioji, unfortunately they didn't say which one before grabbing their things and heading out. I guess no one who gets to Tokyo after 10:00 needs information. Three counters, two maps of places I'm not going to and some sort of internet pamphlet later, I wind up at the airport limousine desk out of desperation, and it turns out that is where i need to be and--luckily--the lady speaks enough English to figure out what I'm saying. I had looked up Hachioji relative to Tokyo before, and it said it was ~45 minutes away depending on how you travel, so I was really confused and worried when My ticket was 3700 yen and 150 minutes (or maybe an hour and 50 minutes, it's hard to tell when you don't speak the language), but it had Hachioji in romaji as well as kanji, so I decided I had screwed up earlier, and went with the ticket. The bus stop had two staff to guide us into the correct lines and help with luggage, and every time a "limousine" drove by they bowed. The bus itself was just a normal long distance bus, and was empty except for the Chinese family that got on with me and two Japanese people who got on later.The bus ride was uneventful: highways in Tokyo are mostly toll roads with nice pavements and even nicer walls to block the sounds of traffic, so I couldn't see very much besides a few billboards. Yep, that's Japanese.
The fun part was after the bus got to Hachioji. Japanese addresses are weird, so I had trouble finding a map or the location of my hotel before I got to Hachioji, and even if I had, there are few street names, so it would have been next to impossible to figure out where I was on said map. I asked my driver if he knew where my hotel was and he looked confused then ran away. I was even more confused than he looked until I saw him move the bus out of the stop to a place where he could park it and come back. He asked a random pedestrian who also had no clue and he looked really dismayed before finally he got the idea to ask a cabbie, which worked instantly. I half guessed at what the cabbie was saying and it worked! The hotel was just around the corner, and I walked straight to it from the bus stop, without any problems. Checking in was a bit interesting, as it was 11:30, and the only person at the front desk didn't speak much English, but I showed her a screen shot of my reservation and the paperwork I needed to fill out had English, so I was able to catch a break there. One thing that caught me by surprise was after she held up a tooth brush and razor and asked, "You have shaver tooth brush?", I said no and she ducked down and pulled up two bags with TEN OF EACH! Do people really use a different razor and toothbrush everyday here?
I found my room on the tenth floor, and it is small, but it's cheap and has everything I need.
My flight touched down in Narita at about 9:00 pm, almost half an hour ahead of schedule. It's my first time in Japan--Asia even--I'm alone, and I don't know a word of Japanese. For some reason I'm nervous... huh, go figure.
It's a long walk from the gate to the immigration checkpoint, and by the time I've made it through, the bags are already on the carousel. My bags in hand, it's now time for customs, and my first interaction with a Japanese person. The customs officer spoke to me in Japanese (obviously) and I just stared wide-eyed for a few seconds before finally saying, "I don't speak Japanese." Narita's a huge airport, with tons of international flights, so the customs officers all speak English, and I was worried over nothing. For the moment.
After customs, a lot less people spoke English, and I went to the bathroom twice before mustering up the courage to talk to the people at the information desk. I found out that I needed to take a bus to Keio Station Hachioji, unfortunately they didn't say which one before grabbing their things and heading out. I guess no one who gets to Tokyo after 10:00 needs information. Three counters, two maps of places I'm not going to and some sort of internet pamphlet later, I wind up at the airport limousine desk out of desperation, and it turns out that is where i need to be and--luckily--the lady speaks enough English to figure out what I'm saying. I had looked up Hachioji relative to Tokyo before, and it said it was ~45 minutes away depending on how you travel, so I was really confused and worried when My ticket was 3700 yen and 150 minutes (or maybe an hour and 50 minutes, it's hard to tell when you don't speak the language), but it had Hachioji in romaji as well as kanji, so I decided I had screwed up earlier, and went with the ticket. The bus stop had two staff to guide us into the correct lines and help with luggage, and every time a "limousine" drove by they bowed. The bus itself was just a normal long distance bus, and was empty except for the Chinese family that got on with me and two Japanese people who got on later.The bus ride was uneventful: highways in Tokyo are mostly toll roads with nice pavements and even nicer walls to block the sounds of traffic, so I couldn't see very much besides a few billboards. Yep, that's Japanese.
The fun part was after the bus got to Hachioji. Japanese addresses are weird, so I had trouble finding a map or the location of my hotel before I got to Hachioji, and even if I had, there are few street names, so it would have been next to impossible to figure out where I was on said map. I asked my driver if he knew where my hotel was and he looked confused then ran away. I was even more confused than he looked until I saw him move the bus out of the stop to a place where he could park it and come back. He asked a random pedestrian who also had no clue and he looked really dismayed before finally he got the idea to ask a cabbie, which worked instantly. I half guessed at what the cabbie was saying and it worked! The hotel was just around the corner, and I walked straight to it from the bus stop, without any problems. Checking in was a bit interesting, as it was 11:30, and the only person at the front desk didn't speak much English, but I showed her a screen shot of my reservation and the paperwork I needed to fill out had English, so I was able to catch a break there. One thing that caught me by surprise was after she held up a tooth brush and razor and asked, "You have shaver tooth brush?", I said no and she ducked down and pulled up two bags with TEN OF EACH! Do people really use a different razor and toothbrush everyday here?
I found my room on the tenth floor, and it is small, but it's cheap and has everything I need.
Finally, the 12 hour flight, 90 minute bus ride and constant worrying caught up with me. I put my bags down, turned off the lights and flopped in bed...Only to be surprised by a hard pillow. I opened up the pillowcase to find a mesh bag of plastic tubes as a pillow. I don't know if it's that I'm used to sleeping on my arm, or that I was completely exhausted, but I fell asleep with no problem.
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