Day 1 and 2

So finally catching up....

An older man from San Jose who resembled that one guy from Mythbusters -- beret, mustache and all-- helped me find my way to SFO in the morning from San Jose. This was after taking the highway 17 express from Santa Cruz at 6:20 am. A lot of travel before even embarking on the overseas trip.

The plane ride was uneventful though painfully long. A few movies... the new Indiana Jones movie, Speed Racer (not sure why I watched this, but I couldn't look away...) and one called 10 Items or Less, which I liked. I'm not as phased by long durations of travel much anymore, but I couldn't seem to fall asleep at all. Singapore Airlines is nice, though I didn't go poking through first class. We had lunch and then another light meal, plus all the wine we wanted and random other little things. Prettiest flight attendants too.

I have a theory that white people are seated next to each other on these flights. At least that's been my experience. This time, I sat next to a guy named Mac on the plane, who's a lawyer living in Tokyo. He gave me some pointers on stuff to do in Japan as well as got me hooked up with a Japanese cell phone. I don't know if I'll use it the whole time, but it seemed like a good idea. I may get together with him sometime later this week for lunch or dinner, coffee or drinks.

But I am back in Japan, specifically Tokyo where apartment buildings with small or no windows lie on both sides of the tracks, creeping closer to the trains the further I get into the city until they all but touch the tracks, closer closer and then we pass over them. It would be an odd way to live. But from the trains, it's close enough to look into kitchens illuminated by florescent bulbs, which give a sterile but somewhat uninviting feel. My hotel room at Hotel Parklane Nishi-kasai was the usual closet size, but very nice. The toilet makes the sound of water running when I sit on it.

I found my hotel with little incident. In typical Emily fashion, I make only the bear minimum of preparations. I didn't get directions from the station to the hotel. I simply looked at where it was relative to the station and figured if I headed south west a little, I'd find it. I basically did.

Yesterday was spent mostly running around Tokyo and familiarizing myself with the Tokyo metro. I was also in need of internet access to book a hostel room for the night. I headed into Ginza and was unable to find any wifi to steal. I roamed a little, trying not to get wet and seeming to get lost at every turn. I'd been there before in highschool, but I recognized none of it. I poked around in a bookstore, looking at Tokyo guides trying to find even one internet cafe and ended up heading to Takadanobaba where one guide book said there was a place. Unable to find it, but lucky enough to stumble onto another internet cafe, I braved the world of private booths, leather chairs and tons of manga. But I secured myself a hostel, "close" by at least by my standards. The hostel, Ace Inn Shinjuku, was actually harder to get to than I expected and I ended up needing to go through Shinjuku station, which claims 2 million passersby a day. Crazy busy. I've never seen anything like it, but thankfully I seemed to get through without much problem.

The hostel is nice. The room I'm in is a mixed 28-bed one, but instead of bunk beds, it's much like the capsule hotels that Japan boasts. Clean, nice people, and quiet. My shoulders hurt like crazy after carrying around my 30lb pack all day, so I decided to take a nap around 7 pm.

I didn't get up back up.


Current Music: None
Current Mood: Relaxed
Current Location : Akebonobashi, Tokyo