Japan: Day One

Okay, first things first. They said there was no internet connection in my apartment, but I'm totally stealing WiFi from someone (or probably all of Japan) since I'm getting 1-3 bars in my room. SCORE!

So, I had quite an adventure today. My flight was smooth, uneventful, and boring. I got upgraded for free, which was WONDERFUL, but they were showing like six movies at a time, and only one was good: Inside Man. And I've seen it like 3 times. The rest of the movies were really standard, boring stuff like "Posiedon," and "Hoot." Blech. So that was boring, but nothing bad happened, and we landed a wee little bit early, so overall things were looking up.

Videogames make everything better. Want proof, Mom and Dad? When they asked to see my bag, they opened it up, found my ps2 and some games, and immediately got really excited about the Videogame Trade Show that had just happened in Tokyo. I smiled along, and was cleared in a total of like 15 seconds.

Now I'm in Japan, and it didn't take me long to realize how awesome the country is. I had absolutely no idea how to speak or read the language, but when I went up to the ticket-booth for JR (Japan Railways) and said "Okazaki" they charged me 11000 Yen and printed out 3 tickets, one for each train I was to be on. I was hesitant at first, because I expected the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to take me to Nagoya from Tokyo, but instead my ticket was for some backwater town called "Toyohashi" which had me worried, because I couldn't find it on a map. But I trusted the Japanese and followed my instincts, and Toyohashi ended up being a better station to catch a standard train to Okazaki from than Nagoya.

Furthermore, the trains and the train system are AMAZING. The US could learn a lot from this. The immediate feeling I got was one of comfort and welcoming, everything was quiet, relaxed, and everyone is so polite. Mom would love all of the manners that go on around here. It actually makes for a very pleasant country, since no one wants to offend you, so you end up liking everyone immediately. The train system itself is incredibly easy. You buy one destination, and you get as many tickets as there are trains you will ride. You then feed all of your tickets at once into the gate, and it verifies them. If one of your rides is already over, than it takes the ticket off your hands permanently. The signs in the stations are all well labeled, so in the end its an easy and convenient experience. Also, SWEET BABY LORD JESUS the Shinkansen is fast! And I was on the slowest version, too. It is mind blowing that these don't exist in America, because they would be really successful, they are so safe and fast.

I would also like to note the existence of Kiosks and Vending Machines. John Noyes would be in hog heaven here, because there are Kiosks (which are basically hyper-condensed but fully equipped convenience stores) about every 5 feet from what I can tell. Furthermore, the vending machines are all from the future, and contain quite a number of unusual drinks and foods. I can see John already: "Hmmmm, I woooooooooonder what button I want to push this time......"

Finally, after three trains, I arrived in Okazaki at about 830 PM. I called Yamasa from the station, but no one answered, so I took it upon myself to find them, since I needed a place to stay, and I was having trouble standing I was so tired. Armed with a cleverly printed in advance map, I wandered the UNLABELED streets of Japan. UNLABELED. No streets are named here, and the address system is re-tar-ded. I wandered in the dark through alley-sized streets acroos the world from my home until I found Yamasa, which was locked up. Not relenting, I walked around back, to find a door unlocked. Inside were a man and a woman, both older, and both apparently secretaries of a sort. They spoke very little english, so I showed them my Letters from Yamasa and they managed to get ahold of Declan Murphy, the head honcho, who came by 45 mins later to bring me to my cozy apartment, which is where I am now, about to engage in a long-overdue sleep.

All in all, I'd say it was quite a successful day.


All of the stuff I had to put into one backpack.










Magically, everything made it in but War and Peace, which was just to damn big.












About to set off on my mystical adventure.


















My first view of Japan from the Train












A view of Tokyo from the Shinkansen












The ticket to the mysterious town of Toyohashi














The Shinkansen toilet....I just had to take a picture














Another Pretty Picture, and that's all I could take before it got too dark and I had to concentrate on staying awake.