My dirty little secret from last night is that I didn't have the energy to shower before going to bed. I just walked in my room and crashed on the futon. And not one of those pansy western style fold out couch types! This is hardcore Japanese mattress on a tatami floor we're talking about. It's not as bad as it may sound, though I do look forward to my nice pillow top bed at home. While the Japanese may be years ahead of us in socks with big toe holes, we're still number one when it comes to mattresses. USA! USA! USA! Moving on. As mentioned, no shower last night. Which all of you veteran travelers know is kind of... bleh, after a long flight. Sadly, stupor and fatigue won the day. But fear not! This morning I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5:45am or so and took a shower! After which I promptly went back to bed until about 9:45. No idea why forty five minutes after the hour is coming up so much but there it is. Coincidences sometimes make life interesting, I guess.
After my 3 hour power nap this morning, I decided to head out for just a bit. Knowing I'm not really feeling too great today I figured I'd take the train to Ueno station, the biggest station nearby, and get a quick bite to eat. After that I thought I'd pop over to Shibuya and see how that looks. Spoiler: it looks the same as it did five years ago EXCEPT for one building next to the station which is being demolished. I think it was a pachinko parlor before, since it's on a road filled with them. I didn't get too close, so no idea what's going up next.
As I said, I'm not really feeling great today, so I'm back in my room writing this scintillating post. I've also uploaded the 8 or so pics I've taken over the last couple of days, so why not show them? And I know what you're thinking: 8 pics?! Yes, I am not really a picture-taking kind of person. It's hard for me to figure out what to take pictures of (I know I've covered this before). I'm going to do my best to change that this trip, though! Here's what we've got so far.
First off, the flight from NYC to Tokyo goes over the polar ice cap. Or at least a place that looks how I imagine the ice cap to look, so that's what I'm calling it. According to the in-flight map, this is a pic of somewhere in Ontario. There's a lot of snow.
And no, that isn't a bullet hole in the glass on the bottom right. It's frost! I was careful to not touch the window too much as all I needed was to be liable for the cost of replacing THAT after the flight. I can imagine the airline really screws you on that kind of thing.
This one is the landscape somewhere over Alaska. Snow and mountains. Snow and mountains.
I have to be honest... It's entirely possible that I've confused these two pictures. The fact is, I don't even care to look at the time stamps to see which comes first. I mean, sure, maybe my Canadian friends can tell the difference but really, does it matter?
PS: I love all my Canadian friends. You're awesome!
Narita airport train station. Many of the train stations here are also malls. Big (though with low ceilings. Makes me feel like a giant sometimes!), sprawling malls. The thing that I find most confusing is that most of the time the signs say to walk on the left. Which makes sense as we're in Japan. However, a sizable number of stairways have signs saying walk to the right! I usually just do the American thing and walk wherever the hell I want. Like it even matters; I'm looking at my iPod anyway...
It's cherry blossom season! I believe the peak viewing time is the beginning of April, which is convenient. I think that's going to be a few days when I actually manage to take a lot of pictures. Sure, most of us could just hop down to DC and see the blossoms there, but I'm told that DC show is a pale shadow of what they've got here. I guess we'll see.This is a tree they have in Ueno station, I'm assuming as an advertisement for something. No idea what the panda is for, but it's cute. Oh, and after I took this pic, the young ladies there happened to turn around and gave me a look. Maybe they thought I was taking a picture of them? I mean, I kind of was, but they were collateral picture folder. Wrong place, wrong time ladies!
I like this one simply because it shows the mayhem that is the Tokyo subway system. And this map is one of the less intimidating ones! The reason I'm posting this (a map on the platform at Ueno station) is because of my logistical issue. Notice the green shaded area in the center. That is bounded by the JR Yamanote line (almost wrote Yamato there! Hey, StarBlazers fans!), a train which circles around greater Tokyo. Roughly, I was at the top right and wanted to go to the bottom left. I guess it didn't really matter which train I took (going left or right) since it seems about equidistant each way.
That's about it for now. I've got a few more outside shots or what I consider a typical view from train platforms (Hint: a lot of powerlines and buildings with brightly colored signs). Will probably do a separate post on that. Please contain your excitement.
Time for a nap!
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