I woke up a bit before 4:30am and was ready to go including
having a cup of coffee by 5:15.
Ironically the limousine showed up at 5:15 so I really didn’t have to
wait at all. My chauffer was named Angelo and is apparently Greek by descent
who used to go to Greece quite often but not so much right now. He asked
whether we should go highway or route 1, I said we could try the highway and
brought him through North Andover to 125 and then on to 93 where we came into
Logan through the tunnel. We talked about traffic and routes around the area
and travel and such while getting there he was very personable and friendly and
it made the ride more interesting. He
dropped me off at the United gate for terminal B. I entered the premier check
in line and didn’t have to wait too long. I had first class seat 3B to Newark.
The ticket gave me access to the TSA Pre for security and I used it of course.
This would happen to me: The girl running the x-ray machine caused it to crash
twice so we took a bit of extra time getting through than we should have but
still it was almost no line and only a couple extra minutes at worst. After passing through security I was very
early to the 8:25 departure time for my flight. It being only 6:15 or so I had
a lot of time to kill so I wandered back and forth and bought some knick-knacks
and then sat and checked my work email and started to write this.
The flight info said the plane to Newark would be a Boeing
737-900ER. It appeared the plane head landed and deboarded on time so it would
not be a major issue about it being late unless something else went wrong. I
looked at my flight times and I would have an hour to the departure for the
plane to Narita Airport in Tokyo after I landed so I had to hope there would be
no delays at all. Another plane set up to depart to Newark an hour before ours
was delayed by half an hour and that was a bit of a concern. The weather in NYC was supposed to be ok
though.
We actually arrived a bit early as we departed a bit early and the plane was not full. It took a few minutes to get across the C terminal (the gates are always on opposite sides of course) but I still had about an hour until departure time when I got there. I chose to get a turkey, ham and cheese sandwich, some chips and a coffee when at the NY Deli place near the gate (I am familiar with this location in Newark). By the time I was finished eating we were already boarding.
Being on Business First Class I was on the plane quickly and found myself in seat 2D which was inside aisle (both inside business class seats are aisle) which meant no one had to step over me to go to the bathroom or anything. The plane was not completely full from what I could tell and again boarding seemed to be quick and easy. They served us water and I drank my coffee just after I got on. Knowing we had a little while I tried to watch a movie but the system kept freezing every couple minutes and it got frustrating. I tried a second movie and it also failed. After a little bit the manager turned off the entertainment system to reboot it because apparently everyone was having issues. The plane was a Boeing 777-200. The seats folded to beds so as we were taking off they took our meal order and I tried the Japanese Menu. This meant I needed to stay awake until they served the food so I watched The Lego Movie when the system was rebooted. It didn't freeze this time. I liked the Lego Movie. It was fun. I ate while it was going. The Japanese menu had a sushi starter (shrimp, crab and oddly okra). Then the tray of stuff came out. There were pickles and squid and candied octopus and grilled fish and noodles and rice balls and soup and tea. I made my way around but didn't finish everything. Most of it was good. I wasn't too fond of the tempura pickles. After eating and the Lego Movie was over I turned on The Nut Job but it only took a couple of minutes to realize it was not entertaining to me and I chose to sleep through it.When it ended I turned down the entertainment system and slept for a while longer. I woke up at some point and watched Thor: The Dark World and found it to be less offensive than the first Thor movie but I still didn't really like it. After Thor I watched a Japanese movie called The Tale of Samurai Cooking: A Love Story. It was drama with some dry humor but was serious mainly even though I expected it to be comedy. It was a very Japanese storyline about how their duty made the two main characters love each other though cooking. I am sure the vast majority of my friends would not like it. I did enjoy it. After that I slept some more and managed to go until they asked about breakfast where I eventually got corn flakes, yogurt and fruit. While waiting and eating I watched a Chinese movie called The Four which was a very convoluted murder mystery wire-fu oddity. I had a hard time following it especially because with it being subtitled some of the text went through so fast it was near impossible to read. Anyway the story was strange too. After the movie was over I waited it out by watching the flight map until we landed.
Getting through passport control and customs were both quick. There were no lines and my bag was the second off the plane. I found the counter for the Kesei Skyliner train to Asakusa where I was staying. The train ride was more like a subway train and took about 50 minutes. It was not too difficult to get to that point then I had to find the hotel and I made the mistake of trusting my GPS on my phone which basically walked me so far away from where I should have been that a 3 minute walk took an hour a half or so. I obviously looked pathetic enough that a very kind Japanese man with the aid of another woman further along helped me find the hotel which was right off the main Sensoji temple complex only a few minutes away from the train station too. I got checked in and after sweating from carrying the backpack and dragging the suitcase I immediately took a shower and got settled in. I didn't even take room pictures before I did that. After cleaning up I took the room pictures, tried to contact Marina and wrote this. It was about 6:30pm by the time I could rest a bit. I relaxed with the TV on for a few. When I realized she was probably working I chose to run out and get a look around at the orientation of the hotel to the landmarks around it then maybe get some food. It was probably around 7pm or so and already darkening out. I wandered for a few minutes until I found a 7-11 and got some money out of the bank to have cash on hand. I found the train station too right next door which was a big plus. Then I walked over to the Sensoji Temple complex to get the orientation of the hotel to that. It is right on the edge of it. I didn't really go through the complex as it was already basically shut down for the night. All of the vendors in the neighboring streets were also closing down for the evening. There are a ton of restaurants right there. A lot of them open air where you can sit outside. I was however a solo gaijin and I panicked a little about choosing someplace to eat so in my wanderings I saw a McDonald's and chose that. As soon as I sat down I recognized a ticket restaurant that I know I liked right next door but it was too late. I will comfort myself in the fact I ate mainly Japanese food on the plane. I will start pushing for it as Sunday starts as well.
After eating I really wandered only a little bit more. Back to the 7-11 and bought a can of Sapporo Beer and a small box of cheese flavored crunchies which turned out to be maybe a bit sweet for me in bulk but went well with beer anyway. I watched a bit of television and started to fall asleep some time later and probably actually fell asleep by 10pm.
The pictures from Japan Day 1 are located here.
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