Here we go. Adventure time. All or nothing.
The plane ride over was pretty good overall. Tom Bradley out of LAX is actually rather pleasant to deal with. They really feed you well on Malaysian Airlines, and I'd definitely recommend them for their courtesy to customers. I was lucky enough to get a window seat assigned to me, so I had the beautiful view of nonstop water on the ride over. I tried my best not to sleep at all so I would be exhausted by the time we reached the hotel at 11:30PM (more on that mistake later). While there, I read the entirety of Daytripper, which nearly made me cry in a few places. I couldn't recommend a comic any more than this; it's just a piece of literary beauty everyone should read. Swamp Thing was fantastic too and I definitely want to read more of it. Of course I had to give in to my Pokemon addiction and start playing Pokemon Black (thanks Luis!), so now my fire pig and I are on a grand journey with Scotty the scottish terrier, Scoops the crack-hamster, and Iisa-mew, my best feline friend. Dissidia Final Fantasy is complicated, but fairly fun to play. The trip went by quickly enough, though maybe that's due to my growing accustomed to long plane rides via Boston and Europe trips.
The best part of the plane ride was the arrival, and not for the reason you might think. I opened the window just as we finally saw land and gazed out at the unending expanse of blue-white lights, so much more numerous than yellow-orange lights we're used to in the US. However, after the cabin lights dimmed, I continued looking out and was absolutely shocked to see a flash of lightning illuminate the sky behind a curtain of clouds. It went off once, twice, four times in total, almost like the heartbeat of a Thunder God welcoming me in. "Come, come my child, for all the adventures you'll surely have". So awe-inspiring. I definitely count myself amongst the luckiest.
Immediately upon stepping off the plane, my first thought was: "WHY AM I SWEATING BUCKETS AT 8PM". The humidity and heat here are despicable. Truly unlike anything I've experienced before. But so is the sky. It just looks different than the sky in the US. It's hard to explain, but it's almost rounder than the flatness we're used to, as David put it later on.
Customs and immigration took almost an hour and a half, not to mention waiting for a shuttle to take us from the gate to immigration. It was a straightforward process, but it did make it so that, once I met up with David and Anastasia, we had missed the Narita Express train to Totsuka station in Yokohama. Thusly, we got to wander aimlessly and wonder for the longest time how we would get there without our planned source of transportation. Manga tells us trains stop running around midnight, so why you do this to us, NEX? (；△；) The first taxi driver who offered his services wanted 10,000 yen ($120) for three of us, but we had not found Anastasia yet, so we had to put him off. Eventually we got Anastasia, but by then, our man had disappeared. We approached a group of taxi drivers standing outside and they told us they wanted 30,000 ($400) for the ride. As we turned down their offer and walked away, I could hear the snickers of the old men. Surely they were amused by the foreign students who couldn't afford their overpriced services. Sigh.
From there, we decided to train hop and get as close as we could to Totsuka. Thankfully a really nice station officer helped us literally RUN to snatch the last Commuter Express train towards Ueno. He had said we needed to transfer to Yamanote, but failed to tell us (at least clearly enough) what stop we needed. So every stop we wondered "Is this where we transfer? How about now? Maybe we'll leave when everyone else leaves?" The decision-making came to a head when we reached the next-to-last stop. Nowhere had said we could transfer to Yamanote on any map we saw, and neither did the train notify us of the option to change lines to it. Simply, the next-to-last stop said transfer for "All JR Lines". By assuming Yamanote was a JR line, we could either have become supremely lost or continued on the right way. Thankfully we rolled those dice and snake eyes came up; Yamanote was there! A quick fare adjustment and some help from more officers (though communication issues via enunciation delayed us; Totsuka, not Otsuka!) and we were on our way. We would have to make a transfer at the main Tokyo station, but when we got there, we discovered there were no more trains going to Totsuka. We would have to find a way closest to Yokohama, which involved hopping trains (without paying the adjustment fare! SO RISKY!) to Kamada and then getting a taxi to our hotel. Much cheaper than the $120-per-person straight-shot taxi ride.
Toyoko Inn. Estimated check-in time: 11:30PM. Our arrival time: 2:15AM. ／(x~x)＼ Guess what that meant! Our reservation for the night was cancelled. The girl at the desk continued to prove exactly how helpful every Japanese person we meet has been by calling all the nearby hotels to look for vacancies. Unfortunately, this resulted in only one option: A Sheraton within taxi-distance for 30,000 a night (again, over $100 per person). This simply would not do. We asked if there were any 24-hour places nearby we could stay at for a while, which eventually led us to a giant block of buildings full of bars, izakayas, McDonalds, and, best of all, a 24-hour manga/internet cafe. Truly, there was a God.
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, let me explain what one of these establishments is like. On the second floor, you have the front desk, where you are able to purchase "time packs" akin to purchasing hours of computer use at an internet cafe in the States. You can upgrade to special "rooms" (more appropriate to refer to them as cubicles, though) that house a room-length sofa and a computer. What this becomes is a tiny, black wooden room with unlimited internet use that you can crash at. And crash we did. For the low-low price of 1,780 ($25), we had crash space, even if we had to place our luggage like tetris blocks under desks and on top of the sofas. You're also allowed to read manga, of which the entire 3rd floor is devoted to shelving, to your heart's content. Free drinks (tea, coffee, soda, juice, and even melon and apple-flavored slushies) helped wake us up after a much-needed rest. Strangely, you could also purchase meals from the front desk which they would cook upon ordering. I can happily say that my first Japanese meal was scrumptious and even more well-received than I expected. It was a teriyaki beef bowl with egg drop-ish soup for about $4.50. Heaven. Pictures incoming. The fourth and fifth floor just led to more cubicled rooms, though delegated these places as "smoking rooms". Ouch, my lungs.
And this brings us to about where we are currently situated in time. Our 10-hour time pack at GeraGera manga/internet cafe ran out at 1PM, and our check-in at Toyoko Inn is at 4PM. A 3-hour gap to spend in the wretched weather... or maybe not! We went to Toyoko to see if we could do anything about the check-in time. Another very nice lady was willing and understanding of our ability to speak only broken Japanese and helped us with the process of check-in, but we still could not go up to our rooms until the designated time. Thusly, we sit now. Computers lined up against a wall of the eensy-weensy Toyoko Inn lobby. Myself, Anastasia, and David typing blogs, watching TV, and reading manga, respectively. Another hour to go until sweet, delicious showers and relaxation can be had.
Overall, the experience has been quite an adventure. Crankiness was definitely setting in last night for the others, and for good reason, but I was somehow able to maintain a fairly positive outlook on things. We're in Japan. We were able to find our way to our hotel eventually. We didn't spend gobs and gobs of money necessarily to get here. And even if the weather sucks and it's no fun lugging suitcases up and down the street, we're still in it together. Bonding time is definitely a nice gift, especially when you get along with people right from the get-go. The citizens here have been so helpful and nice, even if we've been made fun of by at least one group of fellows on the train. But it's to be expected, after all, so one just needs to take it in full-stride. There's just no way my joy of being abroad can be squelched, period.
I love it here and I'm excited to see where this adventure takes us next. がいじんパワー！
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