Japan: Tokyo Trip Day 1

Hello everyone. I thought I'd make a blog of my goings on in Japan. As you may or may not know, I'm on exchange for one semester in Japan at Ritsumeikan University. I'm in the Study In Kyoto Program on the IJL (Intensive Japanese Language) track. I'm currently at my dorms but, I thought I'd start back at my first day in Japan. Before going to Kyoto, my friends and I spent almost two weeks in Tokyo before hand. Here's what I typed up on the first night.

The Last Supper (the night before the flight)

My parents and I spend our last night together packing and watching Frasier to make us smile. Dad makes peter bread pizzas for us. Turns out, we're out of champignons...!!! It still ends up tasting fantastic. A year ago, I felt extremely excited for Japan. It all seemed like this amazing dream. Now that it's the day before I leave, I don't really feel anything except concern for everything going alright and sometimes feeling sad that I'm going to be leaving family behind for such a long time.

D Day

I don't fall asleep until past midnight, cuddling my first two Rumple Bears. I've decided not to take them as I'd freak out about losing them in Japan. It's a little sad but, I think I'll be okay. We're supposed to leave home for the airport by 4:30am. Luckily my parents are great at getting up early. 4am rolls around and it's surprisingly easy to get up. I guess, when you have important things to do, besides study and work, it makes it a little easier. We head out at 5am, a little later than planned but there's still plenty of time. The drive over was mostly quiet. Eyes watered a couple of times. Just trying to hang in there. I end up being the first of the 4 of us to fly out, to arrive at the airport. We look around the airport for some food but it turns out the main food court is past the security check point so we end up waiting for the others and for the check in to open. We get some yummy breakfast. I got a small cheese burger meal with a BBQ cheese burger from Hungry Jacks. Dad doesn't eat much, probably because he's sad. It's hard to look him in the eyes because you can tell he's just about ready to cry. Turns out we have to go through international security a little earlier than we thought. This is where we have to say goodbye. Well, I finally lose it. Mum and dad give me big hugs each a couple of times. I try to compose myself and make my way to the line. We say I love you one last time. Standing in line, I don't look back because it would just make me cry again.

The Plane

Saying goodbye to Australia.

We get through security and wait to head on. Most of the people that appear to be waiting for this plane are Japanese. Who would have guessed. A lot of them are wearing the same clothes, like a uniform. (Later when I'm walking out of the plane, there's a number professional photographers waiting for them, I end up in one of the pictures, so maybe I'll find myself out there!) Anyway, we head onto the plain and to our seats. The flight would leave the Gold Coast at 11AM Australia time and arrive in Tokyo 7PM Japan time. I learnt a valuable lesson on this flight, Go Business Class if you can. Two of my friends went Business while me and another went economy. I paid to choose a seat because I wanted to be next to the window. My other friend didn't pay, so she ended up having to sit a fair way away. So here I am, sitting by myself next to a Japanese kid and his mother. The seats were cramped and on a 9 hour flight, they were pretty bad. The most I'd been on was 2 hour flights before so it wasn't too bad. The kid was well behaved which was good but I felt awkward asking to climb out over them. I managed to hold on for about 4 hours before conceding and headed to the toilet. Upon returning to my seat I forgot to get my bag down. The meal I paid for came pretty soon into the flight. I wasn't sure if I got one or two meals either. Hours went by and finally when I thought I would starve to death, they gave me dinner. Phew. Oh and right from the beginning, I had put my bag up in the overhead luggage space so all I had on me was my phone and the earphones Jet Stay provided. Fortunately, I had some Frasier on there and watched that for a while. I tried sleeping but would wake up straight away as my head fell. I mostly sat there in silence or watching Frasier.
That show is seriously a life saver. I was a little worried getting through security and customs at the airport as I wasn't sure how much of a rigmarole it would be. I kept thinking, "What if I get turned back?". FINALLY, the kid needs to get up for a pee and his mother takes him (this is a good 5 hours in...). I quickly get my bag down and put it under the seat. I should have done it to begin with. Oh well. I manage to hold on for the rest of the flight. We all meet up shortly after getting off the plane.

The Airport

The first thing that happens, after walking for ages, is we go through immigration and receive our residency cards (As we're students. Tourists don't get one). There were quite a number of people lined up but it went through fast enough. Everything happened smoothly. Except when I misheard what he said. He asked me if I had a part time job application, I though he was offering a form for me... Then he says something about ID. I thought he wanted an ID card but turns out, he's saying he's making my residency card (Oh, did I mention I'm a Japanese major and I can barely understand him speaking in English?). Oh well, the fact they can speak english is a miracle to begin with, although, something I would soon come to expect in Tokyo. Everything signed in the airport and trains has english. It's amazing. It makes it super easy for people who only know English and I who still has a long way to go with Kanji. It also helps that my friend knows pretty well what she's doing and the rest of us are just following her lead. I end up buying a drink of water from a vending machine for a $1.45AU. So cheap! It was amazing. (It'd probably be 3-4$ in Australia...)

Getting to the Hostel

We're on the first train. Everything is dark outside which means that most of what I see out the window is the inside reflecting off of it. I made out some signs like Mitsubishi and McDonald's. I could see tons of apartments with lights on. It was pretty easy to see into them. It still hasn't registered that I'm in Tokyo or even Japan yet.

Between the express train and final train, we stop at a convenience store (a Family Mart which I and you will if you come to Japan, would soon find out are everywhere and extremely convenient. Suggesting Family Mart is aptly categorised as a convenience store) to buy some food. I purchased a roll and 500ml coke extremely cheaply compared to Australia. on the way to the convenience store, walking out of the station and onto the street, I start to feel for the first time that I'm in Japan and I start to feel a little excited.

I'm more tired from the long day of getting here. When leaving the final station, one of my friends lost her ticket on the train and spoke to the station attendant about it. He was kind enough to let her through. At this point, we're all completely exhausted and sweaty climbing all those stairs in the stations. I manage to snap a few photos.

The Tokyo Skytree

The Asakusa Station near our hostel.

Us walking down the street to our hostel.

The Hostel

Finally arrived at the Hostel after lugging 47kg around Tokyo with me. Turns out our room is on the top (3rd) floor. The whole place is tiny. Well time to drag my luggage up the narrow stair way, camera swinging away. The manager helps out and takes one of my bags up. We all get up there and I'm so sweaty and ready to die. So is everybody else. We put our luggage anywhere we can and head for the showers. These showers are tiny. Apparently I got the good one as there was a window for ventilation. The window looks straight out onto the front of the place and anyone can see straight in. Two other people manage to shower before I can even get dressed. The whole floor of the room gets wet so it's a struggle to get your pants on without your feet getting water all over them. In the end it turned out pretty successful. I leave the window open to vent out the room as per the instructions. There's a sink in the middle of the third floor hallway where I can brush my teeth. I get back to our little room. One of my friends goes to use the same shower as me. He comes back to tell us that he ended up looking out onto someone ringing the front doorbell. We all have a laugh and decide it's time to go to sleep. This is my first night in Japan. We all were feeling awful after the long flight and lugging our baggage around but are all feeling a little refreshed now after the shower. Well goodnight Japan. Let's see what you have in store for us tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more stories of my adventure in Japan.