The first 24 hours in Japan

So how has the first 24 hours in Japan been so far? A bit like being the ball in a giant pin-ball machine. Bouncing around from here to there amidst bright lights and lots of sound. After a mind numbing 17 hours on airplanes, Kaori's father met us at the airport to take us to their home. After having been awake for over 24 hours, we should have felt it but I think both of our brains were abuzz with finally being here, me especially. The home Kaori grew up in is down a rabbit warren of tiny lanes in the neighborhood of Narashino in Chiba Prefecture. It's warm and smells of incense burned by Kaori's mother and wouldn't be out of place in the U.S. if it weren't for the tatami matted room containing Kaori's Mother's Buddhist shrine. I guess my love of sushi has become quite well known, either that or every dinner is as good as the one that awaited us after we'd given Kaori's family their presents. From an American point of view, it's hard to imagine take out sushi being all that great but, hands down, it beat any I've had in the states. It was complimented by a few extra dishes my mother-in-law made including tempura and a clear soup. Both of Kaori's grand-mothers passed away this last year and I was afraid I wouldn't have the chance to try the plum wine that Kaori had told me they made by hand but Mrs. Suzuki offered us some from the last bottle she had left. By the end of dinner, our time awake had started to catch up with us and we made our way from the house to the New Otani Hotel where Mr. Suzuki had arranged for us to stay. My father-in-law is a member of an exclusive club that is part of the hotel and so has certain privileges afforded him by his membership, one of which was allowing us to rent one of their rooms for half the price. Good thing, since this was, by no means, a motel six. You'll get some idea of what type of hotel it is from the pictures, but none of them show the tennis courts, golf ranges and swimming pool on the top floor of an adjacent building. Luxury might not be enough to describe it. We barely made it to the beds before crashing.
This morning we woke to find that the view from our hotel room was incredible and took in most of Tokyo Bay. As the fog cleared up, you could clearly see right into Tokyo across the bay and all over Makuhari, where we were and we decided to lounge a little longer in bed in front of the panoramic window. We got breakfast and strolled to a nearby coffee shop before heading back to meet Kaori's family at the hotel. One of the other privileges Mr. Suzuki enjoys is access to the private dining rooms in the members only section of the hotel and, in honor of our visit as well as Mrs. Suzuki's 60th birthday, he treated us to a formal brunch. Just imagine a plush dining room set for five with wait staff waiting on you hand and foot to an almost embarrassing level and privately prepared brunch that beats most high-end dinners and you get an idea of what I experienced. (I know, it's rough, but someone has to, right?) Mr. Suzuki had heard that I like Japanese gardens, and so, after lunch, we walked down the block to a beautiful example amidst the tall buildings in Makuhari and from there back to the house where we'll be staying the rest of the time. (but if you twist my arm, I'll stay in the hotel a few more nights!) One of the more interesting experiences so far has been shopping at the local supermarket for dinner with Kaori's mother. It was the supermarket from Mars. It was a riot of color and smells and Kaori probably got tired of my incessant questions of "what's that?", "what's this?", and "what are those?" The only reason I wasn't completely lost was that it was laid out exactly like a western supermarket, I just couldn't read a thing! So, now we're back at the house and I'm writing this as Kaori's mother prepares dinner. I think we're both getting a bit tired but our timing of arriving last night and going to bed at the time we did means we both seem to have escaped the horrors of jet lag. Lets hope it lasts. Hope everybody's doing well and I'll write again soon. Tomorrow is my first official introduction to Tokyo!

Jeremy

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