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Published: November 22nd 2006
We arrived in Japan two days ago after a suprisingly pleasant 11 hour flight. I was walking through the terminal after going through customs and getting my bag and I was thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice if someone was waiting for me at the terminal..." and then what do you know, Jun, Tom, Travis and Friends from work were waiting at the terminal. Thank God they were there. We would have been so lost if not for them. Jun...who is from Japan...and his brother...who lives there now...helped us get money out of the ATM and then they helped us navigate the train system to get to Ole and Evangline's flat in Akasaka...about 2 hours from the Nakita Airport.
We finally arrived at the flat and we were SHOCKED at how amazing their place is. They live on the 17th floor of the Akasaka Tameike Tower right in the center of downtown Tokyo. The view from their place is amazing. They have a two bedroom place with toilets that were so confusing that I had to get a quick briefing before I could use it. They heat up, open and close automatically, and do a number of other tricks. Dallas and
I were SO tired, but Ole and Evangeline insisted that we stay up late so that we don't get jet lagged the next day. They even ordered pizza from Pizza Hut so that we would have to stay up and eat with them.
The next morning we took off on our Tokyo adventure. We took the metro near their house all the way to the last stop and then we planned to get off and walk back home...a LONG walk. We went to Asakusa which is an old Japanese section of Tokyo. Basically Tokyo looks a lot like Los Angeles but it's much safer and in between the skyrise buildings there are little quant japanese shops and temples. It's quite beautiful. I decided that I could happily settle down in Tokyo for a while. A little while. We visited several temples in Asakusa and found ourselves to be very confused with the customs. It actually hit me as so sad. The temples are beautiful, but they are just a reminder of how lost the people are. They leave fruit and flowers and fortunes for these big statues and they pray to a god that is not there. It's just
such a sad sight to see business men on their way to work stop before a shrine and pay money to get his fortune.
The culture shock wore off quickly as we walked through the city because it really is so much like downtown LA. Big buildings, lots of shops and restaurants and not too many white people. Everyone was so helpful in navigating us through the city. We managed to get very lost at one point and all we had to do was take out our map point around and look confused and someone would come to the rescue. We stick out like the tourists that we are everywhere that we go and we get some pretty great looks from the peope around us.
Today we are leaving Ole and Evangeline's home and we are heading to the outskirts of Tokyo to climb the highest peak in Tokyo, Kumotori San. It is a two day hike which works great for us because we are so poor and this way we can save on lodging tonight and sleep on the mountain. I'm sure it's going to be freezing up there, but we're pretty tough. Then tomorrow we'll head
back to the city and stay with Dallas' friend Kris in Tokyo. We want to visit the famous fish market in the morning and we want to see the Japanese teens who dress up like japanime characters on the weekends in Shibuya. We found a Baptist church to visit on Sunday morning that looks pretty great. Then we'll head to Iwata...south west of here...to stay with Darryl...a couchsurfer from Canada...for a few days then back to Tokyo to catch our plane and off to Singapore!
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melinda
non-member comment
you made it!
becky! I missed your call on saturday and didn't realize when I went to call you back that you are already gone! Sad times for me! I'm so happy that you made it safely over there- you cracked me up when you said tokyo is like LA- not too many white people! love it. Well, happy thanksgiving tomorrow! I don't think you'll find many turkey's in japan, but I'm sure you'll find some nice blowfish or something, just dribble a little cranberry sauce on whatever you find and you'll feel right at home! Don't miss us- you'll have a million other thanksgivings to eat turkeys in america! enjoy this one! Jordan and I will be praying for your safety!