Last Day Recap

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So I've been back in Toronto for about a week now, still re-adjusting to the time difference and having to sit at a desk for 7.5 hours/day. I wasn't going to add any other entries in my little blog, but I figured the tale would not be complete without a little blurb about my last day in Tokyo. So after my flight back to Tokyo from Ishigaki, I took the subway from Haneda airport to Ueno and checked back into Tokyo Ryokan, where I started my journey. I talked with Kenichi the owner for a bit, telling him about my travels to Ishigaki and Okinawa and then headed out around 6:00 to do some last-minute sightseeing. I went to Ryogoku, the sumo district in Tokyo. Unfortunately there was nothing going on, although I did see a rikishi (sumo wrestler) bike past me on the street. Afterwards I went to this korean barbeque restaurant I tried during my first week and had some dinner, then toured around Ueno park at night. Saturday I woke up at 5:30am and went to the Tsukiji fish market and had some fresh sushi for breakfast, it was delicious. Then I hit all the main spots in Tokyo one last time and took a couple of pics. From Tsukiji I went to Shibuya, then to Shinjuku, then Ginza to check out the electronics stores, then to Ueno park and finally Asakusa. I decided to try and find some sweets that I had tried while in Kyoto, so that I could bring some back for people to try. I walked around the market at Senso-ji temple for an hour, but couldn't find them. So I picked up some other sweets that looked almost as good. I headed back to Tokyo Ryokan to pickup my luggage and head to the airport. Kenichi helped me find the best route there, bus to Ueno station then Keisei train to the airport. By this time it was about 3:00pm and I figured the 70 minute ride to the airport would leave me more than enough time get checked-in and do some last-minute shopping at the airport. Maybe I would still be able to find those Kyoto treats! Now, at this point I should tell you, that I was under the impression that my flight left at 5:55pm. The bus ride to Ueno station took a little longer than I had expected and I managed to get the train departing at 3:40pm. Cutting it a little close, but still ample time to make my flight. As I sat there on the train, waiting for it to leave the station, I double-checked my tickets and to my surprise, I discovered my flight actually left at 5:15pm. I'm not going to lie to you, I was a little worried. But at this point there was nothing I could really do except hope for the best. It should be noted that the efficiency of Japanaese public transit depends on two things, trains not being late and trains not arriving early. So I just sat back and chatted with Mike, a guy from California who was worried about missing his 6:45 flight. Needless to say he didn't feel so bad after hearing my story. I also met a nice Japanese man from Vancouver on the train, who told me where to go once we arrived at the airport terminal. We arrived at Narita airport at about 4:45pm and I ran, 2 backpacks (one ridiculously heavy) in tow. I made it to the baggage screening where I informed the operator that my flight was leaving in 20 minutes. He immediately got on his radio and called over a girl who got on her radio and contacted a bunch of other people. I was then rushed to the ticket counter where I got my boarding pass and was told that there was no time to check my big backpack, so I would have to take it with me on the plane. Then this Japan airlines girl runs up to the ticket counter, grabs my small backpack and politely says "Ok, we have to run very fast and very far. Is that ok?" So the two of us ran, literally, from one end of the airport to the other, which was far. We then got onto a tram that took us to another part of the airport where the plane was and had to run to the far end of that terminal. What would normally have taken at least half an hour to cover by walking, we covered in 10 minutes. I graciously thanked the young woman, whose name I unfortunately did not get, and boarded the plane. Once on board, I asked the flight attendant where I could put my big backpack, to which she replied in a sarcastic tone, "Try checking-it". And with that I was reminded that I was no longer in Japan. It's amazing the stark contrast in how extremely helpful and polite the Japanese people at the airport were to how fucking useless and rude the air canada flight crew was. The whole time during the flight, I never once heard anyone of them say "Your welcome" and I even overheard two of them complaining about their job and watched as they ignored passengers they thought were annoying. But the flight wasn't a total loss. I was lucky enough to be seated beside a very nice girl from Korea, who was coming to Toronto for a year to learn English. She was very nervous about the whole thing, but I gave her some pointers on getting around the city, getting a cell phone and internet access, then when we got into Pearson airport, I helped her find her way to immigration and then get her luggage and meet her guide. Just coming from travelling around a foreign country by myself, I could identify with what she was going through, plus I didn't want her to think all Canadians were like our illustrious air canada flight crew. Then while waiting for the "The Rocket" at the airport, I met a guy travelling from Germany and helped him get downtown. So that concludes this little travel blog, I hope you all enjoyed it! Take care!

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