Advertisement
Published: April 15th 2012
Edit Blog Post
Day one Japan
If you have to fly to Japan, go direct. It is less exhausting then stop overs. I just wish I had been better at choosing my seat. Row 25 is right up against a wall, so you can,t recline. Which would have been okay since I had 2 empty seats next to me and was fully intent on lying down for the whole flight. But then someone asked the steward to move into the furthest empty seat. So thanks to my yoga classes I was able to contort myself into various unique positions and catch a nap.
When I arrived at the airport I was happy to find signs everywhere in English . So I was able to stop and have the toilet clean my butt and then proceed through customs. Really aim not sure why some doesn't star importing Japanese toilets into the north American markets, there are lots of butts (note to self: business idea). Customs was same old, single woman traveling in foreign land must be searched. I think it must be in a rule book. But the guy was very nice, he looked through my paperwork and was thoroughly
UploadedFile4
Train out of Narita embarrassed when he happened upon my unmentionables. (note ladies: always pack your underwear on top, this will only work on men).
The train was a really easy from the very nice lady who helped me purchase a ticket at the automated ticket booth, to the English overhead announcements when I was transferring at Shinagawa to the Shinkansen Nozumi 59, and on the train itself. I arrived in Kyoto relatively intact. A side note on the Nozumi, it was really cool, a very sleek train that had a front end on both ends which meant it could travel in both directions without changing tracks. The best thing was that it covered 550 km in
2h11min, about 210km/hr. that is fast. It was full of passengers and so cute, lots of leg room, a place to hang your coat, an electrical outlet and Internet connection. These two items were close to the ground, so
at 7pmon a full train I didn't feel like getting on my hands and knee to explore a little further. I am leaving that for Wednesday.
Based on my experience thus far Japanese people are very polite, minus the young man at the Kyoto station. They are polite, not friendly, but I think this is the new norm for people living in urban centers. It is so crowded that we don't see each other, we are just bodies moving past each other. But I may be wrong, and I have 4days to test out my theory.
I don't speak a word of Japanese, let's see how well I get by on sign language. And the further I get away from Tokyo, the less English is spoken. Dorothy you ain't in Kansa anymore. Food will be easy as I will just point. As for shopping, well ... I am a giant compared to most. I am taller then most of the men, probably out weight then by 10 lbs and my feet are bigger. I am thinking of Amazon woman vs Godzilla, I would crush him! So clothes are off limits, but that means more room for all the really teeny tiny miniaturized things at the shops. There is a real cultural obsession with the miniature, in fact it may be a little unhealthy. So today I am off to the golden temple (I am writing this
at 3am Kyoto time). I will keep you posted.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.162s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0978s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb