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Published: April 16th 2004
First View of Japan
This was the first land I saw while flying in.This was a long and boring trip, hence the long and boring story. Enjoy my insanity. Man, what a night. Got off work at midnight, went around and did some last minute packing and laundry, and thought I’d have no problem dozing off at about 1am or so. Alas, that didn’t seem to work out. I guess I was more anxious about the trip than I thought. After tossing and turning for a while, I got out of bed and took care of a few things I was going to do in the morning. Tried to sleep again… wasn’t happening. Got up and surfed the net a bit, checked out a few sites, posted a few messages. It’s now 3am; I have to be up at 6am to be ready for the Taxi at about 7:15. I think I finally nodded off around 3:30. Thank god. I was starting to contemplate just staying up, but figured since I didn’t want to sleep on the flight, to avoid jetlag; I should get whatever I can. Awoke at a little after 6am to both of my alarms going off, and the Taxi company calling my phone to make sure I still wanted a cab. The woman on the phone had to laugh when she heard the alarms going off in the background, and told me I should get up now if I didn’t want to miss my flight.
Taxi arrived at around 7am, and I was on my way. Since I live so close to the Airport, I told the Taxi driver a quick way to get to the airport to avoid traffic. Go figure since he hadn’t been into the Airport that way before, he missed the departing flights section, and had to go around the airport again. I can’t believe $10 to take a stupid taxi about 3 miles, if even that much. Anyway, I got all checked in, made a trip to Cinnibon for breakfast before hoping on the plane to LA. Been a while since I’ve flown. I’m always amazed at how beautiful the desert is when I fly over it. Seems that I always notice something different out the window with each flight I take. Not that I’m a pro or anything, but I’ve done that trip enough times to think I’d seen pretty much all there was to see. So what captured my eye this time was what appeared to be a bunch of dead volcanoes. Basically a number of “mounds” with a somewhat hollowed out center surrounded by black landscape. I’ll have to look it up when I get some time to play around online and see if there are old volcanoes in the Mojave. No sooner had we took off we started to prepare for our decent into LAX. Funny, seemed the decent took longer than the rest of the trip.
Can’t say much for LAX. Same dull and dismal airport it’s always been. The terminal I landed at was pretty much RIGHT next to that spider looking building. I think it’s a restaurant. Never really had a clear shot of it before, so I took my first picture of my vacation at LAX. Security was terribly long there. I had to leave the gates to take a smoke. I inhaled about 7 in no time in anticipation of nicotine withdrawal, and traded one smoke with some kid from Canada. He had some kind of Canadian ciggys that he was pretty unimpressed with and needed something stronger… and I guess my Marlboro Lights were it. I should’ve traded the whole pack with him, they weren’t bad at all. For some crazy reason, I thought the flight to Tokyo left at Noon, so I started to make my way through security at 11, only to find out it didn’t leave till 1pm! Ugh, could’ve taken my time. Then I find out that if I’d of waited longer, I could of gone through the express line at security. Ahh well, I know better now.
For my flight today, I decided to wear one of my new T-Shirts written in Japanese. I went with the “Baka Gaijin” one, which translates to Stupid Foreigner, with an image of the rising sun behind it. I was being dissuaded from wearing any of my shirts I bought on my trip by a co-worker who sent me an article from CNN about humor overseas, especially in Japan. He also told me of a friend of his parents (I think) that works closely with a lot of Japanese business people, and she said they probably weren’t a good idea. So I was a little concerned, but figured I brought a sweater with me, so if need be I can just cover up. The good news so far is that the people I’ve noticed taking the time to look at what the shirt says, I’ve seen smiles, laughs, and prodding to get someone else’s attention to get a laugh. That’s fine by me… so long as I’m not getting killed, I’m just happy to see they get the humor in it. To those that don’t get it, let me fill ya in real quick. Turns out that in Japan, if you’re a foreigner (not just White, or American) you’re Gaijin. Supposedly I’ll hear it plenty while I’m over there, places where foreigners can’t go, or aren’t allowed, “No Gaijin” or something to that effect. Well I guess there is an extension to that, probably thanks in part to ignorant Americans going over to their country totally unfamiliar with their culture and customs, and making asses out of themselves, is being called a Stupid Foreigner. Although from what I understand not so much to your face as the Japanese tend not to be very confrontational. I also emailed the company that I bought the shirts from to address my concerns. They are Japanese owned and operated, but I think most of them have either been educated in the US or spent a lot of time in the US. They basically told me I don’t have anything to worry about. So, we’ll see won’t we?
Right now I’m writing this from who knows how many thousands of feet. Drinking a Japanese beer (after finding out they’re free on the flight). I’m pretty disappointed with the plane though. I think I got spoiled by Virgin Atlantic last time I flew to England. No phones in the seats (there really was someone I was going to call too.), no TV’s or video games. Thank god I brought a laptop. They do have the projection screen going, showing a variety of crap, but still. I flew to England like 4 or 5 years ago now, I would have been certain nearly all airlines flying this distance would have such luxuries. *sigh* Oh well, the price I can’t complain about.
About the price. $698 round trip from Vegas, that’s not too bad at all. That included all airport taxes too. I’d say I got a deal, sure better ones are out there to be had, but from what I was seeing, good find. May I suggest using Orbitz to find the deal, then once you found it, go to that airlines website and see if you can get it cheaper. No, really, I don’t hate Orbitz.
About the flight. Well, not much to say so far. We’ve been in the air for a little over two hours so far. Headed out over the Pacific Ocean as we left LAX, at which time I thought that was it, nothing but ocean for the rest of the trip. Then I take another look a little while later, and I see land. Am I on the right plane??? Finally the captain pipes up telling us we’re just passing over Monterey, and soon we’ll see San Francisco bay, at which time we’ll be headed up over some part of Alaska. I’ve never been very good with this whole “the world is round” theory. I thought it was just as simple as going straight over the ocean and setting down, maybe crossing over Hawaii on the way. Man, am I dumb. Have roughly 10 hours left. Out the window I now see nothing but wing and clouds. So, not much to report there. Maybe I should watch a movie. Or maybe I should play solitaire. People really should document their travels with a little more of the doldrums like this. Hah
Ok, it’s 4:45pm PST now, been in the air close to 4 hours. Already gone through a battery. Uh oh. Anyway, for those interested, this is where I stand so far: Airspeed: 916km/h Heading: 290 degrees Longitude: 148 10W Latitude: 49 22N Altitude: 11000m / 36100ft Wind Speed: 72 km/h Outside Temp: -51 degrees F Distance to Go: 3698 mi
Pretty strange, kept jumping from standard to metric. Bah, now a movie just started, like I really want to watch Cheaper by the Dozen. Of course, I have no idea what it’s about, but I think I saw it at blockbuster the other day and made a point of avoiding it. Oh well, I’ll watch it and save some battery time.
Ugh, it’s now 8:07pm PST, or 1pm the next afternoon in Japan. So that means 3.75 hours left on the plane. That can’t be right, can it? I thought this was a 12 hour ride. Left at 1pm, it’s 8pm now, plus 3.75 hours, uhhhh god I suck, that’s 10.75 hours? I wonder what I’m screwing up here? Whatever… I watched Cheaper by the Dozen, it wasn’t bad. I’ve seen worse movies, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to watch it normally. Now the “Feature Presentation” is on. Missed the name of it, but it has Denzel Washington in it. Ok, it just finished as I was typing. Not that exciting for sure! I hope they play another movie. I adjusted the contrast and brightness on my laptop to try and extend the battery life. I think it’s working, kinda. Either that, or typing a word document takes a whole lot less juice than watching a movie. Yeah, I know, that was retarded, I know the answer to that, I’m just REALLY bored! Also very strange, they have only come by with the drinks cart twice so far, the rest of the time they are coming around with water for us. I’m kinda curious if this is a money saving thing, or a we’re making sure you don’t dehydrate yourself type thing. I guess dehydration is one of the leading causes of jet lag. Not sure where I read that, but I did see it somewhere. I’m hoping they serve breakfast soon. Dinner sucked. I got Teriyaki chicken. It came with a whopping 2 little chunks of chicken, and some nasty rice that had some uncooked parts. Nothing worse than uncooked rice. BLAH! Anyway, it came with Broccoli (gross), carrots (blah), and melon (ugh). I did eat the dinner roll though, yay me! Breakfast sounds yummy though, a southwestern omlet with pork sausage and potatoes, fresh fruit, pound cake and OJ. Right now though, I could kill for a smoke!
In other news, I started getting a little nervous at around the halfway point of the flight. I honestly have no idea where the hell I’m going when I get there, or how well my lame attempts of communication are going to go. I just hope I can get on the Narita Express and find my way to Abujuban which is close to where I’m staying. So yeah, now I can say I was a little nervous. I think I’m over it, I’ll probably shit a brick when I get off the plane and see that nothing is in English. God that’d be a terrible shock, especially since I’ve heard Tokyo has a lot of bilingual signs. Ahh, cool, they started playing another movie. Ahhh suck, it’s a cartoon, Big Bear, or Bear Brother, or Big Brother Bear, or something??? I wanna sleep. 10:40pm PST, another movie over with, as well as finished a dvd. Finally see Japan on the interactive map they’re displaying. Currently over the ocean parallel to Sapporro. Never realized how close Japan was to N. Korea as I now see P’yongyang on the map. Just came up on the screen, an hour and 25 minutes left. w00t! Yay, now they’re handing out the hot towels again, I love these things. Just what the Dr ordered to freshen up. You know, I really feel for this kid Gerald that is sitting next to me. He has a 3 hour layover in Tokyo before another 4 hour flight to the Philippines. That sucks!
Airspeed: 926km/h Ground Speed: 813km/h Heading: 207 degrees Longitude: 149 46E Latitude: 40 20N Altitude: 11900m / 39100ft Wind Speed: 157 km/h Outside Temp: -58degrees F Distance to Go: 643 mi
I’m on the Narita Express right now. I should be checking out the scenery, but I’m a little in awe with everything else at the moment. Customs and immigration here was a breeze. I don’t think I’ve ever been to such a quiet airport. First order of business was to get a smoke break in. Just so happened, right outside where I went for a smoke was a map to the train station. Went back inside and ran smack into the ticket counter for the train. Getting a ticket was a breeze. The girls at the ticket counter wear the cutest outfits. I should’ve taken a picture, but I was more concerned about getting going in the right direction. Thank god the girl spoke broken English. I haven’t had a chance to really practice any Japanese yet, so I know I’m going to massacre this poor language. Anyway, critical question was, “smoking or non smoking?”. Say what? Smoking, please. 3,100 yen. To those that can’t figure out how much that is at the 100 to 1 exchange rate, that’s $31!!!! Good god! Oh well. I went down to the tracks, and had NO idea whatsoever as what to look for. A little common sense led me to the Shinjuku line, which is where I’m headed. Then I found an American that gladly explained the trains to me in brief, low and behold, my train was already there. It’s like being back in the plane again… reclining seats with trays and all. Before I boarded, I picked up a Coke from the newsstand, a quasi bottle thing…. A metal bottle, not plastic or glass. Kinda strange, but cool non the less. That ran me 130 yen. Could’ve got it from the vending machine, but I only just saw coins for the first time, and was a little confused. I’m really going to have to get off this laptop and read my book. Save myself and others a lot of trouble. Luckily, everyone has calculators, or slide rules to show you the price. Highlight of the train ride, I’ve now seen my first Rice Paddies! Yeah!
So I made it to the main station, and tried to find my way to the next train. It was total madness. There are so many signs pointing in so many different directions for the same thing, I didn’t know if I was coming or going. Finally, after standing in the wrong line to get a ticket, I asked the girl if she spoke English. A little she said, but that little was more than enough to point me in the right direction. Then I bought a ticket from the machine, and was on my way. I arrived at Azabujuban station without event, and started trying to find my way out of the station. I must of looked rather lost, when an Aussie voice called out asking if I needed help finding something. As I start explaining to him that I’m trying to find a place for my ride to meet me, he asked if I was staying at Guess T. Wow, that was a coincidence. He was staying there too. So he walked me there, and helped me get checked in. What a stroke of luck. And that was about it. I went out for a walk around Roppongi which is the trendy entertainment district. Lots of gentlemans clubs. Lot’s of white people, which I was a bit surprised about. I really wanted to find somewhere to drink, but by the time I’d walked all the way there, I realized that I was a bit too tired to do much of anything. So a quick walk around and I headed back to the guest house. Hung out for a while and watched some TV, and went to bed around 11:30. I thought I’d get plenty of sleep seeing that I was running on empty, but 4 ½ hours later I was awake, and not going back to sleep.
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anonymous
non-member comment
gps?
What are you using for the flight airspeed info and what not? thats a LONG ASS FLIGHT. i am looking at going to sweden and it will be about $900 from seattle (with a stop in amsterdam)... but its also a 12 hour flight (combined).. argg..