Japanese Edition, Part One

A Graceful Embarking

Friday, we boarded the plane, again, without a return ticket home, and still feeling residual anguish from the horrors of the previous attempt. If Monday was filled with dark storms, then Friday the clouds broke and the sun shined through. It was a beautiful day, actually, but more so than the weather, everything ran well and smooth. We passed through the ticket counter and customs without a hitch (and all documents were returned, we made sure.) We boarded the plane quickly and the flight was ultra-smooth. Japan entered without a hitch and like a vision over the horizon.

In the Tokyo airport we found the Air China desk just to ask how expensive a return ticket might be. Where the Air China people in Shanghai had been uncooperative, manipulative, and constantly searching for a buck to pass, the staff in Tokyo was completely helpful and kind. The return ticket was expensive, but after inquiring why we didn't have a return ticket in the first place, she informed us that we could easily get a “lost ticket” for a small fee and not have to worry about anything.

Love is the word I'd use for my feelings toward Japan within the first ten minutes of landing.

We filled out a form and she said she'd have to contact the China office, and that she'd be in touch with us in a few days. We left our e-mail address and she sent us on our way with good wishes and a great feeling.

Before we left we bought a seven-day pass on the Japan Rail system. This would allow us to ride any JR line within the country during that period. As we were staying ten days in the country, we needed to use that pass wisely and not begin the usage until we would be leaving Tokyo. That gave us two days to see the city.

From What I Can Recall

This is where I start to regret not taking notes on our journey. I have found note taking on excursions difficult as I tend to lose the notebooks, forget to use them when they can be found, and find myself too muddled from all of the rushing about from place to place, all of the eating of junk and drinking of caffeine, all of the overloading on sights, sounds, and smell, and the general fatigue that comes from holidays.

Normally I can recover from all this once returned home, and manage to write a useful account of our travels. This time though, Tokyo is a bit of a blur. I do recall there being lots of people and flashing, neon lights. There was this one intersection whereupon several roads merged in a section of town overpopulated by businessmen, shoppers, and tourists. It was so highly populated by pedestrians that sometimes all of the roadways full of automobiles would be stopped so those on foot could cross en masse.