Day 1 and a better way

Blogging Japan

DAY 1

The very first time I visited Japan was in 1970. My Navy Commander Father had received orders to report as CSO for Mine Flotilla 1 in Sasebo Japan, and he requested surface transport to his new assignment for he and his family. In this case, Monterey California to Sasebo Japan by surface meant a 2 week luxury liner sea journey from Long Beach to Tokyo via Honolulu.

Needless to say, that trip was quite a bit different from the 10 hours in a 747 that I put my butt through yesterday. There has got to be a better way to do this whole cattle car transport of people thing. The jammed in seats 3 deep just can't be the optimum engineering solution. Perhaps stacked bunk beds? I sort of like that idea. Make them like 4 tall to the ceiling. You can give them some recline so they come up and you can sit up. Perhaps like the Japanese Cube hotel rooms. Put a little screen in there to watch TV. You can get out anytime to go to the bathroom or stretch and you won't bother the other passengers.
Some other easier suggestions:

1. No carry-on suitcases. You get a briefcase or large purse, and that is fraking it. Don't even attempt to make some damn excuse about your fraking guitar case I REALLY DON”T CARE. Get in your bunk and shut up.
   
2. No infants or children that cannot be threatened into silence. They should be wrapped in plastic and gate checked with the car seat.
   
3. Perhaps catheters for the poor guys with the window seats 3 in from the aisle.
   
4. The ultimate suggestion: The boarding area for your plane should be set up exactly as the plane. Since only passengers can come into the area these days, they can then check tickets etc. before allowing you into this virtual seating area. Each passenger then sits in their virtual assigned seat and puts their bag(s) into a labeled space that represents the actual space the bag will occupy on the airplane. Now everyone knows where they will be sitting, who is next to them, and where all of the bags go. We know that your damn Guitar is not going to fit anywhere, hippy dude, and we know that your 3 lap children don't really have a seat, “Can't stop the Screaming” lady. So we can handle that now, while we can still stand up and easily access our side arms.
   Then, when it is time to really board the plane, the airline staff can start with the people at the back of the plane and we just BOARD. No reason to ever stop until you get to your seat because everyone in front of you is going to a seat further back. We know this. If someone stops to put their Guitar in your overhead bin, no judge in the land will convict you.
   
5. While we were at it, they could probably give you all of your meals before you board in a nice zip lock bag.
   
   
   
   

So, you do this thing where 3 Adult American Males sit next to each other other in seats designed for 3 japanese females for 10 hours, and then you are in Tokyo. If you are lucky, you get to cry a little bit when the baby Whale dies or when Sherlock homes falls off the waterfall. Other than that, pray you are asleep.
Ah Japan. Everything is so clean and efficient here. Going through Immigration and Customs is a breeze. Dan and I decided to take a tour for the first leg of our journey, so we were met right at the the exit to customs by a nice thin little japanesse girl in a blue uniform with a card that said “JON NATHAN”. Made me smile. She told us to please wait for 30 minutes and then go to the meeting place. I asked here where the meeting place would be. She got a strange look on her face which quickly turned to a smile. “Please to Follow” she said. So our pretty blue luggage and us followed her a little ways to the side of the loby to a place with a bunch of seats and vending machines and a big airport sign that said “The Meeting Place”.
“Please to be at the meeting place at 1600,” she said. “I will come find you”.

Daniel and our new Luggage relaxes by the Ultimate Vending Machine.

Daniel played with Yen and the meeting place “Vending machine O Japanesse coffee drinks”. He had an Iced Oreo Cafe and I had a hot latte. Pretty damn good, actually. Then the nice lady came back and took us to the Bus area and waited until we got on the right bus. Such nice busses in Japan.

The ride in was very educational, Once I got passed the gut horror of oncoming traffic to the right. So much green. Lots of Bamboo and Rice fields. Such nice little houses. Everyone drives Toyotas and Subarus. The only American car I saw was this huge old Lincoln town car. It was a collectors item and looked like it must cost $100K. It was on the back of a truck. Probably illegal to actually drive in Japan. There are a lot more SUVs and crossovers on the road than the last time I visited.

That's Me !! (sorry, no sleep in 36 hours...)

There is a big new tower up. I don't think this is Tokyo tower. I think I was looking at the new (Second Tallest in the world?) tower that opened for visits just last week. Perhaps Dan and I can be some of the first people to go into it. That could be coolish.
We checked into our hotel. The new and different nice cute thin Japanese girl in a blue uniform (I think this is going to be a recurring theme) took our luggage and showed us to our room at the Grand Palace (just up the street from the actual ancient grand palace, I think).

After a quick shower (oh, a bidet!) we went out for a walk around our little corner of Tokyo to find some dinner. I had a great view, as I am like a foot taller than the other pedestrians. But they have suits and probably feel superior. First thing we noticed? There are a lot of bicycles parked on the sidewalks up against the buildings. They are nice little bikes, but they aren't the high tech super thin tire 10 speed go fasts that you see in Portland. They are the slow going beach cruiser style. With the standard handle-bars, you know? And they are everywhere. Just parked nicely in out of the way spots. And none of them are locked up. Really. Well, I saw one with a cable lock but an American Bike thief would have laughed and then left a thank you note for using such a simple to cut lock.

Can you see the locks? Turns out they are there, just very small.

This not locking of bikes is, I believe, the clearest proof of the lawfullness of the japanese people. Can't tell you how safe I felt walking around at night. Dan and I had dinner in a little place we found that had cold beer and served little shiskabobs of meat and vegtables hand cooked on charcoal brazziers. What fun. I love watching the japanese waiting staffs do their act. Greating everyone as the enter “Kumbawa!”.

We managed to stay up late enough that we thought we had a good start on getting over our jet lag. However, Japan wanted to give us one more little welcome present. Around 1:20am Dan and I both woke up with the thought that something was wrong. I had a hand clenched in a fist because I was sure that there was someone in our room. “Was that a noise?” I asked Dan. Then the room started to shake. It did so for about 10 seconds. Not that big or long, but enough to get two round eyes on the 18^th floor out of their beds and standing in the doorway like any good Californian. Probably just a little after-shock. Didn't see any falling buildings outside of the window. Back to Bed.

Daniel wasn't sure which was worse, the earthquake or my snoring.