Flying out and first night in Japan

So we're finally here in Tokyo!! Nam and I can't believe it!! We were a bit shell shocked at first, especially considering we walked to our hotel Toyoko Inn, from Shinjuku Station, right past all of the pimps soliciting for business (our hotel is situated right in the heart of the red light district), and we were pretty buggered already at this stage, having travelled for the whole day. However, undeterred, we trudged on, and found the hotel, which upon arrival, we got chastised (albeit very politely) about not ringing because we were later than our anticipated check in time. And luckily for us that we made it to check in about 15 minutes before our reservation would have been cancelled (phew!!).

Our first truly Japanese experience, was of course the toliet experience- having just gotten off the plane at Narita Airport, there was a bit of a double take action, when I walked into the first stall to find a toilet in the ground- still surprising, even though I've been to Hong King and China- I guess because the ones in CHina are so dirty and yucky (the Japanese ones are v clean).

Ou next Japanese experience was of Japanese efficiency- we got off the plane at Terminal 3, and had to take the shuttle train to the next terminal. They ran every 2 minutes! Next, was the 12 minutes or so it took us to get through customs, immigration and to claim our luggage.. that's right 12 MINUTES!!! We were ready and waiting for the next Narita Express to Shinjuku, so I tried out my Japanese for the first time, asking the nice train conductor guy where we had to stand to get on the train to find our reserved seats.



Waiting for the Narita Express

The next excitement was finding out that the trains in Japan are MAGNIFICENT!!! They are clean, super comfy (think airplane type seats) AND they have a drinks lady who comes around selling drinks! Nam wanted a hot green tea, and there was a moment of confusion, when the lady through he meant cold green tea, but I quickly remembered the Japanese word for hot (atsui) and even though I;m sure that is completely wrong, we still managed to understand each other. So instead Nam ordered a beer! (Speaking of beers, they are readily available out of the million and one vending machine that inhabit practically every street corner in Tokyo)


The trolly dolly lady (who was very cute) and the v comfy train seats.







The cool screen which lit up the journey, and showed you where the train was.

Them we ventured out for our first meal in Japan- we went to an izakaya, which is a tiny restaurant, where you sit at the bar, and they cook the food in front of you. The proprietors were really lovely people- Korean, but who spoke Japanese- we had a great conversation half in English and half in Japanese... anyway, the food was amazing!! Nam had a ramen and I had a vegetable soup- v delish!!



The lovely Korean's who ran the izakaya