Tokyo Day 1

On Thursday August 4th, Adam and I left Shanghai bright and early for my first trip out of China in 4 months.  Adam had arrived from the other side of the world just 2 days earlier, so we were a little worried about his jetlag - but he is a trooper and did great.  So, my first trip out of China in 4 months... it was a breath of fresh air - both literally and figuratively.

We arrived at Narita International Airport in Tokyo around 1pm and quickly jumped on the Narita Express - a train to take us directly into the city.  Adam did all the planning and booking for this trip - which I'm so grateful for and I'm sure saved us more money than if I would have done it! - but my role is the compass one we arrive in new cities.  He gets lost if you turn him in three circles! That's what marriage is about right? Complimenting each others strengths.

We arrived in Tokyo to beautiful blue skies and big puffy white clouds - phew! beautiful! and certainly a rarity in smoggy Shanghai.

Sky from the train when we arrived in Tokyo

I had heard the Tokyo had a great public transportation system, so we were looking forward to taking advantage of it.  Earlier in the week before we left Adam had sent me a pdf of the Subway/train map... I wish someone could have seen my face when I opened the file!  Hahaha seriously?!?! Take a look at that thing!  Luckily, I inherited my sense of direction from my Dad and I was actually excited to take on the task of figuring it out.  Plus taxi's weren't really going to be an option given the rate would be about $20-$40 USD for a trip!

Tokyo subway map

Overall, it didn't turn out to be so bad, as there was lots of English written in the stations and good signage for exits and transfers (for the most part).  There are actually like 3-4 (I didn't totally understand) rail companies that are operating on these interconnected lines.  The Tokyo Metro, operated by the government, then there are several private lines that operate lines to connect what is not connected by the Tokyo Metro lines.  They all have different fares, but the stations are connected, making transfers between them easy.  Some of these metro stations are HUGE! I'm talking little towns - you could find anything you ever need!  A little daunting at first, but overall, very convenient.

After we made it to the Shinjuku station from the Narita express, we headed just a few blocks to our hotel.  Located in the business type district of Shinjuku, there were many high rise office buildings, but this also offered a lot of restaurants and shops in the area.  The hotel was nice and offered us a little traditional Japanese living... notice the bed and chair!

Hotel Sunroute Shinjuku

After a long morning of traveling, we were starved! We were excited for the Japanese food, especially sushi which is one of our faves - even in land locked Indianapolis.  It was about 4pm, so nothing was really busy - which is usually our method for picking restaurants - find the one that is the busiest!  However, we got excited when we saw something we have never seen before - Sushi boats! Now that I've done more research, I understand they are pretty common - but we were pretty excited when we figured out the concept.  You sit at a sushi bar and there is a little conveyor belt that runs by with little plates, each holding 2 pieces of sushi.  From there, you can pull the plates off the belt as it runs by and at the end you are charged by the number of each color plate you have.  Its brilliant!  You can try so many different kinds and each is pretty reasonably priced.  As you can see below, we enjoyed quite a few different types!

Sushi go-round restaurant... yes!

Adam with all of our plates!

We spent the evening exploring the Shinjuku area.  One of the things we noticed was very interesting architecture.  The two buildings below were my 2 favorite, the one on the right is actually an academic building housing 3 different schools.  Also, it happens to be the tallest building housing schools in the world (?) – seemed pretty cool.  Gosh – look at that beautiful sky in the background – I was in heaven!

Shinjuku buildings

Also, we saw vending machines.  Lots and lots of vending machines! They were everywhere! Mostly selling beverages, but some other things as well! I read later that they love their vending machines in Tokyo… we definitely observed this.

vending machines everywhere!

Finally, as I have realized many times before during this experience… the world is pretty small these days and you are never that far away from the comforts of home.  In the area outside Shinjuku station, there was a busy two-story Krispy Kreme!

All in all, on first impressions of Tokyo.... clean, organized, friendly people, not much English but enough to get around, quiet and calm (especially on trains)... all things welcomed after 4 months in busy Shanghai!

The trip was off to a great start!