Japan- Part 1 getting there

The flight was long. Without a doubt, the highlight was Dewart and Darwin disappearing off together for at least 45 minutes, allowing me to stretch out and sleep across 3 economy class seats. (The nice guy next to them swapped seats with me). Probably the only 45 minutes of sleep I got on the flight out. Though the in-flight entertainment wasn’t to bad on the way out, well at least for someone like me who never goes to the cinema.

Now the thing about flying to Japan is that it’s 9 hours ahead and err you miss night time. It just sort of doesn’t happen for your body clock. Anyway we touched down in Narita airport got off the plane.. wondered through customs, passport control and out into the arrivals hall. Opposite us was Jose, giving us the finger, looking like some sort of bad Irish Mafia with his hair longer than I can ever remember. We wonder over.. tell him to fuck off and get a response in American, perhaps he’s been adopted by the American Mafia? Anyway sadly I’m forced to report that Jose now has an American accent. I don’t know how, though he claims the why is so that his Japanese students can understand him. All Dewart, Darwin and myself (I’m one to talk really, as is Darwin) have to say is, “pathetic.”

So Jose lives the far side of Tokyo, the far western side.. supposed to the north eastern side of the airport. Fortunately the trains are rather good so after a couple of hours and several trains, we’re at Joe’s place. Small, no beds, no kitchen, kind of reminded me of some of my student digs in London.. well the small bit anyway. So we dump are stuff and then head out to Shinjuku, the busiest train station in Toyko and were Jose works (1-2 million people a day pass through it!! Can you imagine making all off Northern Ireland go through one train station every day?) Anyway we wonder around, marvel at the big buildings, the video walls, number of people and just about everything else. Oddly Jose takes us to see a huge pendulum based clock, well it was quite cool. Then it’s dinner in an Asian restaurant on the 49th floor of a building.. It was at this point it really dawned on me that Toyko is a damn site larger than London. So the food was good, we followed it with some beers and got home about 1am. This 30+ hour stint awake meant that we didn’t rise until 5-6pm on the Monday which, was ok as Jose was at work.

Right that’s all I’ve got time for now.