excess verbiage

Airplanes are really pretty cool when you think about them. One minute, you're in your home country. You look out the window and everything is as you know it. Step aboard, sit down for some hours, and when you step off the plane, suddenly everything in front of your eyes is different. Walking through the airport corridors to get to customs and immigration was slightly nerve-wracking because they were telling us on the plane how there's this quarantine room, where, if they think you're sick or have h1n1, then they'll keep you there. And then I was worried about going through customs because I don't speak Japanese. Customs was actually pretty easy. They don't ask too much, but they do make you give your thumbprints and get an iris scan. And then you go get your luggage and you're off.

My friend and I got picked up by her relatives and immediately it felt strange because I couldn't communicate and needed her to translate everything. You feel powerless and it's just strange to have people not understand you, and vice versa. Anyway, the drive in the car was long, because it was a long weekend and there was a lot of traffic, plus they live in the burbs. It was on this drive that it really truly hit me - holy shit, I'm in Japan! Looking out the window of the car, it was amazing to see a different landscape than I was used to. The stores, restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores... everything was different - and it was awesome. Plus they drive on the other side of the road, like in the UK.

The air was thick and humid, like a sauna, and it would stay that way for the entire two weeks I was there. Which is to mean that I was sweating for two solid weeks! Hey, what can I say? I'm from Canada after all. heh. So while we were driving, one of the first things my friend and I noticed were how little and cute the cars and vans were over there. They're different shaped than what we've got here. Literally looks like a box on wheels. We found out that those cars are the eco-friendly cars and if people buy those ones, then they get a huge discount. People with larger, regular cars obviously pay more of a premium.

We dropped off our luggage and were given a tour of the house, including instructions on how to operate the shower and toilet. You might think, why would you need a lesson on that? But let me tell you, I could've used another 10 minute lesson on how to use it! The shower and toilet would become the bane of my travels. *shakes fist at sky* More on that later.

After freshening up, we went out for dinner. Not sure if they did this for our benefit, but we wound up eating at a chain restaurant called "Jonathan's Coffee and Restaurant". Really Japanese-sounding, right? haha. It was like an American style diner in design and the menu was half western food, half Japanese. The cool thing was that you didn't have to flag down the waitress. Each table had a button to press, that signalled the waitress to come over. Brilliant! I wound up ordering something that was pretty much a salisbury steak that was served with rice and miso soup. Not terribly adventurous of me, but it was a long day of travel and I just wanted some sort of comfort food. It was exactly what I needed.

After that, we went back and then I was ready to pass out. I had made it to Tokyo. Woohoo!