First Day in Japan
Its now 16:00 o’ clock. I arrived at the hotel two hours ago and I am sweating like hell. I don’t know exactly what temperature it is but it is way higher than in Germany.
But lets start from the beginning. My flight should take off at 13:40 from Frankfurt. But the Dindin Stuff was way to slow and we got late by half an hour. But it wasn’t that bad because the Captain mentioned it will only take us 10 1/2 hours instead of the 11 hours like the website of Lufthansa said.
The flight wasn’t fully booked. I would say only 1/4 of the max capacity. But the waiting list was five times the size and the plane was full under the roof. I was one of the few passengers who booked beforehand and I got a window seat.
But it wasn’t that great because I had to twist my neck to watch ouf of the window perfectly. And there was a wing blocking my view. orz
It sure was bad weather in Germany.
A lot of japanese where inside ending there vacation in Germany or flying back from a business trip or stuff like that. So many japanese and I get a young mother from Israel with a 1 to 2 years old child in my row, which I can say so now was so goddamn annoying. I couldn’t sleep. Well at least not good and for long because the child cried the whole journey. Not just baby crying. Real words. I couldn’t understand them but my ears died serveral deaths. And it jumped and floundered around. But luckily it was only for 10 1/2 hours. Not eleven.
I still tried to take a picture of the view out of my window.
I think this was Nagoya Bay? But without rain clouds.
The next day we arrive in Narita at 9 JST and the friendly man from the customs area won’t believe me I don’t have anything to declare and wants me to open my luggage. Surpirse, surprise nothing inside besides my own clothes. But wet as hell. I think the ground stuff in Frankfurt forgot it in the rain and it couldn’t withstand the heavy rain in Germany.Wonderful.
At the airport there is a possibility to change my last Euro into Yen. Awesome. I can skip searching for a possibilty to change my money directly in Tokyo. But there was a hook, of course. The changing booth opens at 12:00.
Well, I can move inside my hotel room not before 16:00. I knew that from the begining so why not wait here?
After a while my butt started to hurt and I wanted to take a stroll through the terminal and I found another chaning booth which opened a bit earliere. I got around 5000 Yen more than I thought. Nice.
Than I had to buy a ticket for the NEX train to Shinjuku. Taxi is boring and expensive and bus transfer is boring too.
In Tokyo it has to be a train!
Change of train in Shinjuku. 1 million people use this station everday. And I was fascinated by the number of people I saw there. It was just stunning.
The station is huuuuuge and the central station of Köln propably fits two times in there.
After I found the entry to ne New Keio Line I had to do something most tourists with no language experience are afraid of. Buying a ticket. Alot is in english but not everything. I was lost for a little while. In Shinjuku and in Hategaya, teh station where the hotel is.
Nishihara Street. Small street with shops. Combini available? Check!
The street leading to the hotel.
The room wasn’t that big but I had a bath for my own, a big bed, free WiFi and TV. And it is just sto stay over not to live there so it is ok.
The directions I got from the hotel were really accurate so it was absolutely no problem to find it. The area around the hotel is really quit which is good to get deep sleep without kids from Israel …
You can get mor epictures if you click this link. There is a first picture of cherry blossom. But you need good eyes to notice them.