Touchdown!

The long wait is over, and finally I have made it to Japan! Sugoi!!

I was packing and cleaning right up to the last minute, which meant not getting much sleep the night before we left. We arrived at the airport and said our goodbyes, which was pretty sad. I felt very odd walking down that ramp to board the plane! I ended up getting two dinners, as I got one on the flight from Adelaide to Sydney, and again on Sydney to Tokyo. No complaints here. I have never been able to sleep well on planes though, so I only got about 1 or 2 hours of actual sleep. But finally, as I peered out the window, I spotted the great stretch of land that is Japan, and knew that the adventure was beginning.

My friend and I were confronted with our first problem as soon as we got through customs: how do you get on the train? Almost all of the information desks were closed, as it was still only 6am, but we managed to get directed down to the ticketing machines, which are all in Japanese and we had no idea what to do. Eventually we managed to wrangle a couple of tickets and were on our way! At our transfer point a nice man stopped and helped us as we stared blankly at the new ticketing machine before us. So far the Japanese have all been very helpful and accommodating, which is comforting, even if we can't speak the same language.

My sister met us at the station by her house, and it was so lovely seeing her again in the flesh for the first time in 6 months! After a couple of big hugs, she led us off to see her place. It's small but nice, and it was our first real look at the Japanese streets. On the train ride over we'd seen heaps of rice paddies and buildings, but actually being on the roads themselves feels much nicer. It's a little humid at the moment and has been raining all day, but just walking around was great, and apparently cars give way to pedestrians a lot of the time (as proven when we'd stop to wait for a car before crossing the road, but the car would stop for us), so we just stroll down the roads without much fear (there aren't footpaths half the time anyway). We visited my sister's local bakery and feasted on a lovely morning tea of Totoro cream buns! >D

 Kawaii/kowaii Totoro cream bun!

 Not sure about having a bite.

 Craig and I with our buns.

 

My lovely sister!!

We took the train into our accommodation and eventually found it hiding in all the backstreets. We spent the afternoon wandering around and checking out some of the local shops, including an 8 story building filled with Lolita and other Japanese fashions, and a 5 story gaming arcade! We then went out for an early dinner, sharing some Japanese dishes, such as beef stew, radish salad, fried chicken and fried salmon with miso sauce. It was delicious!

Now we're watching strange Japanese TV shows, in which they are amazing their audience with 'science' but it looks more like magic to me... since we can't understand what they're saying! Time to turn in for an early(ish) night. Good night!