Talking Japanese

Konnichiwa!

So far this trip has been great! Brandon got me to the airport in a breeze right through rush hour traffic. We even had time for a classy breakfast at Filliburto's. Nothing like starting the day ordering breakfast from someone who doesn't speak the same language as you; definitely a great way to prepare you for international travel.

Things were really smooth at the airport. Security was straightforward; although, I did learn that my new pants have metal in the clasp that bought me a hand wanding in PHX, but not SFO. United was great to San Francisco and then onward to Narita (NRT) which is about an hour train ride outside of Tokyo.

On the flight to SFO, I moved into the exit row for the extra leg room and ended up sitting next to an oncologist from Mayo Scottsdale who was traveling to Northern California to give a talk about breast cancer -- his specialty area. We decided that we should set up our own comprehensive breast care center due to his frustration with Mayo, my thinking it's a cool idea, and our mutual love of women's breasts. He gave me his business card and I spent the next hour planning our future attack on breast disease.

For the 10-hour marathon flight to NRT, I had another window seat and had Taku, a Japanese college student, sit next to me who studies in Northern California at a small college near Berkley. This was great because not only did Taku share my love for Jack Daniels (I had one, he had two) and beer ( we both had three -- hey they were free, we didn't have anything else to do, and I definitely wasn't driving anytime soon!), he also speaks Japanese as his native language. He helped me with my pronunciation of the three or four phrases I decided I needed to know how to say. I took his email address and invited him to come and visit the Arizona night life scene. He gave me some great tips on where to visit and reminded me how close I would be to Hiroshima and that I would be amiss to not visit.

NRT airport in retrospect was easier to figure out than many American airports mainly due to its layout, but it didn't hurt that all signs were in both English and Japanese (I think maybe Chinese, too but sumimasen for my not reading kanji). And boy was that a CLEAN airport. Everything was shiny, clean, and neat. Even the bathroom was spotless (more about the cartoon depicting which stall had a bidet later).

Immigration was a breeze -- they just took my visit card, verified my length of stay, and stamped my passport. Piece of cake (I should learn how to say that in Japanese). By the time I visited the restroom my bags were riding around the carousel. Customs was a cinch as I had nothing to declare and they were nice enough not to search my bags to make me prove it.

It took about fifteen minutes in line for me to get my Japan Rail Pass voucher exchanged into the real thing, but when I got to the head of the line the process was painless. They even reserved me seats in the Green car (like business class on Amtrack -- I paid about 15% extra for this.)

The train ride was relatively uneventful, but unfortunately there was some fearful excitement between my train to Tokyo and the train to Kyoto. I couldn't figure out where the hell my train was departing from. Tokyo's railway station is huge (like Grand Central Station) and the only English on the signs is typically one word which is the name of the rail line. Disappointingly, my train's rail line wasn't' listed because it's a subtype of the shinkansen (bullet trains) and I guess everybody just knows that in Japan. Finally, I found someone wearing a uniform and they pointed me in the right direction which was great until I got to the next intersection and had to repeat this. I got into my train with about 90 seconds to spare.

It was amazing riding the train through the city and countryside. The Japanese architecture, the neon lights, and all the action through Tokyo was very exciting. The train ride from Tokyo to Kyoto took about 3 hours and I think I slept about half of it. Once I got to Kyoto Station I was exhausted and about 30 minutes later I was unpacking in my hotel room. The traveling day is at a close.