Tokyo - We have arrived

Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2, 2008 - The Trip to Tokyo

It's hard to believe that after almost a full day of traveling Meg and I are finally in Tokyo. We started on Thursday morning at 5:30AM in Austin and it is now Friday afternoon 6:30PM in Tokyo. That makes it 4:30AM in Texas.

Thanks goodness for the business class upgrade on the 13 hour flight from DFW to Tokyo. I have traveled over seas numerous times, but this was my first time to travel in business class. If I had the money I would do it every time from this point forward! Check out these pics of Meg's seat next to me on the plane.








































We were both able to get some good sleep and have some fun watching movies and reading books. It definitely made the time go by fast.

Once we arrived in Narita we had to get through customs and then figure out how to get to Tokyo. We started by grabbing some cash from the ATM and then headed to the JR East Rail Service desk. There we purchased a pass that let us get from Narita to Tokyo and then around Tokyo.

The trip from Narita to Tokyo was 90 minutes. Check this picture out of Meg waiting for the train in the Narita International Aiport :) Needless to say, she was happy when we got to the hotel.














After the 90 minute journey we got off at Shinjuku station. Shinjuku is right in the heart of Tokyo and where our hotel is located. It was quite an experience just going through the Shinjuku station to get to our hotel. For starters, I am at least a foot taller than everyone around me. That makes it easy when you are trying to push through a crowd.

The Japanese don't mess around with their train system. They were moving a hundred miles an hour through the station and there were people coming from all directions. Megan basically just walked behind me and I cleared a path for us. We got lost at one point, but a nice Japanese man approached us and asked if he could help. I guess it wasn't hard to tell we were not locals.

It took us about 30 minutes to get from the station to our hotel by foot. Once we got to the hotel we were checked in quickly and then taken up to our room. The room is very nice--check out the pictures below.



























That basically brings me to the point at which I am writing this post. As you can guess, I have an Internet connection and I have already tested my soft phone to make sure it works. It works! So we will be able to communicate with everyone while we are in Japan. We will have to see if the same holds true for China.

Alright, we are off to find some dinner and explore. I will try to keep updating this blog as our journey in Asia continues. Love to all!

Jason and Meg