I am still a bit confused by the environment, and wander around the area for a while. I end up getting a small salad, baked potato, and chocolate shake at Wendys! But, it is definitely Japanese style--each is about one-half the size of the portions back home.
I study my map while eating and decided to head into central Tokyo. I had bought a subway pass the night before, and so I go to the nearest subway station, find the proper entrance gate for the train that I want, insert my pass (a magnetic strip card) into the card reader, walk thru the gate and retrieve my card.. It is similar to the system in Washington DC. You insert your card when you enter and when you exit, and the proper fare is deducted. I had bought a 1,000 yen ticket. Most fares are between 150 and 250 yen per trip.
I take the Maranouchi Line to Tokyo station. I exit and head west towards the Imperial Palace. The Palace grounds are ringed by two moats, one inside the other. In old times there were 4 rings, and the outer ring was perhaps a mile from the palace. The higher your ranking the closer to the center you lived. Now only the two inner rings remain. The entire palace area is surrounded by a roadway, and once you cross the road you enter a different world. The outer moat is the first thing you see. There are various entry gates to cross the moat. However, the public may not pass the gates and thus enter the grounds except on Dec. 23 (the Emperor's birthday), and Jan. 2 (New Year's). On these two days you can line-up and enter. This day, Oct. 7, is not one of the favored days, and so I can only look at the gates, and see a few special guests or staff members leave or enter.
I walk along the moat generally heading south. The grounds outside the moat are immaculate. I see a sign which explains why--even though there is no fence, entry onto the lawn is not permitted. I continue along XXX Dori until I reach XXX park, which is a public park almost to Ginza. I walk along a slightly elevated pathway that runs along some water, and enter a fountain/courtyard area. People are sitting quietly around the perimeter of the area. It is a garden of tranquility smack dab in the middle of the city.
I then head generally east towards Ginza. No more tranquility here. Shopping is the main attraction, and there are lots of choices. Originally Ginza was where money (coins) was minted. Now it is where money is spent. Up and down the main avenue I see designer shops, but I turn into one of the narrow side streets. One of them is XXX, and another is YYY. I stroll past a wide collection of clothing and leather goods boutiques. I eventually make my way to the Ginza subway station, where I take a train to Tokyo station. I then hop on the JR Yamanote line (which loops around central Tokyo), and find my way back to Shinjuku.
As I get back to the hotel it is about 7:30 and I am getting hungry. There are a few restaurants just a few doors away from my hotel and I look into them trying to make a choice. In one of them there are no customers, just three women sitting and talking. This is obviously the choice for me! I enter and am greeted in the usual warm manner. I take a seat and am soon presented with 4 dishes of kimchi. Not really knowing what to order I ask for soba noodles. The waitress communicates to me that this is a Korean restaurant. I did not know, because there are no signs or menus in english. However, I am soon presented with a very large bowl of noodles and vegetables, and my hunger is fully satisfied! With some difficulty the waitress tells me that she is from Seoul, the manager is from Chaegu, and the cook is from Busan. I try to tell her that I will soon travel to Busan and Seoul. I am not sure if she understood.
I then head over to the Virgin Mega record store on XXX Dori. They have an internet café on the 3rd floor. The internet service is free, but you must buy a beverage (coffee or tea, cost about 300 to 350 yen). It is quite crowded. There are about 25 terminals, but I find one available. I check my email and then head back to the hotel and go to bed.
a. Day 5, 6/10/03. I had stayed up to about 12:00 getting packed, and I get up at 7:00. I say good morning and goodbye to L and by 8:00 I am on my way to the MTR. I take the Airport Express train from Central to the airport which is on Lantau Island. The train ride out is very scenic. As we head west along the north side of the island the bay is off to my right. There are fast ferries heading towards the airport. The new airport and terminal is huge. Even with lots of people it is quiet, calm. I find the CP check-in counter and then look for a restaurant to get some breakfast. I find a place named Grappas, which serves a salmon and egg breakfast for about $8 US, and then head to the gate. I suddenly realize that I am running out of time. My boarding card says boarding is at 10:20 AM, and it is already 10:15 and I am still walking. As luck would have it my gate, 66, is at the very end of the terminal, seemingly a mile away. But I make it and board the mostly empty flight, picking-up a free newspaper (choice of South China Morning Post, or Asian Wall Street Journal, and others) as I enter the plane.
The CP flight crew is, as before, gracious and beautiful. My sport coat is taken and hung in a closet. Beverages and then lunch are served. There is an announcement requesting donations to UNICEF (envelopes given to each passenger). The lead attendant, Joann, comes and greets me. She lives in Jakarta, and commutes to the CP base in HK. She tells me the crew is very diverse. We have Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, and HK all represented.
Our arrival at Narita airport is right on time. I can see the weather is much different than HK. It is gloomy and rainy outside. It is about 4:00 PM when I get in a very long line at immigration. Clearly it is rush hour at the airport! I notice with some frustration that there are about 400 people in line, and only 4 immigration counters open. But the 4 officers are working hard, and it takes about 40 minutes to get my passport stamped. I then locate the JR Rail Pass office and exchange my voucher for the actual pass. I find the airport express office and get my ticket (included in the pass, but tickets needed as the seats are all reserved). I find the track just as the train pulls in. I am in car 9, which is at the end of the train right in front of me. We wait a few minutes for the train to be cleaned, and we then board. The train pulls-out at 5:13 PM. We are soon outside and I see that it is getting dark already. But it seems that the rain has stopped. The early dusk surprises me a little, since in HK it was light until about 7:00. Then I realize that now I am much further north and east, and thus the days are shorter. The train ride to Shinjuku station takes nearly 90 minutes. No wonder they way that a taxi ride from Narita costs nearly $300 US. I believe it!
The night before I had looked at the hotel website to try to determine how to get from the station to the hotel. I didn't have a printer in HK, so I copied the map at the website to my hard drive. As I exited the train I was honored with the assistance of a Japanese business man who had helped me find the train track at the airport. Lucky for me he also lived in the Shinjuku area. He strongly suggested that I take a taxicab to the hotel since it was already dark and very confusing. I agreed with him. He took me to the taxi stand where we tried to tell the driver which hotel I was in and where it might be found. He did not know it, and so I pulled-out my laptop and showed him the map. He said OK, and 10 minutes later I was at the City Hotel Lornstar. It was about 7:15 PM.
I was given room 715, and I quickly tried to call my friend Ma on her cell phone. I had met Ma at the Houston airport several years earlier when she was on her way to Mexico to study spanish for a couple months, and I was changing planes from LA to MIA. We had exchanged email ever since. Now, after many promises that yes, one day I would come to Tokyo, I finally was here. After asking the desk clerk how to dial the phone to call a cellphone number, I was able to reach her. She now works at a Tokyo public relations company and was still working (typical Tokyo work hours). We agreed to meet in front of my hotel and have dinner when she got off. Her office was about 15 minutes away by subway. She finally arrived at about 9:30!
We walked into Shinjuku where she found us a small restaurant. It was upstairs. We entered a small elevator and got off at floor 6. There were 2 restaurants. We entered the one to the right. There were several small tables, and a counter where some men were sitting. We took a table off to the side. She ordered some tea, and we said "kampai" to our reunion. The menu was entirely in Japanese, and M did not know the english translations for many of the dishes. So I told her I liked green vegetables, seafood, rice and noodles. Whatever I had, it was very good. By the time we finished it was about 10:30, and she still had to go home to Yokohama, about a 40 minute train ride away. So we walked back and said goodbye at the subway station next to the hotel. I was asleep 15 minutes later.
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