Well, I am finally in Japan after 2 long exhausting flights all the way from KLIA to Singapore, then Japan. Both flights were pretty full and inside the plane is like a microwave, I was sticky and sweaty by the time I got to Singapore. The flight was pretty packed, and having to sit in the middle aisle is not fun at all. I actually quite disappointed with the Singapore Airline this time. Their food was nothing exciting and man, they were so tight with their drink. I asked for a Coke, and they poured me a glass but won't even leave the rest of the can with me which they usually do on other airlines. And the heat isn't helping so I had to keep asking them for more drink the whole time. Not to mention the infotainment was pretty boring, there isn't many good movies on the flight so the whole flight was unexciting and boring. I was pretty much stuck in there and couldn't move. But it was late, so I pretty much slept all the way through.
I arrived at Narita Airport around 7am, and just the usual queueing up to go through the custom and ready to go out and explore the city. But hey, seems like they decided I should have my journey more exciting start right at the airport. I was at the custom counter, and the custom officer is asking me where's my visa, I said I don't have one. Uh oh!!! Wrong Answer!!!! So I ended up detained in the custom room for half an hour or so, filling up forms before they letting me into the country. It was a bit of a drama, but all went smoothly, despite my rugged look and I still able to convince them I am not an illegal migrant trying to get a job here.
Mr. Nakamurasan was waiting for me at the airport lounge. He was bigger from what I had expected. The sumo clad pics he sent to me was sure an indication he was an ex-sumo wretler. I apologized for being late and he was polite enough to wait for me. He then purchased my first JR train ticket to catch the train from Narita Airport all the way into city. We stopped at the Tokyo Central Station and it was pretty much a blur. It took us some time to exchanged our JR Rail Pass ticket, and also lugging the heaving backpack around station trying to look for the Tazai Railway line to get to our hotel isn't funny. But we did manage to find it and got here at ease. Thank god the concierge of the hotel is very nice and let us check in early into Kayabacho Pearl Hotel. Hence, I will have a shower and head back out again into the city for bit of sight-seeing. Wish me luck!!!
I went out to check out the local touristy stuff around Tokyo for the rest of the day. We went to the Imperial Palace for a walk and check out the Shogun emperor used to live in during the Edo period. Afterwards, we walked back to north to check out the Tokyo International Forum. The building is shaped like a ship and made of glass, but inside is just a big wide space. While we were there, there's an antique market happening outside the forum. There were so many good Japanese antiques and wish I could buy them but carry them back with a heavy luggage does worry me. Then we headed back towards Ginza to have a walk around and window shopping. The area is filled with expensive posh boutiques like Hermes, Christian Dior etc. We walked into the Sony building and checked out some really cool gadgets, but we were fascinated by the staircase inside which will play the octave notes while stepping on each step. As this is our first day, so we played it casually by just taking some cheap Japanese curry meal. It was bit comprehensive to order food, as it was my first time, but I did manage to order without any problem and able to speak few Japanese words.
The rest of the night, we took the metro to go to Akihabara to check out more latest gadgets. Akiban (Akihabara) is quite a fascinating area, there are just shop over shop, selling mobiles, game consoles, everything, you name it. And not just that, there were also young Japanese gals dressing as servants (maid) to lure the businessman to have some relaxation time in the love hotels. Then we also saw some guys having cosplay there, promoting a Halloween party at a night club. Definitely an eyeful for a single day before we heading back to hotel and ready for tomorrow adventure.
