at last

everything on this page is in japanese, it's very confusing for me.


i'm here!!

actually, it's been a little anticlimactic.
we made it over the ocean in about 10+ hours instead of 11.5 -- which was much appreciated. JAL (the airline) was quite nice, i was impressed with the service. the flight was LOONG and i started getting antsy around hour 4. we flew into Narita, which is an hour or two away from Tokyo by train and we are staying here for the night.

tomorrow morning we will check out at 9 and take the bullet train down to kyoto for several days. apparently, this will only take three hours. the first half of our two weeks in japan will be spent in kyoto and then we'll come back to tokyo for the second half.

there has not been too much to observe (yet) but it smells different here and is incredibly lush. veryveryvery green. also, the japanese seem incredibly friendly and i feel very white. being fairheaded suddenly makes me quite conspicuous.

oh - and - as miles had warned me - the toilets are extremely confusing. there are options to spray bidet pause and it will, without pressing a button, heat the seat and deoderize the bowl.
fun facts to know and tell, even if they are a little inappropriate.


anyhow, i'm going to join some people to explore (somewhere, though we are in the middle of nowhere) soon and then probably crash fairly early.

i'm feeling a very long way from home.