The Eagle has landed!

Feb. 1st, 2009, 11:00am.
Arrived as recommended, 2 hours early, at LAX airport.
I'm joined by Tyler, who I'll be with the first week, and then Sally.
Sally organized the trip but unfortunately wasn't able to go, but she came to see us off.

Tyler, Sally & me.


My plane. Singapore Air.

The dirty looking area w/ exposed metal on the tail did not inspire a lot confidence in me for this airline... @_@

But I survived!
Arrived in Japan about 12 hours later.
Going through Customs was fairly painless, except that the paperwork requests the address and phone number of where you are staying. All I had was the Japanese printout from the hotel (which has way too many kanji for me to read), but at least I had that printout. That was enough for them to at least help me do it. They had me fill out claim forms, but didn't physically check my bags.

After checking my bags we were met by Sally's dad, Yoshimichi Irokawa, who said he'd be our guide in Tokyo in Sally's stead. He made a sign just for us. =)



Racial Profiling Begins...
After that we began to head downstairs to exchange our JR Railpasses. we came to an escalator, and I had my stuff on a cart, so I stopped to take the stuff off the cart and carry it down the escalator. Some strange "gaijin"(foreigner)doing this is apparently enough to garner the attention of Airline security. Not even in Japan an hour, and I'm getting questioned by the police! SWEET! Damn, I wish I had a picture of that! I'll have to re-enact it later!
Anyways they looked at my passport, and Sally's dad came over and spoke to them on my behalf. Fun times, fun times. =P

Riding the train.
It's surprising that they have English announcements for the trains, and that almost everything is subtitled in English. Makes it so much easier for us!



Waiting for the train.

Surprising the photo-taker!

Then we at last have arrived at our destination. Getting from the Narita airport to Shinuku,Tokyo, took about 2 hours itself.
Here is a map:






























Hotel Room
Finally arrived at the Hotel. Hotel Sanroute in Shinjuku.
The room is kinda tiny, but more then adequate for me.



To turn on your light you put your room card in the slot, and you leave it in there as long as you want the lights on. Took me a couple minutes to figure that one out. heh. =P

There is and internet connection available in the room. Very convenient.
Also you can see I have an adapter for the outlet as most places have only 2 prong outlets. Not three.

So now that I'm settled in, time to go out and explore Shinjuku...