Tokyo, Day 1

So far the trip to Japan is off to great start.

We arrived yesterday on a Japan Air flight from Incheon to Narita and caught the Narita Express train on Japan Rail into Shinjuku station. The train itself was amazing. Comfortable seats and a great view of some of the countryside (suburbside?) before getting into downtown. We started out passing rice fields and people on bikes and ended up passing under multilevel train tracks to arrive at the center of the city. All of the signs and announcements were in Japanese and English, so it was very easy to get around.

Train station at Narita airport.

Our one hangup was getting into Shinjuku just at rush hour and hauling bags and baby down a few flights of stairs and across several platforms to get out the right exit to catch a cab to our hotel. (Several subway lines as well as trains use the station, which is huge.) We emerged unscathed, and David grabbed some great Japanese takeout food for our dinner while I fed Susana in our room.

We’re still trying to figure out the name of what we ate. It was thinly sliced stir-fried beef served over rice and came with pickled ginger that you could mix in. Very simple, but very delicious. I have to admit that when I first read about Shinjuku I really didn’t have an idea of what to expect. Tourist sites raved about the gleaming neon and skyscrapers (which featured prominently in the film Lost in Translation), but I was not really excited. You can see plenty of huge TV screens and bright signs in Gangnam and Jongno. But, our first view of Shinjuku at night was really amazing.

In Seoul, I sometimes feel assaulted by information overload. Here somehow the huge buildings and gleaming neon work in concert with neat, clean streets and wide sidewalks to look much more inviting, at least on initial impression.

It’s strange that you see a lot of Westerners in this area (probably because of the hotels) and hear a lot of English, but not a lot of people outside the hotel speak it. (Or claim to speak it.) So, I’m not sure how easy it will be to do some shopping, but I’m going to find out.

David has to work, but Susana and I plan to get out some today since the forecast is for nothing but rain tomorrow.