Tokyo is everything you can imagine: from great attentive customer service and delicious food to clean streets and a vibrant metropolitan area energy.
Prior to arriving in Tokyo, I took a super long 15-hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong and spent a day wandering around Hong Kong. It was actually really refreshing to have this free time because I was able to read and finish a book (The Tao of Warrenn Buffett) and to catch up over meals with friends.
Once the day was about to end, I took the MTR (HK metro) from Hong Kong station to the airport. It was great because it took only 25 minutes. There in the airport I met up with Mona to take our flight to Narita, which took about 4 hours in which I was able to caught up some sleep.
Arriving in Narita airport was interesting culturally. I felt the change from the moment I step out of the airplane. It has walking paths made of running track material, which is nice for carry-ons and guidance paths.
We stayed in the airport for an hour or so having breakfast and figuring out the transportation system and WiFi routers. Needless to say, Tokyo train system is complex. Hope we master it in the few days we are spending here. Talking about WiFi. There is 1-2 stores renting WiFi routers in terminal 3 and 3 stores in terminal 2. Prices range between ¥950 to ¥1300 per day.
Other things we did today were hanging out around our hood in Asakusa; we went into this really nice soba/udon place and the food was simple yet delicious. Customer service was simply great, very attentive. After this, my body gave up and sent me to sleep; it was supposed to be a nap, but I ended up napping 7 hours 🙂 — I woke up and went for Ramen around 11pm. That’s how I want to end my first day in Tokyo.
Looking forward to much more tomorrow.
rich
Richard Chan 