Departure from Vancouver

On October 25, 2006, I departed Vancouver again after spending a month and a half without school stress. This time, my destination is Tokyo, Japan, a country I've been longing to visit for years.


To be honest, I didn't really want to go visit Japan on my own. I don't speak Japanese well and I don't have any close friends there either. The first visit I had in mind should be with people whom I can have a good time with and explore the country together. However, the travel agency had a special package with JAL that was cheaper and included 2 nights accomadation in Tokyo. Therefore, I fell for it and decided to go on my own adventure in a foreign country.

It was tough doing all the research before my departure. I had no idea how the transportation system works, where to purchase train tickets, where to eat, shop, or even how to get to my hotel. Thanks to the guidebook I bought and my friend Hiroko's help, I felt a bit more comfortable going on my own without knowing the language.

The beginning of my journey was surprisingly pleasant. The service of JAL was very good and the food was also better than all the other Chinese airlines I've been taking in the past years. I like JAL's drink called "Sky Time", it's a Yuzu sparking drink that tastes good on its own or with vodka. It's light and has a fresh yuzu aroma.

The other good thing about my fight was that there were two Japanese moms sitting beside me. They were sooooo nice to me. They made sure that I was fed, I had everything I needed, etc. Unfortunately they didn't speak any English, so I had to use my very poor Japanese to communicate with them *surprisingly they could still understand me*. We had a good time chatting so it really gave me a good first impression about Japanese people.

After arrival at the Narita Airport in Tokyo (which felt short I guess coz I was chatting/sleeping/eating the whole way), I followed the crowd and boarded the Narita Express to Shinjuku. I was very lucky that I only waited for about 5 minutes before the train came. My hotel, Shinjuku Prince, is located about 5 minutes walk from JR Shinjuku station. On my ride to JR Shinjuku station, I met this guy named Kirk that sat besid me on the train. He's a guy in his late-30s (?) from US and is currently working for US reserve in Japan. We had a nice talk and he offered his number and told me he can help me out if I have any questions in Japan. After meeting so many friendly people within a day, my impression for Japanese people had gotten much better.

So now was when things got tricky. I've been warned about the complexity of JR Shinjuku station before I even got to Japan. Appearantly it's one of the largest subway station in Japan and has 60 exits. But I thought to myself: "Oh well, how hard can it be to just follow the signs and go to the exit I need to go to". Well, it's REALLY hard. I wasn't so lucky considering I arrived JR Shinjuku station during the evening rush hour. OMG!! There were SOOOO many people!!! Not to mention I was carrying my heavy suitcases and trying to wheel it around the crowd. On top of the crazy crowd, I had to try to find my exit which was impossible. I was officially lost for the first time (~2 hours after landing in Tokyo) and had to ask for direction using my "almost-non-existing" Japanese. It is amazing how I could understand that guy's Japanese when I can't understand Japanese. (well, I understand words like "right", "left", "straight"). After finally getting out of the exit I was looking for, I was lost for the second time (~2.25 hours after landing). There were SOOO many tall building around. How the heck am I suppose to know which one is my hotel!!!??? Luckily there was a "koban" (police station) right beside my exit so I got direction again and found my hotel.

It was about 7pm after I checked into my hotel (see photo on right). My room was bigger than I thought since I've been told all rooms and apartments in Japan are REALLY small. The hotel is connected to Shinjuku Pepe (a small department store) and Sunade underground shopping street. On the second floor, there's Seibu Shinjuku station, and about 5 minutes underground walk to JR Shinjuku Station. For the first night, I bought a melon bread from bakery in Shinjuku Pepe. It was a melon bread with sweet red bean filling. It was sooooo good. I went to bed early because I was exhausted from the travelling. Before I went to bed, I watched (well, more like "listened" coz I can't understand it) a Japanese show and thought to myself: "Hey, I'm REALLY in Japan".

Impression of Japan (day 1):
- Japanese people are friendly
- There are too many people and they all walk really fast
- JR Shinjuku station is very scary

My hotel room at Shinjuku Prince