Shinagawa
In brief, our plan was as follows. After an overnight sleepover in Shinagawa, we would head directly for Kyoto followed by a trip to Hiroshima, Mount Fuji and then back to Tokyo. In all, we would spend 2 weeks in Japan, with pretty much every day packed with planned activities
Our first stop once we arrived at the Narita airport would be Shinagawa where we would spend the night before continuing on to Kyoto.
I had spent considerable time just planning on what luggage we would take. When you go to Japan, you must count on a great deal of walking just to get from hotel to hotel. Huge, crowded airports and train stations, up stairs, down stairs, tight schedules that give you only minutes to embark or debark. And you will have to carry your luggage for most of that time.
My advice is to never, never take more than you can carry yourself in one trip. As such, I still ended up with three bags. A rolling cart backpack for clothing with a small removable day pack, a backpack computer bag for my electronics and finally, pictured here, a small shoulder bag for my camera gear. In an extreme worst case, I could carry everything on my back and shoulders for a fair distance or stack everything on the rolling backpack for longer distances.
Let's do this! After months of careful planning, the day had arrived. It was now 5 AM in the morning. My son Josh and I pack up as Deb prepares to take us to the airport.
We had a 2 hour stopover in Newark, NJ before getting on the direct flight to Tokyo. Even with all my planning, I had forgotten one small but critical element. The electrical outlets in Japan are mostly two-prong and my computer adapter required three. However, a quick stop by one of the airport shops netted me an international conversion adapter that would more than address my needs. You can see the small white adapter above Josh's head on the power pole as we charge our electronics.
As when Jennifer and I traveled to Japan, the flight path curved up over Alaska and the Bering Strait.
What you're looking at here is the little monitor mounted in the seatback in front of me. We used these alot during the flight to watch movies and play simple video games.
We arrived 18 hours later, very low on sleep but excited to finally be here in Japan. I had a huge packet (part of which was spread out in front of me) that contained everything we would need from our rail pass certificates to itineraries to details on our planned spiritual walk of Kyoto. Everything that could be stored electronically was also copied onto my USB memory stick which I kept as close to me as my passport as a backup in case the packet was somehow lost. I knew in principle what we needed to do next, but I took a moment to check our itinerary as well as my map of the Narita airport to see where we were and where we needed to go.
A few shots of the Narita airport terminal before we continued on our way
It was now about 1:30 PM Japan time. We had arranged our flight schedule to arrive with plenty of time to get to our hotel and settle in before it got dark.
Although we were on the main floor and the exit was right there, we would actually be making our way down to the lowest basement level of the airport. There we would first exchange our rail pass certificates for the actual 2 week passes and then take the express airport train to Tokyo.
The first of dozens and dozens of vending machines that we would frequent over our two week stay.
A little introduction by Josh explaining how we backtracked several times before making our way to the train terminal to leave the airport
I hope that sign says that we're going the right way.
On our way to Shinagawa!
Some of the sights as we traveled
It was now about 3 PM. We had been traveling maybe an hour or so. As crowded as Japan is, I'm amazed that there is still so much greenery to be seen.
The red lights indicate our progress from the Narita airport (red dot on the right side). Now an hour and a half into our trip, we had just left the Tokyo station with Shinagawa as our final stop.
We arrived at Shinagawa without incident. It was just after 4 PM, so we were in no hurry as we made our way to the hotel which involved us crossing this busy highway via an overpass. This view is looking to the south. The wheeled cart backpack arrangement worked out fine as we rolled our stuff along with us.
And now we are looking North. By the way, these photos are all geotagged, so feel free to click on the "Map This" button at the top of the page to see our exact location on Google Maps.
Our hotel room at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa, a five minute walk from the train station. We've been awake now for over 24 hours. We would be staying here just one night before heading to Kyoto.
The infamous Japanese toilet seat
With features for both the boys and the girls
Exhausted, we crash for several hours, but then both Josh and I were wide awake at 1 AM in the morning which would have made it around noon back home. Left to my own devices, I was going to read a book and force myself to go back to sleep. However Josh lit a fire under my tail and we headed out into the dark night to see what Shinagawa had to offer.
It was cool, quiet and a bit eerie as we strolled down the dark streets. I was so wide awake and elated to be walking in Japan once again.
It was good to be alive.
Thank you Josh!!
The front desk receptionist had directed us to a little pizza place down the road, but, in the end, that was not what we wanted so we kept walking.
This was Japan and darn it, I wanted more! In the end, it was like we had been given divine guidance directly to exactly what I wanted, a little hole in the wall ramen shop.
For most of the time, we were the only patrons in the restaurant. Once two young men came in, quickly ate and were gone again before Josh and I had finished.
Josh took this and it has become one of my favorite profile photos. Here I am, sitting in Japan, in a true ramen shop. This was certainly in the top ten of the happiest moments in my life.
We both helped ourselves to the ramen special posted on the back wall. This was close to the best meal I had during our whole trip. The photo was taken by the shop owner who actually spoke some English and we chatted with him a bit.
More vending machines.
On the way back, we stopped at a small Shinto shrine.
To pay proper respect during your visit, approach the entrance and bow respectfully before entering. In the provided basin, first wash your left hand, then your right, then rinse your mouth with water poured in your hand. Tip the ladle backwards to wash the ladle handle with the remaining water and replace it, opening side down, on the rack where you found it. As you wash, do not let the water fall back into the fountain, but off to the side.
A dragon head provided fresh water to keep the fountain filled.
More vending machines.
Almost back to the hotel. We got back around 3 AM and managed to sleep another few hours before waking up again around 6 AM.
A brief video outside our hotel balcony where you can hear the unrelenting sounds of the cicada.
We will be traveling straight to Kyoto for the first part of our tour.
Josh makes some amusing observations about our morning adventures.
The mysterious Covalent sign. A little Google research indicated that they make silicon wafers, i.e. the little disks to the right of the name. Of course, it was so obvious that we should have known.
Click here to move on to our arrival in Kyoto:
http://phoenixanime.org/Japan-2008/Kyoto-Arrival/