Day: May 18, 2023

Traveling to & arriving ✈ Japan Day 0

05/16/2023

Arrived at my hometown’s airport at around 6:20am after having slept a maximum of 2.5 hours to meet up with Cam. After a short 2 hour flight to Chicago, we met up with Belle to board our flight to Japan via ANA together!

On our flight, I ended up swapping my aisle seat with the man behind me, who had just wanted to sit with his family (which was the seat I was in). This actually turned out amazingly for me because the seats behind me only sat 2 people, so I just had one other person to let out to use the restroom.

We were fed well on the flights, and I was so thankful for the mild yet yummy airline food since I am notoriously awful at keeping myself fed on travel days.

First meal came 2 hours into the 12 hour flight. Consisted of edamame, small salad, chicken & rice, soba(?) and we even had a small Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream as dessert.

Second meal came a few hours before our arrival, meant to be breakfast (make sure to eat the in-flight meals, as they are meant to help you adjust to the new timezone!) and consisted of ravioli, ham & corn(?) salad, and a blueberry muffin.

Arrival: 2:56pm JST

Once we arrived & got past the final security gates, the three of us met up with Megan & Esther and we set off to get our IC cards & train tickets to make our way into Tokyo. I couldn’t find where to purchase a suica card in the airport so I opted to save it for later (big mistake on my part) and instead purchased a ticket for the Narita Sky Express (Access Express) to take us to Oshiage Station, where our hostel was a 5 minute walk away.

We took a wrong turn on our way to our accommodation and ended up walking right through Skytree (which I had originally planned to properly visit a few days from now).

Once we settled into our rooms, Belle, Megan, Cam and I went out to the nearby Family Mart to grab some quick food for our first night. There, I had my first taste of extremely affordable merch in Japan as well as my first taste of giving kujis all my money.

I pulled a C tier Kanae acrylic panel (he was the only one I wanted out of everyone that was available, so my gambling had thankfully come to an end immediately) to my surprise! Out of slight embarrassment at being so excited to pull my first kuji, I made small talk with the cashier by asking “にじさんじが 人気 です か,” since they are nowhere near as known in the states.

Honorable mention to seeing そらるさん on the first magazine I laid eyes on in Japan! As someone who’s been listening to him since 2012 as an indie musician, this was so surreal and exciting to see.

I had my first Bigプッチンプリン and it was delicious! Much softer than other purin brands I’m used to, and the flavor was wonderfully light and refreshing. They forgot to give me a spoon and I spent a few minutes contemplating my existence and gathering the courage to go back in the store and ask if I could have a spoon, but I got one in the end. After this, we all went back to our rooms and slept early!

the struggle

i landed in narita airport on the 17th at 3 pm running on approximately 3 hours of sleep over the course of 2 days. the flight was not uneventful, as the two guys sitting next to me were talking for hours on end about one of them starting a charity in indonesia, running for president, and very normal opinions on black people. i got in a surprisingly high amount of tears of the kingdom time in as an effort to silence the homicidal urges.

[this plane had a camera system that let people see outside even if they didn’t have a window. i hadn’t seen that before. i watched this more than the suspiciously limited movie selection.]

i’m staying in a hostel next to a river in sumida with jasmine and a few others. i did a lot of research that led to booking here and i am mainly relieved it wasn’t a disaster. secondarily it is a really cool place and i love being here. the first thing i noticed about the general area is just how quiet and small everything is. the cars are smaller and quieter, buildings are mostly only 2-3 stories tall, and all of the roads in particular are noticeably smaller, normally only 2 lanes with plenty of room for pedestrians. our hostel is directly under a rail line and the noise is barely audible. this is exemplary of the urban planning concept of “design at a human scale,” which broadly refers to a planning ethos that puts the experience of humans in a location at its primary focus. walking down a street here really feels like it’s meant to be walked in. i don’t feel towered over by buildings no person could reasonably scale. i am not sequestered to a minimal stretch of road under threat of a roaring stampede of machines ready to crush me at any given moment. doors to buildings are readily accessible and not distanced by a god awful meticulously maintained and unnecessary turf. as someone who has had serious anxiety about leaving my house my whole life i have taken a grand total of 3 morning walks alone since coming here. it is true; i am no longer mentally ill.

i have noticed more than once that just while having normal conversation with another person i will be the loudest thing in a 10 foot radius. this is because my default speaking volume is adjusted to an “american” level of constant background noise. after a lifetime of being told to speak up because no one can hear me and never being able to hear other people because of background noise i am happily taking this as an excuse to say this is a problem with society for the rest of my life. i have truly never experienced this level of “quiet” i think. especially in the middle of a major urban area. noise pollution is Real.

[this is the road leading to our place. i have yet to see a car go down this road. they are too afraid of its power.]

i will save you a meticulous play-by-play of everything i have been doing the past few days and keep it to the most interesting anecdotes. i have been on a quest to find all of my favorite foods from 11 years ago which has been generally successful but ongoing. i first found cherry juice in a machine with sumo wrestlers painted on it on the same corner i saw two real sumo wrestlers in full costume a day prior. i later learned that the hostel is right next to a sumo dojo which explained a lot honestly. the konbini right next to the hostel is unfortunately not a 7-eleven but it has a lot of the same stuff, most importantly my favorite ice cream.

[this was breakfast yesterday because no laws to prevent me from doing that exist yet. the one i had with my mom was assorted fruit but i have yet to find that kind specifically. good thing the grape was always my favorite anyway.]

i don’t have a lot of pictures because frankly i forgot i was supposed to be taking them. i’m just quirky like that. haha. ok remember to live laugh love everyone more to come :2

My First 36 Hours in Japan

My first two days of Japan mode have been quite the adventure! From spending 15 hours in a plane to walking four and a half miles today, it’s certainly been a lot of exploration and new experiences.

I first flew from Atlanta to Chicago, waking up at around 3:45 AM to give myself enough time at the airport for security (I sat in the airport for two hours because I got through security in fifteen minutes. Oh how I wish I had the extra hour of sleep!) Then, I met up with Jasmine and Cameron at the Chicago airport to take our 13 hour flight to Narita. While the flight was comfortable, sitting in one place for that period of time has never been good for anyone’s body, and it certainly did a number on mine. Once we were through immigration and customs in Japan, we met up with Megan and Esther to make our way to our hostel.

I’ve never stayed in a hostel before, but this is definitely a great introductory experience to them! Me and Megan are staying in a room with two twin beds (not a dormitory setting, my social battery definitely couldn’t handle it) and they are very comfortable for the price! We have a sink in our room for brushing our teeth and washing our hands, but toilets and showers are shared down the hall. The showers are very nice, but the heated toilet seats are a bit off-putting for me. Maybe with time I’d come to enjoy them…

I thoroughly enjoyed the Nintendo photo op in the visitors center at the Narita airport!

After going to bed at 8:30 PM with my brain stuck in 7:30 AM mode, I woke up at 5 AM today ready to take on the world. Megan, Jessica and I set out around 7:30 AM, excited to explore before it got too hot. While almost nothing was open, I was able to get a very delicious strawberry frappuccino from Starbucks and take in the sights while we waited for the Tokyo Skytree to open.

We spent the day shopping for cute merchandise and gifts for friends and family at the Skytree, visiting the Pokemon Store, the Kirby Cafe Store, and many other iconic character shops. Personally, I picked up a handful of stickers, a couple of blind bag figurines, and some assorted Pokemon-themed gifts. We ate lunch in the Food Marche (essentially just the most overwhelming food court I’ve ever experienced, that was also a grocery store?) where I got some chicken nuggets and a chicken skewer that had whole cloves of garlic on it, which I wasn’t aware of before buying it. As a picky eater, the food scene in Japan is somewhat terrifying, so I feel like I am justified in easing myself into it. For dessert (because how could we not get dessert with so many options) I got a strawberry skewer that was coated in sugar and some small butter castella balls. The strawberries here are delicious, and I would love to go back and get some more that aren’t lathered in sugar as it was a little overwhelming.

After a quick power nap at the hostel, we finished the day by heading back to the Skytree and going up the tower to “watch the sunset”. Unfortunately it was very overcast by the time that sunset arrived so we weren’t able to see anything, but it is a super pretty view at night! It was very crowded though.

Overall, my first 36 hours in Japan have been quite the ride! I’m constantly left in awe by how different the culture is, which I’ll likely cover in another post as I could write paragraphs about that alone and this is already a bit long. I’m exhausted by 8:30 PM once again, but so excited to wake up tomorrow and do it all over again!

Some more assorted photos from my first two days.

Day 0

Tues, May 16th I left Albany NY for Japan! I flew from Albany International Airport to Washington DC. where I had a short layover and then boarded the plane for Tokyo. Flight consisted of a mix of napping, listening to music, and playing Tears of the Kingdom. On the flight, I sat next to a young woman traveling to Vietnam and we chatted a bit about our travel plans which was super cool. Finally, on May 17th 3:30 pm Japan time I landed in Haneda Airport!

Once in the airport I made my way through customs without much trouble and got my luggage. My hotel is located above the JR-East Shibuya station, so I got a Suica card and headed to the Keikyu line. I took the subway to Shinagawa station where I stopped for dinner! Shinagawa station had lots of places to eat and shop, and it was super cool to see all the food stalls. The ramen stall caught my eye and I paid using an electronic machine. I was given a ticket for my order and sat at the counter where they served me. (I was too hungry and forgot to take a picture of the food :/ ) Ramen was delicious, I believe it was tonkatsu broth.

Once I finished eating, I transferred to the JR line from Shinagawa station to Shibuya. At Shibuya station I met up with Esther and we made it to our hotel (I got a little lost but made my way there eventually).

Hotel has a pretty cool view of the city, though the picture does not do it justice. Once settling in at hotel, Esther and I went to 7/11 to grab som snacks and use the atm. I got a yummy green tea drink and a pancake snack for breakfast tomorrow. Tired from all the traveling, we showered and went to bed. Very excited to explore Shibuya in the days ahead!

Food while Traveling to Japan

After not sleeping the whole night, my friend drove me over to the airport at 4 in the morning to catch my early flight from Rochester to Newark. The flight was unremarkable (I slept through the whole fight), and then I had a four hour layover. The next flight was a bit more eventful, mainly due to the food options given to us on the trip.

The first snack given to us was a rice based snack encased in a thin coat of chocolate. Sadly, I did not grab a picture of this snack, but it was yummy.

For our first meal, they gave us the option of either butter chicken or stir fried vegetables. Seeing as I’m allergic to many vegetables, I decided to take the safe option and eat the chicken. Sadly, I still had an allergic reaction to the chicken because of the sauce that was on it, so I did not eat much of it. I was also unable to eat the salad as I was allergic to ingredients in that too. However, the brownie brittle was delicious, and the bread helped me overcome the allergic reaction I was having due to the chicken.

For the second snack, we were given turkey and swiss cheese sandwiches with M&Ms. The sandwiches weren’t the best, but I was grateful for something to eat that I was not allergic to. Luckily, it’s incredibly difficult to mess up M&Ms, so those were delicious.

For the last meal on the plane, we were given the option of either waffles or eggs with sausage. Because I didn’t want to risk being allergic to the waffles, I chose the eggs and sausage. Thankfully, this time my caution actually worked, and I was able to eat everything given to me without any issues. The pineapple and grapes were refreshing to eat after only eating prepackaged food the whole flight. The eggs were plain, but adding salt and pepper made it much better. The bread was bread: a safe food for me to eat, but not outstanding in taste. The best parts of the meal were the potatoes and the sausage. They were very flavorful and filling.

The 14 hour flight itself was nothing remarkable. I slept, listened to music, and watched Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and started watching The Last of Us. I also had a small chat with the person sitting next to me who was a student on a class trip to visit Japan to follow the trail of the samurai, and each student is supposed to present a part of the trail. I wished him good luck with his part as we exited the plane.

Now, I am in Japan! Ignoring getting lost on the train system, getting from off the plane to the hotel was not too difficult. My trip is off to a great start!