I've arrived safely in Tokyo! Fourteen is a large number for hours on one flight, but though I was tired when I arrived, I was also giddy. Not sleeping can be great fun for the giddy reward, and the giddiness has lasted into my 30th hour with little sleep. Cheers to me.
Customs was cake, and part of a larger efficient greeting in Tokyo. Hiro at one point exclaimed "everyone runs in the airport!" to prod me along as I was falling behind with my two bags. I responded with the words of wisdom that are the title of the post. We decided to take a bus into Shibuya, where our hotel is located, waiting only a few minutes at the airport. The bus was perfectly on time. At each airport stop, the staff bowed low to the bus as it left. I couldn't help but think of ghosts and the spirit world - the passing bus spirit had to be given its due, or the ghosts of buses past might get angry. Threads from my vague tracings of Japanese culture perhaps, or maybe the thought was just a combination of tourstic hospitality and a giddy mind. Everyone has certainly seemed thankful, bowing often and saying "arigato gozaimasu".
Shibuya is a bit like Times Square, but instead of overweight midwesterners, it's full of young, well-dressed Japanese. Hiro tells me much of it used to be seedy, but now it's full of arcades and karaoke bars and restaurants and shops. The curving, cobblestone streets add to the appeal of the place. As we walked a few blocks further away, a woman quickly up to me as we were strolling saying "massage?"...pause, walking closer..."cute girls! cute girls!"...pause, closer still..."sex! sex! sex!". I walked away. There were a number of places advertising massages - a little bit of red light in the cobblestone streets.
Random thoughts:
Cigarettes are around 400 yen. You can buy them in vending machines everywhere, and smoke them in plastic hotboxes on the streets. Nicotine addiction is an efficient process too here it seems.
At 9:32pm EST, just past Alaska, the sun shined brightly as I looked down through my window. The clouds were like bright patches of coral in an ocean of sky. The sun was shining from takeoff in NY until just before we touched down in the land of the rising sun. Now it's time for a well-earned sleep. Oyasumi.
Customs was cake, and part of a larger efficient greeting in Tokyo. Hiro at one point exclaimed "everyone runs in the airport!" to prod me along as I was falling behind with my two bags. I responded with the words of wisdom that are the title of the post. We decided to take a bus into Shibuya, where our hotel is located, waiting only a few minutes at the airport. The bus was perfectly on time. At each airport stop, the staff bowed low to the bus as it left. I couldn't help but think of ghosts and the spirit world - the passing bus spirit had to be given its due, or the ghosts of buses past might get angry. Threads from my vague tracings of Japanese culture perhaps, or maybe the thought was just a combination of tourstic hospitality and a giddy mind. Everyone has certainly seemed thankful, bowing often and saying "arigato gozaimasu".
Shibuya is a bit like Times Square, but instead of overweight midwesterners, it's full of young, well-dressed Japanese. Hiro tells me much of it used to be seedy, but now it's full of arcades and karaoke bars and restaurants and shops. The curving, cobblestone streets add to the appeal of the place. As we walked a few blocks further away, a woman quickly up to me as we were strolling saying "massage?"...pause, walking closer..."cute girls! cute girls!"...pause, closer still..."sex! sex! sex!". I walked away. There were a number of places advertising massages - a little bit of red light in the cobblestone streets.
Random thoughts:
Cigarettes are around 400 yen. You can buy them in vending machines everywhere, and smoke them in plastic hotboxes on the streets. Nicotine addiction is an efficient process too here it seems.
At 9:32pm EST, just past Alaska, the sun shined brightly as I looked down through my window. The clouds were like bright patches of coral in an ocean of sky. The sun was shining from takeoff in NY until just before we touched down in the land of the rising sun. Now it's time for a well-earned sleep. Oyasumi.
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