Japan: Arriving

Getting to Japan was very pleasant, on the whole. The plane was a brand-new A380, which turned out to be surprisingly quiet. I ended up getting a great seat that had extra leg room. Now I know why they charge triple for business class tickets. Because they are worth it.

Lufthansa's pride and joy

Disembarking, walking through the airport, it slowly started to dawn on me that I had in fact arrived. The walkways, the bamboo and lacquer wall decorations, the recorded voices warning of various dangers, such as falling off the end of a moving walkway, everything was still familiar. I noticed a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. It was good to be back.

After customs, I met Noby-san, who had graciously come to pick me up, and off we went on our merry way. As the train neared Tokyo, I was struck by the way that rice fields gradually gave way to first small village houses, then larger buildings, amd finally the towering blocks of living cubicles that serve as accomodation to the millions of workers that commute into Tokyo each day.