Day 1!

Wrote this this morning but only got wireless connection tonight... will post another entry about today's adventures. =)

I have so much to write about and half of what I want to say probably won’t come out in time.

I got picked up at 4am (after 45 minutes of sleep and feeling like death warmed up) by Prue’s grandparents and was at the airport by about 6.15am... after a lovely *read: cold-faced and personality-less*reception at the Jetstar check-in to mine and Prue’s nervous banter about airport security, we were through to immigration and security and then to the other side. With a two hour wait and not really much to do. Dammit, why did I think it was a good idea to check in to departures early, eh.

The plane ride to the Gold Coast was alright (despite the Japanophile ski group), the airport wait at the Gold Coast was fairly quick, and the plane trip to Japan was painfully slow. For some brilliant reason Jetstar decided to serve their main meals within the first hour, then shut all the shutters for half the flight (despite it being mid-afternoon) and not come back with food again until the last two hours. There was a cute old lady on the plane wearing a kimono and a little kid running up and down the aisles. ^_^

After getting to the airport and being forwarded through immigration (^_^) we were on the train. There are ads everywhere. And they all hand down like fliers from the roof... it wouldn’t happen here ‘cause they’d be ripped or stolen straight up. With little cartoon characters everywhere, no idea what any were for though. The train was quicker than our trains... can’t wait to see what their express trains are like, let alone the shinkansen.

We got to our station and... I regret how much I pack. There are no escalators at the station. I have two suitcases and a laptop bag (yes, excessive, I know, but I tried to condense). An old man decided he’d take it upon himself to carry my suitcase down the stairs, shake my hand with a nice to meet you and walk off awkwardly... after Prue trying to decipher the (crap) hotel directions, a woman decided she’d help us by walking us the ten minutes to the station. Japanese hospitality so far? Wow, amazingly nice. Another shaking of hands, nice to meet you, and we arrived at our hotel exasperated but happy.

Got to the hotel and the two guys at the desk lifted our suitcases up the three flights, we checked into our rooms, dumped our stuff then went for a wonder. Given the reviews we’d read, for $15 a night for our private room each, this place is pretty awesome. Both guys at reception spoke a bit of English and were really friendly. Sure the toilets are a bit disgusting (though there’s a western style so win for OCD) but it’s in an awesome location.

We wondered around the area for the next three hours, tried three ATMs unsuccessfully before realising that our cards were upside-down, went and got McDonalds after attacking a vending machine for grape fanta, got cold, went to bed.

To condense it... some observations.
• First bizarre moment – using the toilet at the train station, which had no door and was open to viewing from the outside (urinals included) and having a woman cleaner in there at the same time.
• Being gawped at for being a foreigner... I find this kind of humorous. On the train a guy sitting in front of me was staring at me. Every time I looked up he’d go back to his paper quickly.
• There are vending machines EVERYWHERE. SO MANY FREAKIN VENDING MACHINES. Seven in a row opposite our hotel doors, three in the building itself, and countless more around the corners.
• Japanese guys look incredibly androgynous with hair/make-up/clothing, and everybody is so well dressed.
• Japanese TV is awesome. I saw the most bizarre ad I’ve ever seen in my life. A close-up of the Mona Lisa with a guy’s face superimposed over the top singing “Mona Lisa candy” over and over again, it was hilarious. Kids’ TV was like play school but with kids present, trying to sing along but half clearly not having a clue what they were doing and looking around lost. It was adorable.