Day 0.5 – Arrival

May 9, 2007 at 4:01 am | Posted in Japan, Tokyo, Travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Japan, review

After staying up late to finish off most of my to-do list I managed to get a few hours sleep before heading to the airport. Said farewells to the parents and sister before heading down to immigration and the waiting game. Possibly due to Golden Week requirements our JAL plane was kind of old with only the big projector screen and a few smaller screens around. Not very modern there, I was really hoping to watch the activity outside the plane using the cameras and personal screens on some JAL flights. Next time.

Flight arrived early and I made it through customs and immigration very quickly – too quickly? Eventually figured out how to validate my JAL Rail pass and then head into the station, where it was time for another wait until the next train came by, followed of course by another hour + getting to Tokyo. I was a little anxious that I’d hit peak hour but luckily this is Tokyo so that probably didn’t happen until an hour after I’d disembarked.

Yamamote line was so easy and soon enough I’d made my way to Ueno where I was struggling with my backpack but following the hotel’s directions soon found my way and checked-in. All too easy. Given the recent hassles it felt wrong.

I spent the rest of the evening checking out the night life in Ueno. It can probably be summed up as Pachinko and eating. There seem to be more Pachinko parlours than just about anything – at night anyway.

I wasn’t particularly hungry so contented myself with water and Blendy before finally crashing in bed.

Once I find a better internet location I’ll try and upload photos and be more descriptive.