The Land of the Rising Sun

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  Tokyo, Kanto, Japan
Monday, November 2, 2009

SAT 31/10/09

After a brief stop in Beijing to change planes, we boarded our Air China flight to Tokyo. Unfortunately, as we were to discover on arrival, Maria's suitcase didn't make the connection. Upon arriving in Japan, and finally clearing immigration, we hurriedly went to pick up our luggage from the conveyor belt to begin our train journey from the airport to downtown Tokyo before the trains stop running at midnight. It was already quite late.

We found my backpack easily enough as it was with the remaining luggage piled together on the stationary conveyor (an indication of the length of time spent in the immigration queue), but a thorough search didn't reveal Maria's suitcase. Discussions with friendly groundstaff led to several calls on walkie-talkies and assurances that they would find the missing item. After some time, and apparently a thorough search of the airport's facilities, it was deemed that the suitcase hadn't left Beijing. More time was then wasted filling in missing luggage forms until finally they allowed us to go to customs.

Being the last two passengers to go through for the night, I would have thought the officials would want to go home for the night (as I certainly didn't want to miss the last train and end up having to pay a small fortune for a taxi to town), but alas no. A grilling by the official, who obviously takes his job very seriously, and an inspection of my bag, followed by numerous questions, eventually meaning we were able to pass through the green channel and look for the train to take us into central Tokyo. Fortunately a station attendant helped us with buying a ticket to get to Shibuya station where we were meting Wendy, our friend who we were staying with. Unfortunately neither of our mobile phones worked (different system in Japan apparently) to warn her how late we were going to be. A relatively easy train change at Shinagawa station meant we were only about an hour late from our arranged meeting time.

A simple payphone call to Wendy allowed her to locate us in the endless number of meeting points in the complex station. As it was Halloween (which apparently is big in Japan - something to do with them liking to dress up), Wendy was dressed in a cat ensemble, tail included. A short cab ride to her place meant we could unload our luggage (at least that which we had - thanks Air China), before heading out for a drink and bite with Wendy and her friend Jeff till quite late.


SUN 1/11/09


The next day, Sunday, started with a good sleep-in and a reacquaintance with Wendy's two cats, Hana and Nobu, whom we had looked after in Singapore. We were their 'quarantine' parents. Nobu is fatter and more spoilt than ever, and Hana is her usual skittish and shy self, although fortunately less skinny.

We met some of Wendy's sister's American colleagues who were over from Seattle and went out lunching and sightseeing. Our lunch was had at 'Design Festa'. An art gallery cum cafe/restaurant. A bit of a wait for a table, but worth it. Each table has a gas-powered hot plate in trhe middle and when you order you receive all the ingredients raw, whereby you do the cooking yourself on the hot plate. We ordered several Okonomiyaki dishes and several Monjayaki (which were more 'soupy').

We all helped doing the cooking using the couple of spatulas supplied and adding the mixed ingredients in the right order on to the hot plate. Apparently order matters, especially for the Monjayaki. The 'soup' needs to be added last, and slowly, to thicken it and to to stick it all together so that when you flip it (to cook the other side) it doesn't disintegrate in mid-flip. I think I did fairly well on the flipping. All good fun.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent roaming the streets of Shibuya (Harajuku Street) looking at the strange wares in the shops (mainly bizarre clothes) and walking through Meiji-Jingu shrine (where we saw two weddings). We aimed to see the oddities that take place in Yoyogi-Koen park, in particular the singing Elvises (Takenokozoku) but by the time we got there it was dark and they were packing up.

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Dog clothing for sale	Human clothing for sale	Entrance to Meiji-Jingu shrine	Some local kiddies dressed up at the shrine
One of the weddings at the shrine

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