So my address in Japan is quite long - but I think they've developed quite a good way of making you remember it. Before we boarded the plane at Singapore to come to Tokyo we had to fill out three different forms, for disembarkation and customs and something else (have I mentioned how tired I am?), and on each form we had to fill in our address at least once. I was also scanned going through the metal detector (I forgot to take out my wallet, duh) and then left my jacket at the security checkpoint (it's okay, they announced that someone had left a black leather jacket behind, as I collected it the lady there smiled and said "it's cold in Tokyo!").
Anyway, on the plane to Tokyo I pretty much went straight to sleep. I managed about 2 hours sleep, then dozed for a little while, but economy seats are rather uncomfortable (note to self - fly first class next time)... and I wish I'd brought my pillow.
I woke up sometime in the flight, and since it was very early in the morning (the flight left Singapore at 2340 local time, and we landed at Narita Airport at 7am), and we were flying above the clouds, you could see so many stars - it was very pretty. Then as the sun started to rise, and since I was on the eastern side of the plane in a window seat (but each flight, my window seat was right on the wing - what's the f*@$ing point?), I watched the sun rise over the horizon. It was very pretty - a rainbow stretching from the blue of the almost-night sky, to the red of the sun coming through the clouds. This was about the time it hit me that I was really flying into Tokyo... and I even felt a bit queasy, wondering whether or not I'd done the right thing - but that may have been the lack of sleep and the shifty looking breakfast they'd given us on the plane.
Finally, we touched down at Narita Airport. The coolest thing - as the plane slowly approached the terminal, I saw the sun slowly rising through the haze/pollution/whatever - it was a really bright shade of red, almost like the Japanese flag! I thought it was such an awesome welcome to Japan.
Here's the plane I flew from Singapore to Tokyo in
Once we landed, we made the long trek from our arrival gate to customs... seriously, it must've been at least a kilometre or something... anyway, Customs clearance didn't take very long, they didn't even look in my suitcase (well, it WAS all wrapped up in clingwrap, would you want to open that up?), and I got my first stamp in my passport! So not as daunting as I thought it'd be.
Then we had an hour and a half to kill till the Nova people came. I payed my first visit to a Japanese rest room - the stall I visited had lots of buttons, none of which I was game enough to press. I thought I'd save that for when I was feeling more daring and not-so-jet-lagged. Same with the squat toilets.
Anywho, eventually we were met by Adam from NOVA - a very friendly British man - and we met the other new arrivals from Australia - all very friendly people whom we'll probably never see again, as they were going all over the northern part of Japan. We got our work timetables - I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays free, and don't start till 4 or 5pm on Thursday and Fridays - and our instructions for getting to our new places.
Chris, Christie and I made our first trip on a Japanese train - we rode from Narita to Funabashi, which took around an hour. At Funabashi we were met by Ken, who took Chris and Christie to their place, and Cerie, who rode with me to my station. She seemed very nice, she came from Sydney, and has been in Japan for around 7 years. She's the area manager for my area, so I'd say I'll be seeing her again. She was very helpful, and we just spent the train trip talking about the huge differences between Tokyo and Australia.
I was met at my station by my new housemate Ingemar - pronounced In-ja-mar - who walked me back to our apartment. My neighbourhood is nice, still very much city, but maybe smaller than some other bigger localities.
My room is small, but I knew it would be. It's actually a bit bigger than I thought it would be. When I'm a bit less tired I'll get some photos of my flat.
My other housemate Dmitri took me for a walk to the 99Y store, where strangely enough, everything appears to cost 99Y, until you see your docket, where the prices come up as 104Y... confusing... Apparently I'll be shopping there quite a lot if I want to save money, and well, so far I've visited there 3 times.. in the space of a few hours.
Anyway, here are some things I found on the walk from my apartment to the 99Y store:
These vending machines really are everywhere - and they sell, drinks, cigarettes, but surprisingly I haven't found many machines selling food!
Apparently Tommy Lee Jones is the Boss... I didn't think to ask why, mostly because it's a vending machine
The front of my apartment complex
My train station - Minami Gyotoku station. Below it is a shopping complex.
Beaker, Elliot and Buttons in our new room!
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