Hisashiburi Nihon!

I set out on my adventure to Japan early this morning, mostly because I needed to take public transit to get to the airport. I rode with Will to his work on the outskirts of the city, and then from there took Muni and then Bart to get to the airport. Conveniently, I didn't bring much with me besides my computer and a few outfits, so the transit systems weren't too difficult to navigate. After finally checking in and getting to the gate, I was met with a very pleasant surprise. A friend from Fanime was also on the same flight! We weren't able to sit together, but it was very nice to see him before he goes off on the next stage of his life.
On the plane, things have been quite uneventful. A bit of turbulence as we got close to Alaska/ Russia, but as we head in to the final 2 hours of the flight, it's just as smooth as can be. More from the Airport!
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So, we finally got to our Inn from the airport after a good 90 minutes riding trains and navigating stations. We had to make 2 transfers, which didn't look hard on the map, but ended up with us having to pull our suitcases up about 20 flights of stairs, wander through the streets in Ueno getting lost, and spend way too long figuring out how to get to the Inn from the station. Thank goodness a helpful Sweedish mom and her son noticed us! They were also staying at the same Inn, and when they overheard us talking about being lost, they lead the way. I don't think we would have ever found it on our own, so yay!
After checking in and sitting until we had our wits with us, we gathered the strength to walk over to the local store to get nibbles and rejuvinate before bed. Today's adventure will consist of Tokyo Disneyland and then wandering the streets of downtown Tokyo tonight. And, of course, Natalie's quote from this morning? "I'm like a fucking Chia Pet."




Ashi fell down the stairs at 11:26 AM