And so I land in Narita after a surprisingly comfortable flight via north west. Maybe it had something to do with me sleeping through 70% of the flight.
Clearing customs was easy enough, and so was picking up my rented mobile phone. This thing is way more advanced than my own phone, and it's probably the most primitive thing the Japanese still use.
Time for my first train ride, the first of many to come I'm sure. The train seats automatically rotate around so that passengers always face the right way - really neat. The train lumbers forward, and a couple of minutes of dark tunnel explode into green rice fields bounded by moutains in the horizon. I guess you can't do much with the land around airports so you might as well grow rice.
And it's almost surreal to be here. I always feel that way when I arrive at a new country. You hear so much about a place and have so many preconceptions about what it's like in your head, and it's always a surprise to see how your mental imagery measures up to reality.
Declining birth rate or no, there are really a lot of people in Tokyo. And there is always a sense of order in it all. Everyone waits in line, nobody shoves, no unruly shouting - it's a picture of civility you have to see to believe.
My hotel is near Ueno, a semi-suburban area that boasts many a pachinko parlour as well as love hotel. Playing pachinko looks almost hypnotic, as metal ball after metal ball careens upwards and then down in an endless stream of randomness. Most seats were filled by middle-aged men with one hand on the controls while the other held a cigeratte.
And so day one ends with but the faintest whiff of present-day Japanese culture. Tomorrow I go to the museums, for a peek into its past.
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