Hello There! It's 7:08 PM JST, 46° F, cloudy/rain
Greetings from Tokyo! I arrived yesterday evening around 8:00 PM Japan Standard Time.It was quite an adventure getting here, and I was pretty worn out from all the traveling. But fortunately we were able to go right to bed and get 7 hours of sleep, so jet lag is not too bad today.
The plane ride was uneventful except for the landing. There was a gale firce wind warning out, and on the first attempt the pilot managed to touch the plane down, but could not bring the nose down because of the wind shear. The plane was really shifting left and right as if it was going to tip over. So he just took off again and got back into the air. he circled the airport a second time but congestion cost him a place in the landing line. The third time around he came in again, and while the ride was bumpy, we managed to land. He got a round of applause from all the passengers for landing safely.
We had to sit at the gate for maybe 30 minutes before we could deplane. We went through immigration and customs pretty smoothly, and then had to buy subway passes and find our way. I am traveling with a friend of my brother's, and he had trouble getting cash because he could not remember his PIN. Then the subway ride was another 90 minutes. I mean, not the best situation, but we finally made it to our residence.
Today we visited the National Gardens of Japan and saw the cherry blossoms for the first time. They are wonderful! The garden is really grand. After the gardens we ate lunch at a very small izakaya in Piss Alley, which is in the Shinjuku neighborhood, known as an entertainment district. I got my Japan Rail pass at the large train station there. From there we went to the National Art Museum of Tokyo. After touring the museum we had dinner at the several outdoor stores in the park (I should mention that "we" are a party of seven: my brother and SIL, Brother's friend, my nephew and his partner, and one of my nephew's friends). Then the subway back to the residence.
All in all a pretty busy day for just getting here. My SIL is the tour planner and Brother's Friend served as navigator through Google Maps. I'm tired, so I will be heading to bed soon to prepare for another busy day tomorrow.
'Til We Meet Again! Sayonara!