Day 1 & Day 2 - Tokyo

Day 1

I really can't believe it. I'm back...

It's been... what -- 6 years now and I'm finally back in Japan! But this time on a business trip (with 1 week vacation tagged on at the end) :)

I arrived in Tokyo Narita, Sunday afternoon and found myself experiencing a bit of ...something. Culture shock? Return culture shock? Culture shock reversed? I really don't know what you'd call it but it was the strangest feeling -- one I've never experienced before. Here I was with a really heavy and huge luggage, my laptop, and the company's video camera -- bogged down with all this stuff and kinda wishing I had a driver come pick me up.

I went up to the phone rental counters and rented a SIM card to use in my 3G phone at about 100 Yen per day, free incoming calls, and 90 Yen a minute outgoing domestic calls. It sounded like a good deal so I went with it. The idea of not having 2 phones to deal with was refreshing so after signing the contract, I walked away knowing I was now fully "connected".. ;)

I arrived at around 2:30 / 3:00pm and it was already almost 4pm after picking up my luggage and getting the SIM. I had to figure out how to get to my next destination.

I took the Narita Express to Tokyo and transfered to a local line for Shinagawa. Waiting on the platform, the memories came flooding into my head. I remember standing on the same platform many times before. I remember the smell of the train, the seats, the roughness of the pavement, the faded yellow markers -- even the uniforms the station attendants were wearing brought a smile back to my face.

It was strange but familiar -- distant but at the same time welcoming. I thought to myself, "Was I really here? Did I really live here for 3 years? Why did I leave? Could I do it again if I had the chance?"

The train came and I hopped on as best I could, dragging my clothes in a purple Samsonite. I sat on the cushioned seats and made sure none of my items were in the way. I heard a kid ask his dad why he couldn't go traveling by himself like I was. His dad explained to him that I must be coming home from studying in University abroad and that his time will come. The words entered my brain so effortlessly -- I understood every Japanese word... and surprisingly, I felt a wave of comfort.

It was raining (ugh) as I arrived at Shinagawa station (still feeling like my cold was coming back to haunt me after a full 8 hour day of a 2 shot-photoshoot the day before), I was praying that the rain wouldn't make me even more sick.

I knew the hotel wasn't far away and only 5 minutes by foot but I just didn't feel like lugging everything around and getting wet at the same time, so I waited for a taxi at the のりば and was on my way to the hotel in 10 minutes.

Sitting in the taxi came another flood of memories. I smiled at the immaculate seat covers, the driver's clean pressed shirt and dress pants, and his white gloves. There's so much I took for granted when I was living here...

The bell-girl (?) took my baggage and I checked in. I had to meet my colleague from Eindhoven for dinner at 7pm so I had a half hour to kill. I read the hotel guide books, like I always do, to see what the hotel I was staying at had to offer, then dragged my sick self down to meet her.

We left the hotel and found a quaint Japanese restaurant -- my first meal back in Japan! I had the tofu salad, plum o-chazuke, and shared the maguro carpaccio with N. Thank goodness for the o-chazuke -- it was warm, filling and SO good.

We left the restaurant soon after and after excusing myself crawled up to my room. I had a double-pack bubble bath (my first real bubble bath in over a year!!!), made myself some houji tea, watched the men's gymnastic pommel horse olympics and fell asleep at 11pm.

Day 2

N and I met up at 9am for some buffet breakfast -- of which I couldn't really decide if I wanted western or japanese, so I took a bit of both with LOTS of fruit. No need to worry about how clean the fruit here is in Japan, like I do in HK and China. So of course I had 2 big servings of fruit, miso soup, and some pickled plums. I had some sticky rice of course and a serving of stewed vegetables -- SO YUM!!!

We went to Sugamo and walked along the road where many elderly visit. There's a shrine there that the elderly go to worship a specific god who will heal any ailments they may have. They wet a towel with water and pour the water over the head of the statue. Then they use the towel to wash the area where they have pain. The god understands where the pain is and will heal and release the pain.

So N and I decided to do like the Romans and after paying 100 Yen for a towel, stood in line with all the other elderly Japanese waiting to get our hands on this statue.

We made some video, took some pictures and N bought some souvenirs. We made our way down the street to see what type of stores and products were being sold to these elderly people.

It's N's first time in Japan and everything she encountered opened my eyes again to what I had just accepted as the norm. I knew I missed Japan but I was just starting to realize why...