Tokyo I have arrived!

I made it! I am in Tokyo and it's amazing!

It was a rough 12 hours or so of travel but I survived. The really amazing thing was my favorite Japanese language teacher was on the same plane! We didn't get to sit next to each other but when we landed she helped me find my way around the airport a bit and get a cell phone. Then we rode the train to Tokyo station together. It was nice.

Then I had to transfer to the Yamanote line and make my way to Ueno station. From there I had to walk about 15 or 20 minutes to find my hotel. I passed it the first time and stopped to ask a nice police man for directions. It is kinda funny, he only spoke about 3 words of english so thank goodness for my Japanese, but as the conversation continued, if you can call it a conversation, more like a game of pictionary, his english got dramatically better. hahaha. Strange.

I finally found my hotel and checked in. Made my way accross the street to a ramen shop and had some soup. It was about 9:30 PM by this time. There was hardly anyone in the shop when I arrived and the cook and helper girl was very nice to me. They didn't speak any english, well, maybe 5 words but we managed and I was able to practice my Japanese and have a fun little conversation. It's amazing how people can function without language, using pictures, gestures, smiles, etc.

Then I went back to my hotel and passed out. Even though the bed was less than desirable. :) Better than an airplane seat for sure. Now if only I could get back to sleep as I type away at 5 AM. Been up since 3 AM. :( Night!

Hmmm. My pictures aren't working on this post so you can check them out here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhale/3103276352/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhale/3103276358/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhale/3103276362/