Hello, Japan

I have no idea why, but these flights to Tokyo seem so short. Despite staying up the night before I only managed to sleep for five of the twelve hours we spent on the plane. The rest of the time was spent entertaining the four year old next to me with magic tricks, reading her book about Disney princesses, and showing her how to draw on the computer.

The girl next to Todd slept in the most interesting position I’ve ever seen. Defying age old Japanese Etiquette, I took a picture for you.

Once we took the bus to Tokyo we were met by Blair, the guy renting us a room. Our room last year was fine, but nothing exceptional. This year we have a huge room with two beds, a couch, a TV, and a mini fridge. It’s like a little hotel room. The rest of the house has a nice kitchen, living room, dining room, and bathroom shared by the rest of the residents.

Blair and his friend Masaki spent the evening running around with us setting up our phones for Japanese service (the people in the shops were very surprised that our phones work on the Japanese network) and helping us find a vegan restaurant.

The restaurant is just walking distance away from our apartment and is very good. The portions are small, unfortunately, but the food is exactly the stuff we like to eat. It’s noon here right now and Todd has been finding more restaurants for us to try out.

I’d forgotten how absolutely crazy Tokyo is. There are people everywhere and despite 3 months of Japanese tapes, I can’t tell what these people are saying. Hopefully a few weeks here will change that.

My friends Phil and Kristy are heading to Tokyo within the next few days, so I’m really looking forward to spending time with them.

Sayonara!