We're in Tokyo!

Here finally is some news from Tokyo. I'm sorry that I haven't gotten around to this before. Several of you have been kind enough to ask how we're doing here. It is great to be back! I never thought I would return, so being here is a real bonus for me.

This is from my journal. In the future I will send updates to our blog, as maybe not everyone can open the attachment. Then by email I can send you a note telling you that I've made a new entry.

Sunday, June 3, 2007
Chaska

On our way to Tokyo! (We are going because Paul has accepted a 5-6 month contract with Caterpillar to help with a facility construction project here in the Tokyo area. Current plan is to be back in the States for the birth of Laura and Chris' baby on Nov 22. Yay!! It's a girl!!)

I liked the guy at the curbside who checked us in at the MSP airport. After he took our passports and tickets, he asked us if either of us were from Iowa. Paul asked him why that mattered. His answer was that Iowa really isn't part of America.

(For those of you who will be visiting us, please note that when you order your plane ticket, enter your name as it is listed on your passport. Paul's ticket was written as Paul M. Smith, but his passport says he is Paul McClay Smith. This discrepancy took a little time to get adjusted.)

Ate lunch at Chilis and had just enough time to walk the short distance to the gate. Most of the Japanese were already lining up in anticipation of boarding. Since most of the passengers appeared to be Japanese, and the plane was a 747, you can imagine how long the line was. My savvy husband thought he might play his NW Frequent Flyer card at the first class gate, and sure enough, we were allowed to sidestep the throng. This was nice because we were carrying four pieces--two computers and two backpacks, and didn't want to have to put it all at our feet if overhead space was already taken.

NW flight 19 left MSP at 3:30 PM on Sunday, 1/2 hour later than scheduled. It took forever to taxi out to a point far enough away for us to get a good running start. We were a heavy load, as I saw only one empty seat on the 747 when I took a walk several hours into the flight. Don't you hate it when you have the inside (window and middle) seats, and the guy on the aisle sleeps for 12 hours and never has to pee? This is a problem for us who are old, have to pee every few hours and get achy joints and back. So we had to bother him a few times. We did offer him the window seat when he boarded, but declined.

Monday, June 4, 2007
Tokyo

You know it's a long flight when they show three movies as well as some shorts. Paul used to say that any flight less than two digits is a snap. This one was 11 hours 45 min. It was daylight all the way! Arrival time was 3:45 PM Tokyo time = 5:45 AM Mpls time. We must have made up some time after Anchorage. Smooth flight in spite of the inclement weather in Minneapolis; no turbulence getting off the ground.

A second hiccup came up at passport control in Tokyo (it has two syllables, not three: To kyo). Paul indicated that we would be staying for five months. Well, the gal ushered us off to a separate room where Paul fibbed a bit, saying that we were here to find a place to live, would leave and then would be coming back and staying for five months. They issued us a three-month visa. This will be dandy, as Caterpillar is processing the work visa even as we speak.

My first encounter with the fancy toilets happened in the airport. Turns out I went to the handicapped one instead of the ladies. Couldn't figure how to get into the one-room potty, then I found a green button, which opened the sliding door. The next challenge was to figure out how to flush.

(By the way, this is the toilet in our hotel room, not the one in the airport.)

There were four buttons on the toilet -- front douche, backside douche, blow-dry, and water pressure, but no flush. It didn't happen either when I stepped away from the toilet. Hoping not to hit the emergency button, I somehow found the right button on the wall. I think being blonde in a primarily non-English speaking society is going to be a challenge. Never mind that I have lived overseas before once or twice before....

I do love how the place is so organized! Paul bought bus tickets for our ride to the hotel. We only had to step outside the door and wait for ten minutes. Little guys lifted our heavy suitcases into the bus, pointed to the spot where we were to wait until the door opened, then came on board after we sat down, said something Japanesy, bowed to us and left.

The temperature was 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees F). I am thankful that we arrived in the afternoon while it was still light. Away from town where there are more trees and even rice paddies, it is lush and well manicured, very compact; no space is wasted in Japan. The very comfortable bus ride to the hotel was a little more than an hour. Even though we were in rush hour (left the airport at 5:45 PM), because we were heading into town, the traffic wasn't too bad. The ANA Hotel isn't far from where we lived ten years ago.

This is the view from our hotel room on the 22nd floor. The two tallest buildings in the distance are new since we left ten years ago. The one on the right, Midtown, just opened in March http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Midtown There are actually four levels of traffic here. You can see three of them. The topmost is going away from us, the middle is coming toward us, and the bottom is two-way traffic. The fourth level is the subway. There are lots of people here!!

Stored in the TV’s memory of our hotel’s in house info is a message about emergencies: “This hotel was built to meet Tokyo’s strict earthquake building codes and is capable of withstanding the shock of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the largest earthquake in the Tokyo area in the past 100 years. Remember, your danger is almost always less than you might imagine it to be.”
That is soothing info.