Day 1

I arrived in Japan yesterday at around 6:00 local time. It was a very long plane ride, and I am still suffering from jet lag. It is hard adjustment when Japan is thirteen hours ahead.

(Night view from my hotel room)

The sun rises very early here, due to the lack of daylight savings time. Combined with the jet lag, it woke me up at 4:45 this morning. We ate breakfast in the hotel, which offered a combination of Western and Japanese style dishes. The Japanese breakfast appeared to be mostly dinner foods, so I decided to stick with the Western breakfast.

After breakfast, we met in the lobby and headed to the top of our hotel, which is one of the taller buildings in our sector of Tokyo. In the bottom of the hotel is also a mall. On the 60^th floor of the hotel is an observation deck. From the observation deck we observed both the logistics and sights of Tokyo. The logistics included trains, raised highway systems,

and waterways, while the sights included the Tokyo Tower, the Tokyo Dome, and several shrines and parks. From the observation deck, it is apparent that space in Tokyo is at a premium. Rooftops are used to play soccer, basketball, or tennis. Houses are very close together, and the only very large spaces of green are near cemeteries or shrines.

After leaving the observation deck, we began our train journey to a Japan museum. On our way, we bought lunch, which was some form of sushi for everyone. After lunch, we continued to the Tokyo subway station, which is one of the main forms of transportation in the city. While it may be a convenient way to get around, it is not always easy, as I will detail later.

After arriving at the museum, we began our tour, which highlighted the simple life that the Japanese live. The houses were very plain with not much room for storage. The tour was actually quite serene, and several group members mentioned that it would be a nice place to retire to. We will get to spend a night in a traditional style home when we stay at the Buddhist temple later in our trip.

After the tour, we took the train back to Tokyo. We had the rest of the evening free. A group of us decided to stay in the Shinjuku district and search for a traditional style tea house. Our search began with quite an adventure. We took a wrong turn in the subway station and were unable to find an exit for 45 minutes. With the help of some friendly Japanese, we were finally able to backtrack and exit the subway. Their help characterizes the helpfulness of many Japanese. It seems that most are both eager and willing to help anyone who asks to the best of their language ability.

While we did not find a tea shop, we did enjoy the sights. The pachinko bars were common sights. Pachinko is a game very similar to American slots. Players buy metal balls and funnel them down a machine, which allows some of the balls to come through, some of them to earn bonuses, and some to be absorbed by the machine. When we went into the bars, they all seemed quite full. There was a saying in one that encouraged the visitor to “Forget the troubles of the outside world.” This made me wonder if the bars are so popular because of the high stress levels that many Japanese suffer from in their daily lives. Many people were smoking in the bars, which also seems more popular in Japan than in the United States.

We stopped and ate dinner at a noodle shop. The portions were very large, and the food was extremely filling. I ate a spicy dish that had both pork and tofu in it. After eating, we headed back to the subw

ay and returned to our hotel. We had a much easier time during our second experience in the subway. It is easy to see how practical the subway would be when one knows what they are doing. I feel that by the end of the trip we will have enough experience to use the subway effectively.