Let's get started!

Ahhhh yeah.

Here we are again, the land of the rising sun.

(I sit here now, in our hotel lobby, basking in the glow of Japanese television, assailed by news and current events that I couldn't even attempt to become concerned with.)

The flight went surprisingly well. I never thought that I might get used to such a thing, but sitting down for 11 hours can go by pretty quickly. It also helped that this airline (ANA) equips each seat with it's own little theater system, complete with a controller, games, and wide selection of "Hollywood", "Japanese", or "World" movies to pick from. Needless to say, I easily kept myself busy.

[Oh my god -- there is a commercial for the Shamwow on right now... and they dubbed over the creepy guy's voice.. this is hilarious!]

At one point, after we got out bags, and were over at the currency exchange (after a failed attempt to withdraw from the ATM), I heard female squealing and yelling come from the other side of the terminal. When I turned my attention, to the direction of the disturbance, I saw a massive swarm of people and the flashing of cameras. Obviously some sort of pop star was in the building. I almost wanted to go over and join in, but I recognized, ironically enough, that I probably would have no idea who the person was or why they mattered. Once finished, we descended into the lair of the trains and boarded one towards the city.

My Sensei's mother, Yoko, had gone to the trouble to book us a hotel. Unfortunately, it was in an area of Tokyo I have never been to; so it turned out to be a bit more confusing than I would have liked, what with carrying all of my bags and all .. in the rain.

Eventually, we make it to the train stop closest to our hotel (the directions to which I had readily availible in my email still). However, despite the fact that we had made it to the correct area of Tokyo and all ... we still had no idea what the direction we needed to go. After consulting a newstand clerk (who politely ignored us), we went ahead to consult a map posted on the wall for a good 5 minutes.

A couple back alleys, and a pedestrian bridge later, we stumbled into the lobby of the Maru-chuu hotel.

We check in, drop our shoes in little lockers, slip in some uncomfortably cozy slippers, and head into the cramped green elevator (which became even less spacious with all of our baggage).

The rooms were quite spacious..(relative to a coffin), and came equipped with a futon, table, TV, alarm clock and even a balcony!

After dropping our things off, we went out onto the street in search of some food.

We spotted a rice bowl shop on our way to the hotel, so we gravitated towards it.

We stood outside the shop door, racked with indecision.. seeing how we couldn't read any of what was on the menu, we were forced to make our move on a whim.

Inside we were greeted by the gentle cascade of a radio playing the news. A man sat in the corner, reading a book. He stood up to greet us. We ordered a couple of bowls and hung out while he cooked it in front of us.

It tasted pretty good, and we even got some miso soup with it too.

After we ate up, we spent most of the night walking in the rain; sponging up the small alleys and store fronts.

At one point, we turned a corner and come upon a covered shopping mall (which are a very common sight in Japan). As we walked down it's along avenue, we couldn't help but notice the small groups of people around, and that every homeless person in the area had set up camp right underneath, all along the closed storefronts.

Obviously, we were pretty beat after flying 11 hours and lugging all of our baggage with us through Tokyo, so we headed in for an early night's sleep.