Day 1: Bonding with the Old People

I am so tired right now, I just want to sleep. The ryokan (hotel) is bringing me breakfast at 7:00 am tomorrow morning and I want to be awake for that. Considering it's only 9:30 pm though right now, I probably can spare some time to blog. I'm not going to include any pictures. I didn't take many today since I was either on the plane or getting lost all day, but more about that later.To start out with, the plane that I was supposed to fly out from Denver on, had some mechanical issues so they switched our flight to the plane that was coming from Narita. Which means that the flight was delayed because they had to clean and refuel that plane. I chose a spot by the window and settled down to wait. I very soon regretted my decision because on one side of me were two collage students that had just met and were flirting as if their lives depended on it. And on the other side of me were another group of probably collage age students that were very loud, very annoying, and probably very drunk. So that was fun for three hours. (I would have had to go through one of the groups to leave and I was just too lazy.)

The actual plane ride though was quite pleasant all things considered. I had a window seat in the back which means no one was behind me to kick my seat (pet peeve) and I could lay my pillow against the side of the plane. I also got to play with the Dreamliner windows, which are pretty cool. There was an empty seat next to me (score) and the aisle seat was occupied by a latter middle aged japanese man who settled in and watched movies and dozed the entire time. He had good taste in movies too, At one point I looked over and saw Ninomiya Kazunari's face. The movie had subtitles too so I was able to get a general idea of what it was about and then find it so I could watch it. Nino <3

Anyway, the only time ojisan and I spoke to one another is when I couldn't hold it anymore, waited until his eyes were open and timidly asked if I could get by. He hurridly unbuckled his seatbelt and got up to let me pass and then did the same thing when I came back. He was the best plane buddy ever.

I got through the airport easily enough. I kept my eyes open wide so I looked cute, excited and kindof lost so the Japanese people would feel bad for me. It worked pretty well. There were a lot of lines for customs so there was no waiting, but the young customs officer gave me deer in headlight eyes back when he saw the foreigner coming. Fortunately I was easily able to understand his Japanese to know I was missing a form and where to get it. Yay studying! I avoided his line the next time and got a customs officer that was totally comfortable with English.

I was able to find the office to obtain a rail pass with the help of an attentive airpost staff who saw me wandering around with the voucher in my hand. Flushed with victory I went to purchase my ticket for the Keisei Skyliner into Tokyo. I easily communicated what I needed and bought my ticket with my credit card only to realise that the train left in less that 5 minutes. So I didn't have a chance to exchange my money for yen. No matter, I'll just find a 7-11 ATM and get yen that way (7-11 ATMs are safe, but other Japanese ATMs may eat your card and not give it back).

So I made it to Ueno station and gamely followed the crowd hoping to find a 7-11 so that I could pay for a taxi to take me to my ryokan. No such luck. I wandered around in the area for a while and found a map. I decided to head in the general direction of the ryokan and hope to find a 7-11 on the way. I had seen a bunch on the map around it at one point so I wasn't too worried. Until I was wondering around a totally residential area with my suitcase and it was getting dark. No 7-11 in sight, no way to pay for a taxi even if I could hail one, no wi-fi, and a lot of worried Japanese residents that seemed to be hoping that I wouldn't challenge their English skills during their nightly walk. (Seriously there was a ton of people, walking, jogging, biking). So I used my GPS on my tablet to head west until finally the Google map showed that I was in the area of the map the ryokan gave me. After that it was just a matter of walking. I finally found the ryokan with a tired "Homeikan desuka?" The obaasan confimed and asked if I had had a hard time (it was pretty evident). I explained that I had walked from Ueno station, switching to English. The obaasan confirmed with the manager that I was  the one they had been expecting (I heard her call me kawaii, which is pretty gracious for a large sweaty foreign girl who shows up on your doorstep and starts spouting off broken Japanese). The manager showed me my room and where the baths are which I immediatly decided I was going to have a go at.

I went to the private bath first, which had become occupied since my tour. I decided that I was stinky and sweaty enough that I did not care and went to the female bath. There was a tiny obaasan there that was just getting ready to go in. Maybe it was because I was so tired and gross feeling, but all my worries about shyness went out the door. I knew generally what I was supposed to do, but when I couldn't figure out how to turn off the water (it shuts off by itself) I asked the obaasan in slightly panicked very broken japanese how to make it stop. Obaasan does not speak a lick of English and after she failed to get me to stop pressing the button, she dumped her bucket and demonstrated. After that she clearly felt bad for me a showed me everything else that I was supposed to do. Yay nakey bonding time with giant language barrier. I played my cute/helpless card and it was again sucessful.

The bath was delightful by the way and I stayed in there after Obaasan left until I heard some American high schoolers coming. I figured they would be super shy and awkward (I was right) so I got out before they came in.

And now having properly blogged like a good traveler, I am going to sleep.