As far as first days go, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with how things worked out today. It wasn't a perfect day by any means, but once the city and I figured each other out, we got along pretty well.Let's switch into Q and A mode for a moment. How was the flight?
Relatively uneventful except for the 40 mph winds that made landing less than smooth, and young 3 year that seemed to cry over every little thing for a majority of the flight. (Even though she was in my row, my noise canceling headphones suppressed about 80% of the volume.) How was customs?
You fill out forms that you get on the plane. Answer some brief questions, let them scan your fingerprints and take a matching photo. Pick up your luggage, and if you aren't declaring anything you go through the duty free declaration line, and you're free to go! The longest line took about 20-30 minutes, and if you are traveling with children, you'll get processed in a priority line. How was travel from the airport?
I think I could have gotten out sooner, but I oddly felt like operating in a relaxed pace. I got some traveler's checks converted at the currency exchange. This is definitely a great deal especially if you can get them without the transaction charge. I got charged 2%. The currency exchange gave a higher rate for TCs and it's much more secure to carry around. I almost talked myself into a wireless 3G modem, but thankfully they were out of stock of those rentals. After picking up my IC Suica Card and N'EX ticket (http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/index.html), I was on my way to my first hiccup of the trip. Hiccup?
Well, I thought it was out of my system when I hesitated before going through the train turnstile. (Everyone has similar problems the first time with Japan train turnstiles.) But actually I had a more fundamental issue. So the express train always used the words "reserved". For whatever reason, (and feel free to blame jet lag for me) that concept never stuck in my head. Thus it never occurred to me that my ticket had my assigned seat printed on the ticket. In fact, I was so puzzled, I had trouble figuring out why they made such a big deal of showing you where a particular car was going to stop on the tracks.
Thus, I hopped on a random car, sitting in a random seat, until I got kicked out (nicely of course) by the true assignees of the seat. I had jumped in Car 7, and finally reading my ticket correctly I found out that I was meant to be in Car 9. Although I could have made my way over. I either would have had to drag my large bag across 2 cars, or leave it temporarily. I elected on grabbing an open seat instead, I got lucky that this wasn't a full train. Any other travel issues?
The only additional one was that I didn't quite memorize what the tipping etiquette is. I took a (pricey!) cab ride from Tokyo Station to my hotel as recommended. I didn't tip him, but now I wonder if I should have since when I tipped the bell boy he was pretty happy. Where are you staying?
A pretty nice spot in the Akasaka area. I had worries that I should have picked a spot that is closer to one of the major stations (Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku), but I think this will make for a good central base of operations for the most part.
Are you speaking a lot of Japanese or English?
Somewhat of a combination of the two. As you may recall, I did take Japanese classes briefly. Thus, that supplemented with all of the anime, manga and live-action media that I watch, and a refresher thanks to JapanesePod101, gives me a pretty rudimentary base of conversation. Additionally, I think that one of my hidden abilities is to have nondescript features common to most races. This allows me to look Mexican in Hispanic neighborhoods (back when I worked for McDonald's in West Town), and to pass off as somewhat Japanese on this trip. Most people have directly talked to me in Japanese, which I've mostly been able to get through, if a bit clumsily. For common situations, I've been somewhat ok so far. I may have a separate post detailing phrases and conversations I've been through on the trip. (To be continued...)
Relatively uneventful except for the 40 mph winds that made landing less than smooth, and young 3 year that seemed to cry over every little thing for a majority of the flight. (Even though she was in my row, my noise canceling headphones suppressed about 80% of the volume.) How was customs?
You fill out forms that you get on the plane. Answer some brief questions, let them scan your fingerprints and take a matching photo. Pick up your luggage, and if you aren't declaring anything you go through the duty free declaration line, and you're free to go! The longest line took about 20-30 minutes, and if you are traveling with children, you'll get processed in a priority line. How was travel from the airport?
I think I could have gotten out sooner, but I oddly felt like operating in a relaxed pace. I got some traveler's checks converted at the currency exchange. This is definitely a great deal especially if you can get them without the transaction charge. I got charged 2%. The currency exchange gave a higher rate for TCs and it's much more secure to carry around. I almost talked myself into a wireless 3G modem, but thankfully they were out of stock of those rentals. After picking up my IC Suica Card and N'EX ticket (http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/suica-nex/index.html), I was on my way to my first hiccup of the trip. Hiccup?
Well, I thought it was out of my system when I hesitated before going through the train turnstile. (Everyone has similar problems the first time with Japan train turnstiles.) But actually I had a more fundamental issue. So the express train always used the words "reserved". For whatever reason, (and feel free to blame jet lag for me) that concept never stuck in my head. Thus it never occurred to me that my ticket had my assigned seat printed on the ticket. In fact, I was so puzzled, I had trouble figuring out why they made such a big deal of showing you where a particular car was going to stop on the tracks.
The only additional one was that I didn't quite memorize what the tipping etiquette is. I took a (pricey!) cab ride from Tokyo Station to my hotel as recommended. I didn't tip him, but now I wonder if I should have since when I tipped the bell boy he was pretty happy. Where are you staying?
A pretty nice spot in the Akasaka area. I had worries that I should have picked a spot that is closer to one of the major stations (Tokyo, Shibuya, Shinjuku), but I think this will make for a good central base of operations for the most part.
Somewhat of a combination of the two. As you may recall, I did take Japanese classes briefly. Thus, that supplemented with all of the anime, manga and live-action media that I watch, and a refresher thanks to JapanesePod101, gives me a pretty rudimentary base of conversation. Additionally, I think that one of my hidden abilities is to have nondescript features common to most races. This allows me to look Mexican in Hispanic neighborhoods (back when I worked for McDonald's in West Town), and to pass off as somewhat Japanese on this trip. Most people have directly talked to me in Japanese, which I've mostly been able to get through, if a bit clumsily. For common situations, I've been somewhat ok so far. I may have a separate post detailing phrases and conversations I've been through on the trip. (To be continued...)