Stranger in a strange land

Ahhhh...Japan! What an amazing trip we had. What follows is part one of my rather lengthy day by day description of the adventure. Stop by my gallery (link at right) for some pictures.

Day 1 (9/14/06): After packing and picking up the house, we left home at 8:30AM for the airport. We drove the car to Tom's office (they let employees leave cars in the lot when they are out of town) and headed for the light rail. We were at the airport in a matter of minutes and checked in for the flight to Chicago. We putzed around for a bit and boarded the plane at 11:00AM. The flight was rather uneventful and we landed at O'Hare around 1:00 PM. We switched airlines and double checked to make sure our luggage was being transferred to the Narita plane. Satisfied that all was well, we got our last American snacks and boarded the plane for our 12.5 hour flight to Tokyo.

Day 2 (9/15/06): Half a day disappeared as we crossed the International Date Line. We were chasing the sun so it was daylight the whole trip! About 8 PM I just *had* to look out the window - we were over remote Alaska. The mountain peaks flowed out endlessly and were gracefully divided by glaciers. Alaska looks like a giant meringue pie....I did manage to get a couple hours of sleep despite my excitement and was positively thrilled to find guest toothbrushes in the bathroom before landing. One note - sleeping upright sucks. Like suckity suck sucks.
By 6PM Tokyo time, we had landed at Narita international airport (about 45 miles from Tokyo). And waited patiently for our luggage. Fewer and fewer people were standing around the carousel until finally a "Last Bag" sign came out on the belt. Since Tom and I had not seen our luggage, we flagged down one of the airline agents and asked about our bags. The woman grabbed a clipboard, flipped through a list and noted our highlighted names. Hrm - this is not good.
"No worry," the baggage claim agent told us, "We find your bag in 2 or 3 days." Right. Because wearing the same clothes for 3 days is, I'm sure, as culturally acceptable in Japan as it is in the US. Riiiiiiight.
We filled out the "lost luggage" forms and breezed through customs since we had nothing to declare. Waiting just outside the customs area was our friend Takumi and his friend Toshi. Toshi was born in Chicago and moved to Japan when he was 10, so we spoke both languages with ease. This was much appreciated!
After a bathroom pitstop, we were introduced to Japanese vending machines to get a beverage for the 90 minute trip. We zigged and zagged through Tokyo traffic and spotted Tokyo Disney on the left. We stopped by Takumi's office to see the beginning of his movie "The Gift of the Trip" (roughly translated). After a visit to the Japanese style toilet for me (which was, um, interesting), we were on our way to dinner. We were to an amazing little restaurant run by a woman who called Takumi her Tokyo son and fed us well.

Stay tuned....