I had everything organized and good to go but I ran into a bit of trouble with my luggage. Good news is that I could have 2 carry-on's (And the fact that I had a big bottle of sake in one was not a problem for the airport.) But my checked bag was 16 kilos over the 20 kilo limit. (When you go to Japan, people give you ALOT of gifts. For me, since I told everyone that I am studying Japanese, those gifts were alot of Japanese grammar and Kanji books.) Books are heavy, and even though I got them for free they ended up costing me 5000Yen or $64. I could just leave my luggage so I ponied up the cash and hopped on the plane.
I sat next to a lovely lady, and after trading pleasantries got to discussing the idea of peace, my experiences in Onomichi, and her trip to Peru for a peace conference. We paused our discussion to take a look of Mt Fuji from the plane window. It stood above the clouds and didn't have any snow on it yet. We then talked about the probability of Mt Fuji still being open to climb. I though it closed at the beginning of September but she told me I could be wrong. I hope I am, I REALLY wanna conquer that mountain! I told her to try some Texmex food when she had her 2 hour layover in Huston. I think she may be in Peru by now. If not, have a safe flight!
So now I'm back in Narita. I was a little more aware of my surroundings this time around and took care of my photos for my alien registration card and headed down to the basement floor of the airport to purchase my N'EX ticket. (Basically it's a shinkansen that runs for people with a foreign passport. It runs from Narita into the heart of Tokyo so it was an easy alternative to trying to manage the spiderweb of a map that was the Tokyo subway system.) My stop was Shibuya station, which is near my apartment. By this time I have been reunited with the lard of mass that is my $64 piece of luggage and am starting to worry about dragging it the 1 mile from the Shibuya station to my apartment in Sendagaya but push that thought aside and take a well deserved nap! The train ride was a nice break except for a very loud toddler who like to repeat everything that was spoken on the train. Cute as a button but lord did he have a set of pipes.
I grabbed all my luggage and packed up to get ready for my trek through Tokyo. On the map my path ran from Shibuya station north along the east side of Yoyogi park and then a little right somewhere. That last bit may sound a little vague, but I figured that since I have seen the building online that I would be able to spot it.....yeah, not so much. So I start off well enough and find Yoyogi park with relative ease, but the time I assumed it would take to my apartment seem to get longer and longer. That was completly due to the 100+ pounds of luggage slinged to my back and being dragged behind me through the 90 degree Tokyo mid-day heat. I slowly began to hate my luggage with every slight incline that came my way. I took occasional rests on benches and stools near the park, but stools became less frequent as time went by and steeper hills and over-the-street bridges with endless steps quickly took their place. People would see me trudging up step-by-step and come over, grab a handle, and help me out. I thank all of the kind people of Tokyo for helping out a lost little gaijin because it would have taken me two minutes to go up 2 flights of stairs. I promptly took a rest at the top of the walkway right in the middle of the bridge where a heavenly tree decided to stretch its branches blocking the sun. The 36kilo piece of luggage standing next to me as if saying "You know you still not even halfway yet right? MWUHAHAHAHAHA!"
I began to become a little worried that I wasn't going to find my apartment by 5:30 (When check-in closes as well as my chance to not be homeless for a night.) Just as I was about to give in and grab a highly priced taxi (The whole point of walking was to save money by avoiding said taxi) I started to see stores and shops that the website said was near my apartment. It turned out that I had been circling my apartment for the past 15 minutes. I finally asked one more person for assistance. THANK GOD HE HAD A GPS! And he escorted my ALL THE WAY.....around the corner! (Fail #1)
If I had to describe the feeling of seeing that pink sign "SAKURA HOUSE" (my apt)I would say it was a mix of immense relief, sheer happiness, and a deep sense of raw inner-pride. I talked with a tennant about my ordeal, we laughed, and then I asked him where the check-in was...he stopped laughing. "You mean...the one in ...Shinjuku?"
If I had to describe the feeling of hearing "You mean Shinjuku?" I would say it was a mix of helpless despair, intense sadness, and a little bit of REALLY! WHAT THE F*@K TOKYO! WTF!? (Fail #2,3,4,5,6,........) (The Gods of International Travel are dicks)
By this time I would say my clothes were comprised of 1 part sweat.....that's it.
So after crashing on random parts of sidewalk, dehydrated, half dead, and finally feeling the sweat sensation of victory, the Gods of International Travel give me one more love-tap in the gonads. Lucky my roomates were pretty chill and allowed my in to drop off my luggage and guide me to the Shinjuku station (Which would have cost the same as my N'EX ticket to Shibuya station and was the next stop after AND turned out to be only 30 min away instead of 1 1/2 hours.) (wwwhhhUUUUUUUMMP! LOVETAP!) So I hopped the train, which was mad easy, and hopped off at Shinjuku, walked straight, found the Sakura House building and filled out all the paperwork. Came back, bought a bottle of sake as thanks for my roomates for saving my butt, took a WAY overdue shower, unpacked a bit, ate dinner, and am now safe and sound mingling with my international roommates and feeling at home. So, my day in a nutshell? DONE! PHEW!
No comments:
Post a Comment