Arrival in Japan - First Impressions

After a very smooth, very long and very uneventful (Thank G-d) flight of just under 13 hours, that took us north thru James Bay, Hudson's Bay, over Northern Manitoba, touching the tip of eastern Northwest Territories and Alaska and then south, we touched down at Tokyo Haneda Airport. 

There are two airports in Tokyo, Narita which serves most international flights and Haneda which is primarily a domestic terminal. Thankfully, however, Air Canada's base is at Haneda, as it is very close to the city; Narita being about one and a half hour train or bus ride away.


We arrived on Monday afternoon at 4:55 PM in overcast drizzly 9C weather. Sunset is about 5:30 this time of year so it was already getting a bit dark. The terminal was very large and tho it was a long
walk from the gate to customs, the entire way was covered by rapid moving sidewalks. Getting thru
customs and inspection was a breeze and our 2 pieces of luggage were the first off.  Because we are travelling quite a bit within Japan and exclusively by train, we tried to pack as lightly as we could. And even tho much of one small suitcase was filled with snacks, Meal Mart Amazing Meals (more on those later), other food items, kitchen utensils etc., all we took with as far as clothes and shoes are concerned for three full weeks of travelling, was one more small suitcase between the two of us. As far as carry on, we each had one backpack. For us this is the lightest we have ever packed. 

 Once we got thru inspection, there were a number of items to attend to before leaving the terminal. When you are travelling a lot by train in Japan, it may be worth purchasing the Japan Rail Pass. This can only be purchased by foreign tourists and can only be bought outside Japan. When you arrive in
Japan, you cash in your voucher for the actual ticket. It comes in units of one week, two week or
three week unlimited travel. Because our first week will be spent in Tokyo, we bought the Two Week
Pass for the following two weeks and the two week clock begins ticking on our first train trip outside
of Tokyo, this coming Sunday evening to Hiroshima.  We also picked up some English language
maps and guides from the tourist office at the airport. 

 Wherever we went in the airport, people were extremely helpful and pleasant. There was a lot of bowing going on and what struck us most about the airport was that it was full but amazingly quiet. People speak quietly and this carried over to our first rides on the subway system. The cars were very full, but it was almost as quiet as being in a theatre.  And so we were on our way to our apartment using the directions of the person from whom we rented the apartment.

We took the airport monorail about 6 stops and then had to transfer to a subway line which would take us three stops to a station very close to our apartment.  Japan's subway system is vast and is integrated with its rail system.

So reading the subway map can be a challenge. And reading it in Japanese can be a real problem for us. Fortunately we had English subway maps and also had downloaded very useful subway apps on our new iPhone, which explained very clearly how to navigate the system. 

 But there were two challenges: first, when we had to transfer from one line to another, we did not realize that there was a four minute walk outside to make the connection and it was not signposted well. As we were standing looking dumbfounded, a local came over and asked us if he could help. He spoke English (he loves to ski in Kelowna) and even though he was headed in the total opposite direction, walked us all the way to our destination, and even carried our luggage for us down the long stairway to the subway entrance. It was amazing.

 And that leads us to the second problem. We were in a couple of stations yesterday that had escalators leading out of the deep recesses of the station toward street level and then surprise....the escalator stops and you are faced with long sets of stairs and you have a heavy piece of luggage. Once again, a number of locals offered to help but we could see how it could be a real challenge to elderly or physically challenged people to scale those stairs. It could be that we missed an elevator and from this point on we will be more cognizant of the location of the elevators. 

 The good news is that like a number of other cities we have visited, they sell a plastic card called Passmo or Suica that can be loaded with currency and then simply swiped to gain access to the subway or even used for purchases at the grocery or 7-11 store. We bought these when we reserved our Japan Rail Passes and they are real easy to use and very convenient.

 When we finally exited the subway, it was raining. Thankfully we caught a cab for a short ten minute ride to our apartment.  We are staying in the Roppongi Hills area of the city in an apartment that we found on the Internet.  We like to stay in apartments rather than hotels where possible as it gives us more room, allows us the freedom to prepare food in the absence of kosher restaurants, and in the case of Japan specifically, can allow us Shabbat friendly toilets.

You see, in Japan, the washroom has become a work of electronic and technological art. The flushing mechanism is electronic, the seats warm up on contact, the unit plays music while you sit etc. Not a problem during the week, but could be an issue for Shabbat.

 So when we were looking for an apartment, we made sure to email the landlord and ask whether the unit had regular keys, had a regular toilet and if it was walking distance from a certain address which was of course Chabad for Shabbat. His response Certainly got our attention: "do you perhaps also need a plata for Shabbat?", he wrote. You see, we were lucky enough to find Leo (as his ad said) or Lior (his Israeli name). He manages a bunch of Tokyo apartments and was certainly familiar with the local Chabad as well as the particular needs of the observant Jewish traveler. 

 The apartment is very basic but it has a number of conveniences that will come in very useful to us. A full kitchen, a microwave, a washing machine (that is how we can travel lightly) and a pocket wifi. The pocket wifi means that you can walk all,over town and you are always connected to wifi. And therefore we did not need to buy a sim card for our phone. In each of the apartments that we are
renting, they are providing us with such a gizmo.  We had a bit of a challenge with the microwave because it is all in Japanese and we could not figure out how to use it. 



 So using our pocket wifi connection, we called Lior and he walked us thru the use of the microwave using what's app, texting and sending pictures back and forth. Wow, we have finally entered the 21st century with all this technology.  After unpacking, we went around the corner to a small supermarket to pick up necessities, eggs, milk, veggies etc. Again, we were challenged by our lack of spoken or written Japanese, but a local who spoke a "rittle" English, helped us and we were back in the apartment ready to try and catch up,on our sleep. We managed 4 hours, were up a couple of hours and then back again to sleep from 4 to 6:30...so maybe we are over significant jet lag.  Today we are off on an organized tour of the Imperial Palace and we will hopefully see how we fare trying to figure out what appears to be a complicated subway system.  More on our first full day tomorrow Sayonara Fran and David