Welcome to Tokyo Japan

Our trip began with a flight from Dallas to Chicago where we boarded the Dreamliner and headed for Tokyo.   After the 13 hour flight from Chicago we arrived in Tokyo at 4PM and we both felt pretty good.  We quickly located the right train to take into Tokyo and were on our way!

After arriving at Nippori station near our hotel, we realized we didn’t fully know where our hostel was.  We had the address but it was written in English.  I had looked up the hostel before we left and I was confident I could lead us directly there.  After 30 minutes of aimlessly wandering I conceded that I had no clue how we were going to find the place and we headed back to the train station.

With no cell phone service and no idea how to locate our hostel, we decided to take a cab.   We hopped in the cab and showed the cab driver the address which was written in English.   He couldn’t read the address and we instructed him (or so we thought) to call the number and ask for directions.  The cab driver promptly entered the phone number as an address in his GPS and took off.   We had to beg the cab drive to pull over as we sped off in the wrong direction.   He finally stopped and we had to walk back to the train station again.

Ashley took over the navigation responsibilities and spoke to someone at a hotel who directed us to our hostel.

Our first meal in Japan

After we settled into our hostel we were both exhausted and ready to find something to eat before bed.   We eventually came across a small Ramen place that was full of locals and decided to give it a shot.  We sat down and the attendant quickly came over and told us we had to order from the machine before we could sit.  Apparently you are supposed to order your food from a machine and get a ticket and then hand this ticket to the attendant.   We couldn’t figure out how to order and eventually the attendant had to come over and help us order our whole meal.

I pointed at the picture above the machine while she entered my order for me.  We ended up with a bowl of Ramen and some Pot Stickers for a total of 890 Yen or about $7.35.  That nice attendant lady also provided me with a fork after she watched me struggle to eat Ramen with chop sticks.  I’m pretty sure she watched us eat the entire meal and was amused the whole time.

Fighting the Jet Lag in Japan

We woke up early then next morning at 4 a.m.  We were both wide awake and decided to hit the Tsukiji Fish market.   Since we were up early it seemed like the most appropriate thing to do!    We found our way to the fish market and had Sushi for breakfast at 8 a.m. which was a first for both of us.   We ordered 9 pieces of Sashimi and a coke for a total of $16.   My personal favorite was the “Fatty Tuna” which you can see in the far left of the image below.