Japan Airports

I cannot honestly say that I'll be able to see Japan with fresh eyes to paraphrase Proust. After all I've been here a few times before. With all that said I still am filled with wonder about all the twists on modern technological life that Japan creates. I'll try and convey that feeling in words and images.

This is our itinerary.

As you may imagine the flight was long and tiring, a total of 29 hours door to door plus a day lost via the date line. The kids were great and slept a lot. When they were awake they were pleasant and not too demanding. Kaji's ears must have hurt him from the pressure changes but other than grab at his ears and make faces he was calm. Here are some photos of Emma and Kaji as well as some from the flight.

When we stepped off of the airplane at Narita airport near Tokyo I turned to Eriko and said I remembered the smell of Japan. A light dry aroma of slightly spiced dust. Once in the terminal and after the long lines for customs I knew for certain that once again I was in a foreign place.

The first indication was a booth called Health Consultations, which sounded like a place to get advice but was more like the quarantine for infectious diseases. Here is a picture of the temperature scanning device, somewhat robotic and rube goldberg looking.

For security there was a policeman on a platform

keeping a stoic eye of the passengers.

The luggage carts are cool in Japan. There is a trick to them.

You have to squeeze a handle along the push bar or else the cart

will not move as they all have an automatic brake.

This is hard to learn when you are tired and jet lagged.

There are lots of transportation choices at many of the airports in Japan.

The usual busses and taxis along with trains and subways.

This particular one sounded cool. I'd like to try it someday.

I was happy to have a hard futon to fall asleep on

our first night.

Too bad I slept less then 6 hours.

I awoke to a standard breakfast of fish, rice and

fermented soybeans along with barley tea

to wash it down with.

A little tough to adjust when you are still tired.

At first Kaji seemed to be doing fine.

We did try and do some shopping the first day. Mitsuaki, Eriko's dad drove us luckily.

Of course the kids were completely wiped out.

Eriko and her dad got excited about a snack of fried octopus tentacles covered with very thinly shaved fish. I passed on that and went for a soft ice cream.

I slept better last night though I still feel stiff from the flight and the futon on the floor.

Emma is enjoying being in a totally Japanese environment. Kaji is getting a lot of attention from the grandparents and the aunts. Eriko is having some problems with her mom as usual.

The weather here has been the coldest in 100 years. It was 9 C the evening we arrived. The high has been 15 and it is raining lightly at the moment.