Tokyo: First Impressions

by brian on October 30, 2008

Tokyo seems to be calm, clean and sane.

When I arrived at Tokyo’s Narita airport, signs are written in English and Japanese. Most Japanese people seem to at least know the basics of English, in a major city like Tokyo. Go into the countryside of Japan and you probably won’t get the same understanding of English.

Visited the Tourism Desk for directions to my hostel. A cute Japanese woman patiently showed me a street map and highlighted where the train was and how to switch.

Tried to stumble around at the Japanese ticket machine to get my train pass until a small Japanese woman seemed to pop up out of nowhere and said, “Do you need some help?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

She hit me a few buttons, I popped in my money and instant ticket.

The ride is about 70 minutes and I started to get concerned because none of the stops matched the stops on my maps. I gave my map to an older woman next to me, who conferred with another man who sat next to her and told me I was going in the right direction.

I’m staying at the Sakura Hostel Asakura. Pretty big with alot of 20 and 30 year olds. There is a family of 6 from the US. Looks like Mom, Dad, 3 kids and Granny.

I’m looking to fix my Skype so I can make calls. But the flight was fine, I’m fine and everything is A-OK.