Tokyo, Japan>, Jun 12, 2009
I woke up this morning feeling pretty rejuvenated after some good sleep and was ready to go explore Tokyo… even if I only had like 8 hours to do it!! I went down to the hotel restaurant, had breakfast, then got the shuttle bus back to Narita. From there I took an express train to Tokyo Station. The ride took just over an hour and it was fun just to sit and look out the window watching everything go by. I can’t say exactly that I felt like I was in Japan just by looking at the scenery.. but that all changed as we got closer and closer to Tokyo. Once we arrived I hopped on the subway and made my way to Shibuya. I had no idea what was there but I remembered that name from a travel book I had read. Once I arrived there I just started walking around.. with absolutely no idea where I was going or what I was doing. I went in a few shops and had a look around and then decided to head somewhere else. My next stop was Shinjuku. This was more of my style.. lots of shopping here. I probably went in 20 different stores looking at everything from sunglasses to shoes to belts to bags. I eventually came upon a 7 story shopping centre that was just for guys!! Haha.. this was great!! Each floor was dedicated to a certain type of clothing stlye - high fashion, sports clothing, modern, just sunglasses, etc. You name it.. they had it!! I wanted to buy myself something from Tokyo and this was the place to do it!! I eventually found a shirt that I really liked but it was $70.00 and I tried to be level-headed and not get it. However, the really nice Japanese girl working at the store was so hospitable and kind with me that I couldn’t resist!! Haha!! I ended up getting the shirt of course.. Once I was done there I headed across the street to Starbucks to get a drink (and of course another city mug for my ever-growing collection). I looked at my watch and realised that I needed to head back to the hotel to check out. The day had gone by so fast!! I got back to Tokyo station and boarded the train to get back to Narita. We were on the train for about 30 minutes (having never left the station) and I kept hearing annoucements in Japanese. Not sure what was going on (and worried about missing my checkout time), I tried to ask another passenger and they didn’t know what was going on either. Then all of a sudden the lights went off and everything went quiet. A few minutes later the lights came back on and a train official came through the cars asking everyone to get off the train. So.. we did and waited on the platform for another train. This went on for about an hour.. Finally we left the station. I never knew what was going on that day and I suppose I never will. I got back over an hour late to the hotel and explained to them the situation. They were very nice and told me they wouldn’t charge me for being late. I ran up to my room, took a shower, re-packed, checked out and then headed back to Narita to begin my journey back to the States. I checked in for my United Airlines flight to San Francisco with the hopes that they had some business class seats available.. but I had no luck there. Instead I opted for an Economy Plus seat. I soon found myself on board the crowded plane.. saying goodbye to my Asian adventure. I had such a good time today.. I am definitely coming back to Japan again!! 