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Welcome to Japan


We are starting our Japan adventure today.  Nick and Sachiyo picked up us at Narita yesterday which was Sunday at 4:00 pm.  I am consistently asking "so what time is it really now?"  I'm so confused.  For us, it was actually 1:00 am but I couldn't tell at all.  We never saw any darkness at all.  During the whole trip it was nonstop daylight after leaving Boise at 7:00 am.  We were using free Delta milage so we had take the long route (as if this trip isn't long enough) and fly to Minneapolis first and then to Narita, a 12 hour flight.  It really wasn't bad, at all.  It was a very enjoyable flight and they kept feeding us throughout which always makes me a happy person...I am considering this my first international adventure.  I'm not really counting our trips for Caribbean cruises, Mexico resorts and border towns, or Canada...This one is for real.

 We were so excited when we arrived.  Nick and Sachiyo were waiting for us after we went through immigration and customs which was all very quick.  Nick rented a mini van from his work at the Navy base so they could pick us up. But first we got a tour of Narita, a beautiful airport.

It's really more like a shopping mall and food court.  I love the way the Japanese illustrate all the food choices at each restaurant - the land of fake food.  Here is a restaurant that is offering American choices that we DEFINITELY will NOT be eating while we're here.

I love looking at the fake food.  It's amazing to me how real it looks.  As a dietitian, we always use food models with clients to illustrate portion sizes but these food models are unbelievable.

 We didn't waste any time trying our first taste of Japanese food at Narita and chose an Udon noodle dish, the first of many...

We ate outside on a patio since the weather is a pleasant 70's or so.  It is suppose to be in the 60's during most of our trip which will be perfect.

The jet lag did catch up with us a bit driving home, as Bruce and I started nodding off in the car. It was a 1-1/2 hour drive back to Nick and Sachiyo's home in Yokosuka but we stayed awake long enough to see some views of downtown Tokyo including the Tokyo Tower and Sky Tree, which is a radio tower, the second highest structure in the world which Nick plans to take us to.  We also drove by Disneyland Japan and saw the Disneyland Hotel all lite up - beautiful - and at least 2 gorgeous, giant ferris wheels.  (I think I was asleep when we passed the third one in Yokohama) Many parts of the freeway were backed up with traffic which slowed us down a bit but we were enjoying looking at everything. Lots of signs were in English, too.  I was interested to see that not all the cars were small, compact cars but lots of regular sized cars, too.  It's going to be a fun adventure and I can't wait to learn more about Nick and Sachiyo's life in Japan.


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