Arrived in Tokyo
We had a long, but relatively uneventful flight from JFK to Narita yesterday—Saskia slept the last two hours of the flight, Pascale did not sleep at all, Lukas slept only two hours in the middle of the flight. We arrived at what was 1:55am in our day so we were not at our best, but everything went smoothly. We disembarked to a bus, so we got to experience our first moments in Tokyo’s notorious summer weather. Hot (35C) and humid. Soon enough, however we were at immigration, and our visas were all in order. My work is described as a cultural activity, so great!!! No reason to come into work early then, is there??
Our luggage was waiting for us, all twelve bags neatly in a row. We needed 5 full carts to carry it all, so everyone had there own, but Lukas really could not manage it so it was a bit trying. We went to the luggage delivery service where we were welcomed by several young men in nicely pressed white shirts with a lot of bowing. It is good to be a paying customer in Japan, where customers are truly king. We had to pay cash, so we changed our dollars there at the airport. My bet that we could get a better rate in Tokyo than the one we would be able to get in New Jersey paid off, 105 yen (vs. 99 in NJ) for the dollar. 11 Bags are to arrive the next day between 2-4 at our hotel. I hope they do.
When I paid for the bill I asked the lady whether she knew what (limousine) bus company we should take to get to the Ana Hotel in Minato-Ku. She responded in exactly the same way as our Japanese cultural trainer showed us, that is, she would repeat back the words she understood: “bus” “Ana hotel” “Minato-Ku”, then she made a face of sheer anguish and said she was sorry, so sorry (but, I wondered, if you get all those words, could be the problem with understanding??). No problem however, the limousine bus service that with the hostesses in the orange suits that were closest were just the company I was looking for.
The bus left at 4:45pm (3:45am our day) and in goes through some rice-fields, which form a beautiful green patchwork, but soon we were on the outskirts of Tokyo, and from then on there is little of beauty to see. Massive concrete buildings. It is reminiscent to America in some regards, except that everything is packed together much tighter giving me such a claustrophobic feeling (this is where we will live for the next year?? I closed my eyes and tried to sleep). and despite its general ugliness, it is clean. You rarely see a piece of trash lying about.
Lukas fell asleep and was not to be woken up again until much later. He slept through the entire check-in procedure. He was put in his bed and the girls started to explore the bathroom (toilet) they had heard so much about. They had a great time with it, nothing will cheer them up like a little practical bathroom humor. R was fading fast and she did not want to go swim, but the girls and I swam, outside in a beautiful pool. It was free, but the chairs with the pillows could be rented for $10, those without were free, but as we only had 45 minutes until the pool closed (8pm/7am our time). After that we had some dinner, the restaurant was not exactly cheap. Saskia had the buffet, eating mostly a bowl of white rice and some steak and an icecream ($33) while Pascale all a sudden just could not keep awake. She waited for her Teriyaki chicken, but kept putting her head down on the table and closing her eyes. It was a losing battle, and I had almost given up on feeding her at all when the dinner appeared. She perked up as soon as she took her first bite: I love this rice! I could not really get her to eat any of the chicken (her rice was $5 less than Saskia’s). I had a nice dinner with several vegetables I could not identify, but all very good. The waitress had forgotten to bring me my draft beer ($9.50). I asked her if she could remove that item from the bill. She looked at me with a shock, her hand covering her mouth, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Ja, ja, schon recht. Then, I asked whether I could take the Teriyaki chicken up to the room for my hungry wife, but that was not allowed either, two hands crossed over her chest, deep bows, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.
When we came up to our room, Lukas is standing in the middle of the room rubbing his eyes. He thought he had been left alone, considering that the last thing he could remember was getting on a bus, it may have been quite disconcerting for him. R was actually lying in her bed, but simply unresponsive to all stimuli. I put the kids in their bed, but they were feeling a renewed energy, perky and wanted to have a pillow fight. I was at the end of my rope, however, and told them in no uncertain terms that they were to be quiet (it was 10pm, 9am in our day). I then went and bonded with the toilet myself (it is a wonderful thing, and one can regulate the force of the washing. When turned to full force it really is more an enema than a gentle washing (the water is heated to the perfect temperature) and this can have unfortunate consequences later so here, too, there is a learning curve).
At 1am (noon in our day) both R and I woke up at the same time. Fortunately the children were still vast asleep. We took a pill and after about 30 minutes of reading fell asleep once more. The children did not wake up until 5am, so that worked out quite well. We had the breakfast buffet at 6:20, and after a stroll through some nice gardens planted at different levels on top of buildings and a visit to a small Shinto shrine in the neighborhood the children and R went to the pool again and I am getting ready for a short nap before checkout and our move to the temporary apartment.
4:23:17 PM 
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