-- 10/4 - 10/5/2016 - Written from Narita Skyliner and Alex's House --
The Vancouver International terminal was super exciting. It
was basically a giant duty-free mall, but there was also a giant water feature
running through the center of terminal that originated from a huge wood carving
by a First Nations artist. The water feature ran down to the end of the space,
terminating at a beautiful aquarium full of rockfishes, a handful of surfperch,
a lingcod, and an eel. I spent a ridiculous amount of time staring into that
aquarium, or sitting nearby it. It conferred the perfect sense of calm that I
needed after the start of the day, and to prepare for everything yet to come.
Neither of my flights was particularly full, and while
boarding for the 8-hour flight to Tokyo I was excited that I would have a
window seat, but only one person on the aisle who I’d have to climb over. With
the middle seat open, we were also able to spread out a little bit. The only
thing that I could complain about was the honeymooning couple sitting behind
me. The woman seemed nice enough, but the dude was a total dick who seemed to
be actively searching for things to criticize about his new wife, or things to
complain about on the plane.
Eventually they settled down though, and the only other
remarkable part of the flight was the view I had of Alaska. I looked out a
little ways west of Anchorage, when we were passing over the southwest arm of
the state, and the peaks I saw looked like something out of a fantasy story
with dragons and warring mountain clans. I’ve never been to Alaska, but I know
I have to go now to see those peaks again.
And then I was at Narita Airport. It was much crazier than I
expected but I just followed the people ahead of me and the English-language
signs to a line for passport checks. As the line kept switching back and forth,
I overheard a group of young muslims trying to reconcile their prayer
schedules, which had been totally thrown off by spending 8 hours on a plane and
arriving 3 hours later the next day. I was feeling a little off-kilter as well
since I got up from bed in California about 20 hours ago.
The hardest part of navigating the airport for me was
getting on a train to leave the airport. I got through customs, and got into a
line for something called the Skyliner which sounded like the right sort of
thing to get in line for. I texted my friend Alex (who will be introduced
shortly) and confirmed I was in line for the right train, but when I got to the
head of the line I saw a little hand written sign: “Cash Only.” As it turns
out, virtually transaction in Japan is done in cash. So I left the line and
found a couple ATM’s. The first rejected my card, but the second one worked and
I withdrew ¥30,000
(about $300), thinking I would be able to pay for some things with a card (this would prove to be an almost totally
false assumption).
I got back in line for the Skyliner with my three bags,
which were already starting to tire me out and make me regret packing the
textbooks. I got a Skyliner ticket, and a 72 hour subway pass, which would only
work on the Tokyo Metro lines. The ride was quiet and remarkably fast. I wasn’t
entirely sure where to get off the train, because Alex had told me to take the
Yamanote Line from Nippori Station. But I couldn’t find the Yamanote on my map
of the Tokyo Metro. That’s because there are about 4 or 5 different companies
that operate subways and trains in Tokyo, which my subway card would be totally
useless for.
So I got off at Ueno station and took the Ginza Line all the
way to Shibuya Station, where I thought Alex was going to meet me. I
immediately felt totally out of place with my three bags. Between myself and my
property I was taking up about three people’s worth of space, and struggling to
keep my bags from sliding away into other people’s knees. So I just put my head
down, and told myself I would be through to Alex’s house soon.
But it turns out
that Alex wasn’t ready to meet me just yet.
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