We had a flight from Houston to Beijing, then Beijing to Tokyo, with a 3 or 4 hour layover. As you can probably imagine, the 14 hour leg toward Beijing was not the most comfortable. But we got through it and got to see a bit of the interior of the Beijing International Airport. There wasn't a whole lot to see and we didn't have much time to explore, so I only took a handful of shots. You may or may not be surprised to know that I know a small amount of Mandarin (much more than I know Japanese). It helped me a little in purchasing what I thought was water, but turned out to be a sports drink from the good people at Coca-Cola. It also helped me in being ignored by some staff when Hector and I couldn't identify the correct WiFi network for the airport. So we just sat there and waited for our next flight. As I sipped my water-colored sports beverage.
We boarded the flight to our final destination, but due to increased air traffic we sat on the runway for over an hour. Words cannot describe how unfathomably exciting that was. We finally took off and landed in Tokyo three hours later. I left my cameras in my bag in the overhead compartment, where they made perfect bag weights. Because of that decision, I was only able to catch my first glimpses of Tokyo with my phone.
Back on the beautiful ground, Hector and I headed to claim our baggage filled with expensive equipment and clothing. Then Hector couldn't find his blue bag of expensive equipment and clothing. We spoke with a very helpful woman who took all of our information in order to assist us in finding Hector's blue bag of expensive camera equipment and clothing. Many moments later, we saw a bag that looked strikingly similar to Hector's blue bag of expensive clothing equipment and camera. But it was black. Now, at this point, I thought there was no way that my friend here would mistake the color of the bag containing his clothing camera equipment expensive. Turns out, Hector's bag was black, not blue. And he will never live that down. Ever.
I, Hector, and his not-blue bag were then faced with our first encounter with Japanese public transportation. As two men who live in Houston and have a vast number of places to be and things to do, we almost always opt to use our own personal vehicles to get where we need to go. This was a new experience for both of us, but much less painful than we expected. We took the airport shuttle from Haneda to Toyosu Station in Koto, where we walked about 2km to the apartment we would be enjoying for our stay.
Before I show you the view, there are a few things that we learned on our walk from the station to our apartment. First, Tokyo is very clean. Anyone who has been there can probably tell you that. That said, there are almost no trash cans. I began to think that the Japanese had discovered the lost art of trash magic. That stuff just disappears. Second, if you ever decide to go to Tokyo, be prepared to walk. A lot. Third, we came across a well-dressed gentleman on the street. There was nothing particular striking about this man, but our split second encounter will make him remembered in my mind for at least the rest of my life. Now, I will preface this by saying this was an isolated incident and I have not come across it again through the duration of my trip. You may be familiar with the term crop-dusting. If you are not, it is a polite reference to the act of passing gas as you walk, in the hopes of minimizing noise of suspicion. This man's crop dusting skills were either entirely lacking or masterfully refined through years of training. I have never, in my 27 years of life, heard someone fart so loud so many times in rapid succession without showing any kind of emotion. It was undoubtedly impressive.
What was I talking about?
Oh, right. Here is the view.
To the right, we could see the many apartment buildings of Koto. Straight ahead, the view stretched to Tokyo Skytree in Taito and beyond. And to the left, we could see more small skyscrapers and apartment buildings standing as testament to the dense population of this fantastic city. The travel to get there was less than ideal, but necessary in order to have the uncertain experience that would lay before us. And you'll learn all about that later.
