Japan 1 – From Narita airport to Tokyo
….Two weeks before I was supposed to fly to Japan my mom and my niece were visiting me.
One evening after a couple of beers we went to a kids’ playground and were jumping on a bubble trampoline. We had a lot of fun till my niece suggested I do a summersault…..I did and …..”landed” not really well.
To make the long story short I severely stretched my foot and I experienced terrible pain before we came home which was 200 meters away – million of needles piercing through with every step . I couldn’t sleep the whole night and in the morning I realized I cannot walk…..a week before I was flying to Japan.
I went to a hospital. Luckily the foot was not broken but it was terribly swollen and I could walk only to the toilet and back…the trip was endangered. But as time was passing I was getting a bit better and I was still going to Japan, even limping like hell. It was my long term dream! So I decided I would do it whatever it takes ;-)
After flying from Prague to Dubai (5 hours) and Dubai – Tokyo (9 hours) I was waiting at the passport control and i did not know that the trip will cover all these places during the next 30 days:
Narita Ariport
-Tokyo
-Osaka
-Nara
-Osaka
-Kyoto
-Kobe
-Awajishima Is.
-Takamatsu
-Matsuyama
-Yawatahama
-Beppu
-Hakata
-Hiroshima
-Okayama
-Nagoya
-Tokyo
-Nagano
-Matsumoto
-Hotaka
-Hakuba
-Itoigawa
-Niigata
-Akita
-Kakunodate
-Tazawa-Ko
-Morioka
-Aomori
-Hakodate
-Sapporo
-Otaru
-Sapporo
-Hakodate
-Aomori
-Hachinohe
-Tokyo
-Narita Airport……
I just knew I was going to take a night bus to Osaka.
After passport control I went down to buy a train ticket, and was headed to Tokio…
Narita airport platform
I was not very much surprised at Japanese trains. Thought they would me more future-like, more like when you hear people say “like on another planet”.
Train in Narita station
Simple Japanese people in a simple Japanese train
Just fans attached to the ceiling. I saw it somewhere…..Aha, now I understand where trains in Bangkok are from.
and sleeping people ;-)
Sleeping people
Sleeping girl
I have read that a lot of people sleep on trains in Japan…
I reached Tokyo station and I had time to eat. So i went into an underground shopping area. Most of the shops were closed. I found a small and very simple place where I had my first authentically Japanese gyoza.
small cosy place to eat near Tokyo station
My first place of real gyoza
After that I went looking for a bus and I could not fine it. I saw a group of people waiting for buses and I saw buses But I couldn’t fine mine…I showed my ticket to several people but still could not fine. NObody really spoke English….
So I decided to sit and wait because there was still some time. And in 20 minutes a girl I had asked before about a bus came to me, and showed my bus…I went to the bus and the journey began.
