This is one of my 1st few set of photos I took when I arrived in Tokyo.
Oh well. Sorry for the dlay in writing my blog on my Tokyo trip. Alot of wonderful things in mind but I am just too busy to write it down. My luggages are still lying in my living room. Alot of things still lay unpacked and I am still waiting for my 6 kg package to be shipped back from Tokyo. The shipping cost abt s$70 for a 6 kg package. *Sigh*









The crux of the matter: My Tokyo trip DAY 1

I took a late night flight on JAPAN AIRLINE (JAL) to Tokyo narita and reached Tokyo on Nov 1 6.45 am. The sun is bright at about 5am. I managed to catch the sunrise on the plane..yup seeing the 1st sunrise in the sky is magical! The weather was really cold at 5 deg that early morning at NARITA airport. By the time I cleared the custom. It is already 7.30 am. Most of the counter at the airport are closed cos it is still early. I walked around Terminal 2 and up to its departure hall at level 3 to familarise with the area. I ate a pancake and drank hot coffee at a cafe at the 4th floor. It is expensive. Cost abt S$ 10. I waited for the tourist information to open at 8.30am and I took some maps and brochures from them and they speak lmited english...most of thetime I have to make up the sentence myself. Haiz..think it will be the beginning of my nightmare---language barrier! No worries as yet. I exchanged my Japn railway pass voucher for a real pass. I managed to catch a Narita Express train at 8. 50 am to Shinjuku station. The journey lasted abt 80 mins. Met some Taiwanese tourists on the train. One good thing about Narita express and the shinkansen train is that you can reserved your seat in advance or just before the train departs. Of course there are some cabins with non reserved seats(free seating).
The train conductor will travel from cabin to cabin to chop on your train ticket after every station. But Once he has chopped on your ticket, he will not ask for your ticket again as he will remember your face. He will greet everyone everytime he want to check your ticket. The Japanese are really polite and there are these snacks and beverages ladies on train where they wil push a trolly along the train and before they start selling to everyone--they will greet us again and greet us again when they left the cabin. Cool isn't it---my 1st experience of Japanese polite culture. I begin to like this country.

Reach Shinjuku station at 10.15 am
The normal check in time for Japanese hotels is 3 pm and check out time is 10am. So I lug my stuff and walked abt 8 mins to my hotel (Shinjuku Washington). The weather is chilling but still warmer than Narita. Abt 14 deg. I put my luggages in the locker provided at the hotel ( 400 yen for one day rental). I went around the Shinjuku station area. Wow! the shopping centres are huge, mega and fascinating! at least 6th storey high with many shops and sales counters. The 1st item I bought is my friend's present---Chip and dale thingy that I spotted along an alley boutique. Second thing I bought is a arnold palmer cap. Shopping in Japan is extremely expensive. Especially you wanna shop at big shopping malls like odakyu and takashimaya as they only sell branded stuff. A normal blouse can cost around S$70 at least.