Japan 2022 Day 1

Day 1: International travel (at last) Oct 6-7

Today Sydney experienced probably its wettest day on record….a good day to leave for Japan. Would we be able to reach the airport by road, or would we have to swim?

All managed to reach the airport and sailed through check in, immigration and security with time to shop, eat or just rest.

Given all the stories we had heard about delayed flights, lost luggage etc, amazingly the ANA plane left on time. It was only half full ( so room to stretch out). Flight also arrived on time and again we sailed through customs and immigration (greatly assisted by the pre work we did to secure fast track) and all our luggage arrived intact.

Satoko had organised hire cars to pick us up. They had the shape of London cabs. They had movie studio style seats together with a set of controls to operate them

Even though we arrived at the Imperial Hotel (which has hosted many political leaders and celebrities) at 7 am, Satoko had woven her magic and the hotel gave us immediate access to our rooms.

I think we shipped in Sydney’s weather because it poured all day in Tokyo. But the weather didnt stop us from exploring some interesting parts of the city, like the fish markets.

Tokyo is full of tiny little restaurants in sidealleys, under railway stations and in arcades.

We ate at one such restaurant under a railway line. This restaurant seated about 20 people so we took over the place (as there are 14 of us in Satokos group).

It was a fantastic dining experience with much sake consumed ( i now know the difference between cold and hot sake….a critical piece of knowledge for this non drinker!)