Skip to main content

 First morning in Japan, Tokyo.

Yup, on impulse, after seeing Zi Liang's pictures of Gunpla, i decided to come myself. Made a booking in August and today, here i am.

The journey started yesterday morning and i mean, 2am kind of morning. The flight was 8am and i decided to go early to clear all the needed procedures since it is my first time flying solo, and my second flight overall. The first, do you remember? It was way back in 2011 with the crew.

Business class entitled me a visit to the SilverKris Lounge and it was a nice place to chill until the time of flight arrived.

It was a smoother experience than i had imagined...though i wondered if it was simply because i was flying Singapore Airlines...or just that my passport is Singapore-issued.

In-flight experience is not that bad. I didn't imagined that i was that tired although i was aware that i woke at 2am. I knocked out on the plane and kept snoring and waking to stop and repeated that process until it was meal time. In fact, i slept so much, i lost sense of time and thought the in-flight clock was wrong! I was referring to my phone whiched auto-adjusted to Indochina time and turned the clock back by an hour. It was only when the pilot affirmed the timing near the landing that i learnt.

Immigration into Japan was a snaking experience and by that i meant the queues snaked throughout a decent sized hall. I cleared that place in half an hour still so it was not as bad as some YouTube videos made out to be.

Also, i overestimated my ability to speak in Japanese. It was made rather evident when i was trying to book a taxi and head to my hotel...but i can hear and listen better than i thought so.

After arriving at the hotel and finishing checking in, i headed out to looked for some food. I guessed i was still quite overwhelmed and didn't want to try walking into restaurants and make some order, so i just settle with a sandwich and latte from a convenience store. I also tried to make some withdrawals using my cards...unfortunately only 1 worked.

When i returned, i tried to make a few bookings via my iPhone but the cards are getting rejected at everything i do. There's not much choice but i need to go and get a physical Suica card and play with cash for most of the things.

That's where i am now...though when it comes to it...i am feeling a lot more lazy than i hoped to be.

I'll update a bit later again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 Day 2...but i will be writing about yesterday instead. I set off early in the morning at 8am towards Tokyo station from my hotel. It was a good 20 minutes walk and with decent, cooling weather as well. I found out that opposite my building is a Konami building (although, later in the day when i return i would find that the building houses their Esports studio and school. I managed to get a Welcome Suica card at the Information Cafe of Tokyo station after a good 10 minutes of looking at the directory. The process of getting the card was simple as the staff was able to communicate in English. After i have gotten the pass, i started to look for Shinkansen ticketing machines. Because i was leaving in a short while, all of the reserved seats are already occupied and there was not much of a choice here. The plus of a non-reserved Shinkansen ticket is that you are free to board the non-reserved cabins anytime, as the ticket lasts for 4 days. I arrived at the platform to mad crowding. The...
Post a Comment
Read more
 Holy RA it's already near the end of April of 2025. Since the last post i've made a second booking to Japan, been there and returned. The visit this time was less of a rush but at the same time, i spent more time relaxing (idling) in the hotel. Originally i've planned annual visits in October of each year but i kind of felt like going again. So i made a booking towards the end of January. Unfortunately, the timing is not really good this time as the weather was pretty dark and gloomy throughout the trip. The Sun only showed up at the last 2 days of the trip. --- This time, i've visited Shizuoka again for its sushi. Same store. Same taste. I've also went to Enoshima and had "Enoshima Don", a seafood egg rice. I've mistaken "Yurantei" for the "Uomitei" that i wanted to visit. Nonetheless, the food is good. I'll visit someday again. Also, fulfilled my dream of taking the Sunrise Express, visiting Izumo and the famed Izumo Taisha (...
Post a Comment
Read more
 ...with how tired i was in Japan daily, it was easy to leave out writing. For example, i'm already back in Singapore. Following the previous post, i made my way to Ueno Park, Senso-ji in Asakusa, Shikansen down to Shizuoka and visited Sunpu Castle, took a river cruise around Sumidagawa with Tokyo Cruise and ended a full day trip spending money in Akihabara buying old consoles. I'll think about whether i want to go into the details. The last actual day, Friday 18 Oct, was kind of a waste as i was "kicked out" of the hotel early and spent the day in the Airport instead. The storage was full so i couldn't leave my luggage in the airport and go somewhere else. I also can only check it in only 3 hours before the actual flight. It's a good trip overall, even with all the downtime. I am already looking forward to returning next year. I am also going to go for a Business class seat again next year.
Post a Comment
Read more