A first day in Japan 🇯🇵
It’s hard to tell at this point, 11:30 pm Matsumoto time, how long I’ve been in Japan. After a typical battle with JFK airport and a spectacular flight to Haneda airport I arrived in Tokyo at the dark hour of 4:30 in the morning. I made my way arduously through the Tokyo subway from the airport to Tokyo station, dragging my ski bag and luggage behind me. I picked my way through a bustling station full of other people carrying skis, but with places to go. Tied down by my luggage, I had nowhere to be so I made myself comfortable on the plaza outside the station, waiting for the luggage storage to open.
At 7:00 am I dropped off my luggage and sprung freely out into the streets of Tokyo. Unlike Tokyo Station, the streets were practically empty.
I love the morning light. It was a beautiful time to be exploring. Too tired to form a plan I pointed myself towards the hostel my friend James was staying at and began meandering in circles towards it. James will be a recurring character in this story.
What followed after finding James was a feverish day of ravenously taking in Tokyo. We ate 4 times, myself 1 extra. We walked many miles across the city and discussed the merits of a solely vending machine based photo project.
There are vending machines everywhere in Tokyo and selling all kinds of things. They pop up where you least expect them and are always where you do.
Tokyo is something like a kaleidoscope of marvelous things to look at. I could hardly walk ten steps without finding something to marvel at. A tank of fish, a beautiful temple, a cafe covered in leaves. Not to mention a flea market of antiques that nearly made me cry in limited luggage space.
The architecture is also breathtaking, with seemingly every building bringing some new design feature, new, ancient, or brutalist.
James and I eventually made our way to the imperial palace grounds. Beautiful even in winter, and expansive in a way that’s hard to explain.
The imperial gardens were filled with gorgeous plants, citrus trees, and even some early blooming cherry blossoms. It’s hard to imagine what it was like to live with such a big yard, and the palace itself is long gone, so it’s hard to imagine that as well.
We eventually made our way back to Tokyo Station to meet up with Lukas who had just arrived. At 5:00 pm the station was completely packed and navigating through was quite challenging, but we all eventually made it on to our train to Nagano, where we will be skiing. We were greeted at a lovely hostel and told about a light show at the castle, something normal for Japan. We quickly ran to catch the finale and then stopped by a shrine on our way to grab an evening snack.
We are now all delirious and tucked into comfy beds. I don’t remember the last time I was in one of these.
Keep your inbox tuned to this here channel. Many more days of Japan to come.
