Our next flight had us on edge - since we were unable to obtain our Chinese visas in Europe (since we were away from our home countries) - we were forced to change our itinerary to fly through China to Tokyo.
Obtaining a Chinese visa is challenging - you should not book a ticket without obtaining your visa first, which can only be obtained 90 days in advance of your departure date... in your own country. Additionally, the cost is about $135 USD/visa. Changing our ticket meant additional time in Hawaii at the end of our trip - so we were not too disappointed! Our flight check in was easy and the competent Finn Air staff assured us that the information about our transfer and the directly checked baggage was sent directly to Beijing staff. Our flight was close to 8 hours long (overnight), and we still did not have our boarding passes for the next day's late afternoon flight. Our confidence was questionable....as you can imagine. During the flight, the captain announced we would be flying through both Russian and Chinese flight space. We both looked at each other, slightly creeped out! Upon landing, we were amongst the first to de-plane, saw a ground crew staff as soon as we walked out, and asked for traveler assistance. The agent walked us to the front of the line for the transfer desk, and the desk agent called JAL for assistance. No more than 30 minutes later, we were passport stamped and processed, walked through transfer immigration, were re-screened an
d were back in the international terminal. We proceeded to the lounge, where we slept off part of the 8 hour layover! We even tried the local Chinese food and some Chinese wine and beer. Our flight to Tokyo was aboard a 737, and it was ridiculous how good the service was! We could not get over it; you would have thought we were Mr. and Mrs. Trump. We landed on time in the early evening, passed through security, and were at our airport hotel and asleep within 90 minutes! What a travel day... a full 27 hours in transit.After fitful "jetlag" sleep, we woke up early, had breakfast, and took the shuttle back to the airport to catch a train to downtown Tokyo. The NEX - Narita Airport Express - cost us $132.05 USD round trip, and Marcus found a great package online that included Tokyo Metro credit and a return ticket on NEX! NEX was really easy to use, although you had to know that the train split about halfway to downtown Tokyo. The NEX train has labels on the platform with what train car you take, based on if it is a split train or not. Your seat is pre-assigned and they even have luggage locks fo
r you to lock your bags at both ends of the train! Once downtown, there were a few things we picked up on really quickly. First, the weather was warm and balmy! It was quite humid and in the low 80’s with semi-sunshine! We were so happy to have warm weather where we could wear shorts. However, as fast as we put on shorts, we realized we were totally on the fashion outs. Fashion in Japan 
is serious business, and despite arriving on Sunday afternoon in Japan (which we thought would be weekend casual), it was anything but! Weekends turned out to be the prime time to show your style. Men in 
skinny jeans strutted with pointy alligator shoes and long spikey hair; women had so many different fashions it was crazy …. Some wore dresses like Little Bo Peep, goth looks, some had massive booties with fur, and others wore the fashion “must have,” which were semi-sheer black stirrup pants worn with heels or flats. The weather also tended to have passing showers and everyone had the same clear plastic golf umbrellas. The weird thing was when the sun did come out, no one wore shades!Our first day there, we took in the sights of the local Shinjuku neighborhood/train station, which was an amazing si
ght to see. Everyone promenaded around the streets since they were closed to traffic since it was Sunday. It seemed as if each shop facing the station was vying for customers with different tactics – singing girls, karaoke, megaphones… it was a sensory overload. We also found how to seek out good food – go down the side alleys. We found our sushi nirvana near the Shinjuk
u station this way – and had lunch at a sushi train restaurant! Yes, they all shouted when we walked in, but we expected that! We could not get over that we spent about $15 USD for a fresh sushi lunch with fresh seafood – tuna, salmon and cooked salmon. Amazing! This also continued the theme of having salmon again every day.... Closer to the station, there was a small smoky lane where all the small bars were selling yakitori (we think?), which were grilled meats and veggies on small skewers roasted over these teeny grills. Walking down the small alley was a total fluke, and we were sorry we had just eaten. We can still see the dark smokey alley with Japanese lanterns hanging across the narrow alley and smell the wonderful grill aromas - wish we would have had more time --- or bigger stomachs!Our second day there, we decided to go a bit further afield, and walked to the Meiji Jin
gu shrine, a Shinto
shrine, which is dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken (their tombs are in Kyoto), who passed away in 1912 and 1914. Over 100,000 trees were donated from across Japan – and the world – to commemorate their passing and to create the shrine and surrounding forest. After 90 years of growth, the forest is
said to be indistinguishable from a natural forest, and it actually harbors many endangered plants and animals. Sure enough, we walked through the northern end of the forest and it was so peaceful, you could hear the bird calls. It was gorgeous, and we really enjoyed seeing the park, especially the little seen area where we were, amazing considering we were in the middle of the city. That afternoon, we transversed all the way through Shibuya (home of the diagonal crosswalks), and Harijuku (similar to the Haight in San Fran), walking straight from 9am-5pm.... without really stopping. We were wiped!Our last day in town we took it easy and decided to head for the shopper’s mecca of Ginza and mastered the Tokyo Metro to get there. We thought the metro would be really challenging to use – but it was so simple. Directions were color coded by metro line, in English, and the metro line’s directions (N, S, E or West) were straightforward. Additionally, on the train, there was a map lit up above the metro doors with an arrow as to which direction the train was heading, which would blink as you headed towards the next station. Even your exit and entrance was carefully controlled – there was a barricade so you could not get close to the tracks – and as the train stopped, the barrier doors would open. Once we exited at the Ginza stop, the Sony Building (which was supposed to be the mecca for techies) was located right across the road. Sony fell flat for Marcus, and Christy was pretty bor
ed. Following the disappointing Sony experience, we took a stroll through the neighborhood, marveling at all the shopping. En route, we passed a small park, where all the Japanese businessmen were out for a luncheon stroll. It was quite warm and sunny, and we noticed how many of them had handkerchiefs they used to wipe their 
foreheads with. From there we went to the Imperial Palace East Gardens. Unfortunately, the Imperial Palace is closed to the public, except for two days during the year. However, you are able to stroll through a small part of the gardens area, and admire the massive moat with just as massive carp patrolling the waters. We watched as one senior fed the fish leaves from a nearby tree – and the fish were jumping up out of the water to get the leaves!Our last day there turned out to be pretty short by the time we went to the station to book our return NEX tickets and get lunch. However, en route to the hotel we were stopped by a young woman who interviewed us for a Japanese radio station! Yes, this would be the 3rd time on the trip we were interviewed! Our last lunch was this amazing green colored bread roll made with with spinach, cheese, seaweed and walnuts, plus several different types of gyoza. Really, we could not have eaten better in Japan!
We really liked Japan and what we saw. We were indeed a bit nervous at the outset of this trip leg that we would find Japan difficult to understand and navigate. Japan turned out to be easy and a breeze. Sure, perhaps outside of Tokyo we may have encountered more of a challenge, but Tokyo allowed us to get a good feel for the country. We were also surprised by the prices of things – we incorrectly assumed that food prices would be really expensive. However, we found that lunches were particular good value ($10 USD and under) at restaurants, where they had specials of the day. Additionally, the food courts presented good value – you could see what you were ordering off the steam trays or in the to-go plastic containers. That being said, transportation costs are high. The people of Japan were so nice – helpful customer service, polite, and friendly – even down to the stooped senior who smiled at our difficulty in trying to get through the train turnstile and pointed us where to go. Everything in Japan was simple and orderly – and in a way it really felt like Germany. Everything worked, people were friendly and respectful, and it was just a feel-good place.
Next Up: Hawaii!
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