Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 1 - Arrival

A few weeks ago, I left the blazing heat of Melbourne and began my long-awaited adventure to North America and Japan. It was my first time travelling to the other side of the world, but I had so-called "unfinished business" to do in Japan. One of them was to be able to experience springtime in Japan. The others revolve around the -48 group fandom. So I intended to fulfil these short term life goals, and to really make use of my extended holiday, before I jump headfirst into the workforce.

I'll spare you my first two-three weeks in North America and jump straight into my Japan trip.

Flight from LA to Haneda via Beijing

I expected LAX to be horrible, but not this low. My flight departed from T2, yet it almost felt like a domestic terminal, what with so few shops and a crowded, mangled mess of a check-in area. Definitely one of the worst airport terminals I've been in, and that list doesn't include many.

On the other hand, my flight (well, the first leg) was better than expected. I was dreading the outcome of a 12.5 flight to Beijing on Air China (even after having flown with them twice just a few weeks before) but actually, because of my aisle seat, good passenger mates (a dad and his really young toddler daughter) and their new, spacious 777-300ER aircraft, it was actually pretty good. I even got a decent couple of hours sleep onboard. Food was nothing special, as you'd expect on Air China. Neither was their entertainment selection - the system was brand new, touchscreen and all, but the content old. As usual, I resorted to my iPad and burned through an LOD (SKE KII if you're wondering - Airin's birthday show to be specific) and a couple of eps of Hyouka.

This was my second time at Beijing Airport, having transited here a few weeks ago. Huge, but fresh and aesthetically pleasing, even having free WiFi and power outlets.

My second flight to Tokyo Haneda was packed. Small, single aisle plane but full of Caucasians and Japanese. Not as many Chinese tourists unsurprisingly. Everything was on time though.

Arrival in Haneda

Managed to arrive at Haneda Airport on time. Baggage was surprisingly slow but it came out in a fairly orderly fashion, unlike the stacks of baggage mess usually seen in other airports. After, I quickly went and got my Japan Rail Pass, took a domestic transfer bus to T1 and went to the post office to collect my b-mobile SIM. Unfortunately, the B-mobile network was slower (much slower) than I expected, far below the 14.4Mbps theoretical maximum, but it was still usable for my various needs.

Boarded the Keikyu train to Shinagawa station and from there transferred to the Shinkansen to Nagoya, where I will be residing for the first week. As you'd expect, the entire process was painless (although having an existing Suica card helped, but that's really a minor point) and with typical Japanese efficiency. One hitch though: despite the national transport IC card integration, I was surprised to find my Suica being unable to work with Nagoya's subway system. Disappointed, I went and purchased a manaca IC (Nagoya's version of Pasmo). For some strange reason though, the next day when I travelled to Tokyo (more about that in the next post), my manaca worked flawlessly with the entire Tokyo metro system. Don't really know why my Suica can't work in reverse then, but at least the integration seems to be working in some parts.

I stayed at Hotel Wing International Nagoya. As you'd expect from Japanese hotel rooms, they're small but clean and decently comfortable, although for some reason, the so-called "air conditioner" kept spewing out warm air. At least the wired Internet was speedy enough and, more importantly, a lot faster than my b-mobile 3G service.

Sakae

Since I was in Nagoya, I decided to explore the place for a bit, so I went down to Sakae, the main shopping and entertainment district. First stop, of course, was the SKE48 shop (and cafe), which ended up me browsing through their goods just to see what stuff they have in stock. Didn't end up buying anything that day, although I did buy a couple of SKE48-related books (Marutto SKE48 and the SKE48 history book). Given my luck these days with theater show applications (ie bad), which I was told to be a normal circumstance, I got a nice little (if you'd like, consolatory) surprise when trying my luck at the Gashapon...

Dinner was at Yabaton (the one at Lachic, because the store at Centrise was booked out for private function), because I wanted to try out their miso katsu, a Nagoya speciality. A bit of a queue, given it was Saturday evening, but it was great.

Outside of Sunshine Sakae was full of loitering youth, ranging from your hipsters to punks and ganguro. Not that it was dangerous per se (and certainly nothing to be worried about compared to Union Square in San Francisco or Flinders St in Melbourne), but an interesting point to note.

And of course, the SKE48 theater was closed.

Was too tired that evening, after having endured nearly 16 hours of flight time, so I slept early.