Japan First Day - Getting There

Finally!!  After much anticipation and excitement the day finally arrived . . . going to Japan!

Here is Leslie checking in at a China Airlines check-in stand.


This cute contraband-sniffing dog kept lingering by us, probably because it could smell Kona and Leslie's dogs.  I told Les about a segment I had just seen on the TV show Miami International Airport where a dog could sniff out people who were carrying a lot of cash, the theory being that people carrying a lot of money might also be carrying drugs.  The dog did sniff out one couple.  They were carrying over $10,000 in cash.  Turned out they were both surgeons who were just rich and not drug dealers. 


While waiting for our flight I noticed a lot of girls wearing this-kine boots.


Les said that they're UGGs and are very popular.


We arrived at Narita Airport after a 9-hour flight . . . sooooo long.


Les retrieved our luggage while I guarded.  Hey, she's like 20 years younger than me, so I'm entitled to be the guard.


We took the Narita Express which got us to Shinagawa, Tokyo in about an hour.


Green Car!  First Class!  Niiiice!


In Shinagawa we transferred to a bullet train which then took us to Kyoto.


The ride was about 2 hours long.  I couldn't sleep . . . was too excited. Good thing though 'cause I got to see Mt. Fuji.


Here are escalators at Kyoto Station.  Escalators were like my best friend in the train stations.  Without them or when they were too far, we would have to hike up and down, up and down, up and down stairs . . . and they're kinda steep.  That's why no more too many fat people in Japan . . . it's those stairs.


We checked in at around 5:30 pm.  It was already dark out.


I nearly panicked when I opened the bathroom door in our room and didn't see any toilet.  I said, "LESLIEEEEEEEE, WHERE'S DA TOILET?"  She said, "Whaaaaaaaaat?"  I opened a door adjacent to the bathroom and there it was.  Whew!!  Look how weird it is with the water thing on the top.


We were pooped and it was already kinda late to go sightseeing so all we did after we settled in was to go back to Kyoto Station to grab some dinner.


Ramen is like one of my favorite things to eat.  This is what I had.


This is Leslie's food.


After dinner we went back to our room to rest up.  The itinerary for the following day was to just check out the surrounding Kyoto area, so we had planned to sleep in.  Sleep-in plan neva work.  We both got up at 4:30 am.  In fact, we would continue to get up early the whole time we were in Japan.