At long last, I have made it to Japan. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep on the flight that brought me to NRT at the early hours on the morning, which made me wonder at first why I felt a little unsteady on my feet when walking to Shinjuku JR from my hotel.

Plus points on day 1:

1. efficiency of the trains on many aspects – punctuality, and having the door to your car exactly as it is marked on the platform
2. politeness of the Japanese people
3. the Park Hyatt Tokyo staff greeting me by name the moment I came out from my taxi – actually they read my airline luggage tag but brownie points for making the effort to make me feel welcomed. It did feel like a “Mr Bob Harris” moment
4. how cheap tasty kaitenzushi is in this place
5. getting a much coveted window seat at the Tsutaya Starbucks branch facing the Shibuya crossing. Got an okay-lah video of the traffic and people crossing the road.
6. not wanting to leave the first and second floor of Tower Records Shibuya – the book and Japanese pop/punk/rock sections, respectively
7. seeing so many good-looking/fashionable women in Shibuya that I didn’t want to be seen gawking at them. Hahaha.

If there were minus points, thus far they have pretty minor:

1. the climate was pretty humid especially in the afternoon even with it being spring
2. using the JR pass whilst commuting in Tokyo is a tad slow as you cannot use the automated gates. Once the pass runs out on day 7, I’ll be using the day travelcard for the Metro
3. Takeshita-dori in Harajuku is CRAZY

I will post more photos/videos once I get back to Blighty[1]. Off to Kyoto this morning, and more sights/smells/sounds await.

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[1]Not looking forward to that at all.