The first day!

I arrived in Narita at about 3:20 pm, made my way through immigration and customs then down to the JR station to get my JR pass. The whole process took about 40 minutes, so I was able to catch the 4:00 train out of the airport terminal. The train ride was fairly uneventful... I was pretty tired too.

Narita and the surrounding area looks alot like southern ontario, hilly with trees. I remember one instance while I was on the train looking out the window at the trees passing by - I saw pine trees, then another I didn't recognize. I looked down at the ground and saw it was bamboo!

After I got off the train I stumbled around the station for a bit, looking for the exit. I went out the first one I saw - then looked at my map and followed it in direction I thought I was supposed to go. Couldn't find the hostel... I doubled back to the station, looked at my map again and saw I was supposed to go out exit "C 4", looked for it, found exit #4 - same thing... although this time I just kept walking in the direction I thought I should go, towards the river that runs behind the hostel. I found it and signed myself in. I went up to my bunk, unpacked and crashed at about 8 pm.

I woke up at 7 am and took a shower then bumbled downstairs with my laptop to call home. Finished that up and went to get some breakfast. I walked out, crossed the river towards a Mcdonalds. It was pretty small, but tall - like 4 floors. I got a Mcgriddle combo with a coffee, not hard at all to order, 460 yen. I went back to the hostel for a minute and grabbed my backpack then headed out for Akihabara.

I walked for a few minutes then reached the river crossing next to Akihabara stn. I walked down the street for a while, wandered around looking for stuff. It took me a while to find the main street - there was just so much around to see. I walked down the main st, waiting for stores to open. After a while I found Yobodashi Camera, a huge electronics department store - 5 floors worth. I walked around there, looking at all the merchandise (they had a 103" plasma... freakin huge, I had to stop and stare for a while).

After I was finished walking around Akihabara I headed back to my hostel, picked up a coke from a vending machine on my way. I plan to visit the Imperial palace or Shibuya in the afternoon.

All in all it has been a very surreal first morning, some combination of jet lag and information overload. Later!

Photos are here!