Greetings from Akasaki!! After 40 hours of travel I am finally in our new home.
If you're ever considering coming to Japan I would recommend a non-stop flight! I ended up taking four separate flights to get here! The LAX to Tokyo flight was just under 12 hours but it was definitely my favorite one - movies and TV on demand is a wonderful thing to have! Especially since I decided I needed to stay awake for the last 9 hours of the flight to combat the 14 hour time difference!
After landing in Tokyo I took the free shuttle bus from the airport to my hotel. The accommodations were nothing to write home about - but the toilet DID have a bidet and heated seat! My "Japanese breakfast" was mostly potatoes and pastry- I wimped out on trying some of the more fishy options.
Hotel Room
Toilet controls!
Quick aside: Japanese commercials are all just a ridiculous as you would imagine - I have the TV on in the background as I write. Just now I saw a commercial featuring a talking dog and Tommy Lee Jones with a uni-brow .
Getting from my hotel to the other Tokyo airport was surprisingly easy.
The view from the shuttle bus on the Tokyo highway
I had very good timing and short lines so I ended up at my gate a good 5 hours before takeoff. I suppose I could have tried to explore Tokyo a bit before going to the airport but all my travel efforts would have been in vain if I missed this last flight! It took me to Yonago - a large city about an hour away from Akasaki - where my wonderful husband was waiting for me!
Ian's supervisor, Tanioka-san, was kind enough to be our chauffeur so we could catch up with each other instead of worrying about directions! We live in Tottori Prefecture which is the least populated prefecture in Japan! This means that there is actually a good amount of green space wherever you go. It really doesn't feel all that different from Wisconsin - except of course for the Mountains to our east and the Japan Sea to our immediate west!
Once we got to Akasaki I had to go fill out some paperwork at the office - well Ian filled a lot of it out for me. Ian is quite good at Japanese - don't let him tell you otherwise! After that we stopped at Akasaki JHS where Ian spends most of his time. I met a TON of people whose names I definitely don't remember. When meeting someone in Japan the most important phrase to say is: Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. It basically means "very nice to meet you." So far anyone I have spoken to has been impressed that I can say even one word of Japanese - hooray for low standards!
This weekend we have not one but two welcome parties! It will be very interesting to be at a Japanese party - my plan is to smile, nod and pretend I know what in the world is going on!
Stay tuned for a tour of our apartment (once I clean up and take some decent pics!)
-Kari
OH MAN! I miss Japanese TV so much! I remember just chilling in the tub at our hotel in Tokyo, watching stuff on the waterproof TV on the wall. So confusing and so random, I loved it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I recently bought a Japanese-style toilet when we moved to LA - they are so awesome.