Destination: Japan
Date: August 3 to 17
Fearless adventurer: Desdemona, Sabina (sister of Desdemona) and Silvia (mutual friend of two sisters)
plane and hotels booked online
In pocket : Japan Rail Pass purchased in Italy, Lonely Planet by the specific weight of the lead cast, the blessings of parents who hope that I "finally finds her husband at this point it's OK to a foreigner, as long as you accaso"
3-4 August 2009
The plane leaves at 21:45 from Malpensa, but since I do not know well the way we start to get to the airport early (thanks mother who brought you, otherwise we had to change 3 trains and spend only 25 euro per person one way) and at 16:00 we're already there.
To our astonishment, despite missing several hours at the start, the doors that give you a ticket, but especially the suitcase on board, are already open! Why? Because the airline we chose was the JAL, the national airline of Japan. And here we begin to sense that things work very differently in Japan than in Italy.
confirm I suspect that when we're on the plane: every seat has a small TV with 12 channels, in which Japanese and American films were screened with subtitles in both languages, from just a movie, such as Wolverine, the latest Star Trek etc.. He had also built a platform with a dozen games (tetris from a memory, through the solitaire with cards), different radio channels and a channel on which were projected images constantly taken by a camera outside the aircraft.
Twelve-hour flight is heavy, especially for me that I can not sleep. However, very calm flight, without any problems.
arrive, hurry in 20 minutes with the procedures per la dogana e l’immigrazione (ora i giapponesi hanno le mie impronte digitali e la mia foto, che popolo fortunato XD). Quindi passiamo al recupero bagagli. E qui, ancora una volta, scopriamo che le cose sono un pochino diverse rispetto all’Italia: i nostri bagagli sono già sui nastri pronte per essere recuperate!
Recuperate le valigie, andiamo negli uffici della Japan Rail per cambiare il vaucher con il Pass vero e proprio e ci facciamo fare i biglietti per il Narita Express, treno dalla prenotazione obbligatoria che dal suddetto aeroporto in un’oretta ti porta a Tokyo. La nostra destinazione è Shibuya.
Da lì prendiamo la Yamanote per scendere alla nostra station (Shin-Okubo) from where we start our search for the hotel, map in hand.
Obviously the map is almost useless, since the reference points are 3, then wander for half an hour until the end do not we take the right road and we arrive here:
hotel site tokyo
We accept that an old defines "obasan" and not to squash a word of English. However, between my lack of Japanese language and gestures make us fill in the attendance book, paid the bill and then passes to the frivolous chatter, of which I would have done without as they were 24 hours that I was not sleeping. What we asked? Well, the first question is what we have done all the Japanese who, noticing our distinctively foreign, have had the courage to speak to me: where are you from? To which generally followed immediately the other question, but all three Italian? For some reason, I do not believe that I was. Then we said
all'obasan Sabina and I are sisters. His reaction was identical to that of any other person to whom we pointed out this detail:
"EHHHHHHHHHHHHH !?!?!?!?!?" O__________O
At last the old woman asked us our age . It also here when I revealed the number of my springs had the same reaction everyone else, regardless of latitude in which they live:
"EHHHHHHHHHHHHH !?!?!?!?!? O__________O But I therein gave up 20 22 "
Having received this information, we wished him a pleasant stay in Japan and left the room.
The room ... let's talk. Typically, Japanese, coffee table, folded futon, a bathroom with deep bath, also hailed for Japanese standards ... the problem was that it was dirty! The mat had become pale yellow to gray, the windows, which did not open, a finger of dust! The sheets of futon were clean but the mattresses and blankets to those held were not taking air for centuries. Not for nothing, after the first night in that bed, we were covered with red dots are still unaware of that nature, but which I suspect fleas. In the bathroom, then there was a nauseating smell. On the other hand there was a TV as big as the table, but due to fatigue, we decided to go out, find a room for dinner and returned to his room to sleep, since they were already 22:00.
around there were many rooms that offered food and all the reproductions in plastic dishes with its price. A boon for us foreign!
At the end we opt for a place that sells ramen. The fact that there were no patrons inside would make us suspect, but we were exhausted. How was it? Insipidus. Not good, not bad. Imagine a bowl of vegetable broth within which rests a portion of spaghetti without salt, lots of green vegetables cut into strips by the unknown nature and two very small pieces of meat fat. I spread a veil on my ability to use chopsticks citing fatigue as an excuse, the time (+ 7 hours ahead of the Italic lands), lack of sleep, old age, etc. ... XD
returned to the hotel and towards midnight, fall down on the futon ...
