We're here...

Hello again everybody. Let me start by saying that today has been a very exciting day. This morning we woke up bright and early, ate a healthy, dietitian approved, breakfast of sugar free raisin bran with 1% milk, threw our luggage over shoulders, and headed off for the Portland Airport.

Besides having air blown up my trousers the whole check-in process was actually rather bland, but hey, less is more when it comes to airplane check-in's; right?

From there we had a rather uneventful flight. To my left I had Melissa, and to my right I had a frail Japanese man with a yamaka on.

After landing the check in process was smooth sailing. No questions, no search, no hassle. We even kindly received directions to our the train station office where a man with a high degree of stamping ability smashed through all the paperwork for us. It was great fun.

The train arrived on time. We arrived at our destination on time. We found the correct exit the first time, which is an amazing feat seeing how there are 700 of them, and we easily found our hotel. The check in process took about 5 minutes and the room is very nice.

So...if everything was so easy and bland, what made it exciting?

It's actually rather simple. You see, although everything is prompt, on time, and easy, all of these things are filled with a weird quirk that makes them like a micro adventure each time you do them.

Let's being with the train station exits. Today we arrived at Shinjuku Station, the busiest hub in Tokyo. After exiting our train we see a lovely yellow sign which states in plain english "Shinjuku South Terrace Exit." Great - just what we needed. When we actually arrived at the exit though there were these small bars that allow one person to at a time to pass - and to top it off everybody is going in instead of out.

Confused we decied to watch for while and finally we spotted a person who exited through of a gate with a green arrow pointing out. It looked easy, walk up to the gate, walk through, call it good. When I tried to perform this simple task of walking, two sets of bars close down in front of me - denied. Eventually we noticed that it takes a pass to exit. Fortunately for us though a nice man in a train station outfit decided to let us exit through his gate.

It's not just the entrexits that are same, yet different. Take this McFlurry I bought for example. The McDonalds that I purchased it at had no walls, just a roof, and it's open 24 hours a day. It looks like guacamole, tastes like fake green tea and could be fed to cows during the dry season.

When I went to pay for it I handed the worker a 10,000 yen note ($100 USD - which is the only amount the ATM gives out on American debit cards). He looked kinda confused at first, which in turn made me confused. After we received our change he moved onto the next customer who when paying placed his money into a small tray on the table and pushed it towards the worker. So, now I know - use the tray or get stared at.

The list could go on for quite a while, from the fact that my toilet has three water spray types and a power setting to our TV which is currently displaying QVC, but it's called QVC-TSV and the stuff they show doesn't look like utter garbage.

This is only the first day, so I can imagine that as time goes on things will only seem more the same, yet even more different. So, until then I shall sit here and drink my orange drink which translates into English as"Cat Milk" and has a picture of a rabbit and a raccoon on the box. Since you are unable to enjoy the same I offer you just a few pictures for now: