Arrival

Well, 14 hours later and 3 episodes of 30 Rock (I had to take a little break!) later, touchdown in Narita, 3 PM on Monday. Cool, light rain. Immigration, Customs, Narita Express to Tokyo Station, then cab to hotel. This one is sort of near the Imperial Palace, near Tokyo University. Probably two miles from (e.g.) Harajuku. Not much to say yet since tonight I'll just have dinner and sleep: tomorrow I will get out and about. But, to persuade you I actually am here, a welcome-to-Japan photo of the national symbol of commerce-- the wild and crazy vending machine!

Taking off

The great sage Confucius is said to have created the ancient proverb: "A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a trip to Newark." Even today we must all agree on the great wisdom of this saying. And so this morning Mom and I headed off to Hopkins Airport for a 6:30 departure to Newark. (Thanks Ida: but I know you preferred driving in the dark to the airport to just lying around sleeping or resting or whatever.) The highlight of my flight was the cat under the seat next to me: a young lady returning from Cleveland to Boston was escorted by her very well-behaved black cat Margarita.

No photos in this blog post since I think you all know what Newark Airport looks like, across the highway from the big Ikea store. The next post may be more interesting, as I think it will be from Narita Airport. Stay tuned!

(By the way, how did Confucius know about "miles," which presumably were an English measure? A true sage indeed!)