Leaving from Amsterdam
I left for Tokyo on the 27th of September, I had a transfer on Hong Kong so I that would mean I would arrive in the afternoon in Tokyo. Going to Japan was a long cherished wish of mine and I was finally ready to go. Although very exciting I had mixed emotions, would Japan live up to the expectation? Would I have a good time? Would traveling alone be a big mistake? These questions and so much more would occupy my thoughts.
My plane had the plans and opportunity to be leaving on time, however China decided to rain on my parade and close the airspace. This would mean a detour instead of the scheduled, in airplane world that means a confirmation from aircontrol in Hong Kong of the new route and waiting for the fuel car to add the extra fuel to the plane. In the end that meant a delay of about 8 hours, I would not make my transfer unfortunately.
I have to credit where credit is due however, Cathay Pacific made sure my flight got rebooked immediately and I had a wait of just an hour instead of a whole 24 hours. I absolutely loved the service level by them. They make sure you are happy and content and go the extra mile.
Finally Tokyo!
The traveling agency had arranged for someone to show me how to get my JR pass and to get my bus. The person had however left and I was at a strange point. My Japanese is little if not non-existent and now I had to figure out where I needed to go to exchange my pass and get my buss ticket.
Apparently I was visibly lost, a man approached my and asked me in broken English what I was looking for and helped me on my way even going so far to bring me to the appropriate desk. It was the first example of Japanese hospitality I would grow fond of in the coming days.
After a short line waiting on to hand in my exchange order for my JR pass and getting my bus ticket I was ready to get to my hotel!
After a short travel and a quick check-in it was time to explore my first part of Japan. I decided to head out for Shinjuku, the Golden Gai to be more precise. The Golden Gai are essentially six narrow alleyways connected with even more narrow passage ways. Unfortunately the bar I was headed for, “DeathMatch in Hell” was closed that night so I wound up in in one of the cramped bars next to it.
Here I met two Americans and a fellow dutch person. We were drinking cheap Sake when another customer came in. He was wearing a shiny shirt, wearing a large watch and was smoking a rather smelly cigar. He turned to the bartender and she told us to move over for the new customer. Normally I would not comply with such a request but it was pretty clear that this was no regular customer. The neighborhood of Shinjuku, KabukichÅ in particular is known to be the place where the Yakuza are very prevalent. I decided to scoot over and not start a battle I can’t win on my first night.
The rest of the night would be filled with terrible dry beer and cheap Sake, but at least I made it. I was finally in Japan.
