Oh man, Japan is like a breath of fresh air.
Quite literally. It's amazing how much fresher the air is in such a huge metropolis as Tokyo, compared with the smog and smoke that pervades every inch of southeast Asia. I suppose the 25 C temperature drop and the lower humidity doesn't hurt either.
Japan is everything we expected and more - even the first hour was a wondrous experience, especially when contrasted with our two immediately preceding months in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma.
At the airport, we were politely shown to a specific line at Japanese customs, where the officers wiped down the fingerprinting machines with sanitizing wipes before every use. Our baggage came out on the carousel upright, evenly spaced and perfectly perpendicular to the conveyor belt. The 66km train ride to downtown Tokyo was perfectly smooth, on-time, and cost only $10 each - much less than half the price of an equivalent train in Sydney, Australia (for twice the distance). And everything, everywhere, from the airport terminal to the towns we passed through to the picturesque grids of rice paddies to the busy streets of Tokyo proper was absolutely, perfectly clean and in tip-top condition.
I mean clean like I would quite literally be happy to eat a meal served on the surface of the paved lane behind our hotel. It's stunning.
Plus it's springtime, and the flowers and trees are starting to bloom (cherry blossom time is just beginning). The sun is shining and it's 20 C outside. Most everyone is polite and helpful, and you're always within about 10 feet of a source of reasonably-priced yet oh-so-tasty food. (Even if that source might be a high-tech vending machine serving soup.) And to top it all off, there is a ton to see and do in Tokyo, and we're not even going to scratch the surface in the 6 days we're here.
I love this place already!
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| More language barriers than in SE Asia - we had a little trouble with the menu for our first meal |
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| But it's nothing a dry Japanese light lager can't fix! Even mass-produced Japanese beers are a huge step up from their SE Asian brethren |
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| Vancouverites are no strangers to sushi, but it's a treat to finally have some in Japan |
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| And if you're not into sushi, there are plenty of other Japanese (and international) options |
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