A Yen for Tokyo

One of the first things that struck me (apart from the poster of blue cheese that said “decay”) when I deplaned at Narita was how efficient and organized the Japanese were. Little did I realize that this was “shades of things to come”. Everyone is split into one of two categories depending on where in the world you just came from. You either go straight through towards the main customs desks or off to a separate health inspection which they frighteningly (yet apropos) call “Quarantine”.

You wait in what seems like will be a long lineup for “Passport Control” to have your passport stamped. You get a three month travellers Visa when you enter the country. No, you are not legally permitted to work on this kind of a Visa. Here’s a great video by one of my favourite people, Kevin Cooney, about Visas in Japan. The lineup went fairly quickly and I received my stamp.

Next you collect your luggage at “Baggage Claim”. Wow. They actually have people whose sole job it is to “right” all the luggage on the baggage carousel with handles out for easy grab-and-go. That’s such a Japanese thing to do. Anything that helps you get through the process as quickly and efficiently as possible — that’s one of their cornerstones, I think. As an aside, for such a massive airport that processes so many people every day, the arrivals section is quite small (you don’t have to travel far from station to station — which my osteoarthritis was grateful for).

Once you have your luggage you go through “Plant and Animal Quarantine”, but I think they do a little more than that. ha ha, I was grilled big time and pegged as an illegal imported worker destined to live the wild life of a hostess at a club. My error: looking the way I do, and having organized plastic files containing all the places we were going, maps etc. After a good five minutes, with some seriously broken English, they finally, grudgingly I think, accepted that I was there to shop, not work.

Here’s a great little schematic of the above process, courtesy of Narita International Airport.

Once through “Plant and Animal Quarantine”, you’ve officially entered the country! And dead ahead are the counters for ground transportation. They may not speak English but indicating the number of tickets on one hand and saying “Sunshine City Prince Hotel Ikebukuro” or pointing to that on a piece of paper is good enough. Commence smiling, bowing and vocalizing gratitudes.

Bay 10 will get you to Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City Prince Hotel. Drop off your luggage with everyone else’s and the highly efficient baggage borders will slide them onto the bus’ cargo hold faster than anything you’ve seen yet. In fact, from the time the bus pulls in and out, maybe 5 minutes have passed.

Pira and I played bad girls and sat at the back of the bus. LOL Kidding… well, not really… it’s what was available. You’ll find the hygienic lace on the backs of seats in buses, taxis etc. I like the civility of it. I’ll talk about their hygiene fetish another time, but being a hygiene freak myself, it made me love the Japanese culture all the more.

Travel time by limo bus from Narita to Ikebukuro? 1.5 hours. Sit back, relax, and have fun looking at all the types of cars, slow moving traffic, general scenery and maybe even catching a cat nap (but I doubt the latter as you’ll be too wired).

I hope this was helpful and informative!