Day One, Part I: Barack, Meet Shibuya

I'm writing as I wait for our baggage delivery service to arrive with all of our luggage. It was $60.00 to have it delivered from the airport, which included Ryan's bike, so that was a relief (sites online said it would likely be $250+). Airport baggage delivery services exist due to the incredibly busy transit systems here. there's barely room for passengers to fit inside trains, let alone luggage. Unfortunately, since we do not yet have cell phones, we'll be stuck in our apartment until the goods arrive, although, they did promise sometime this morning.

Breakfast is often the only meal the Japanese do not eat out regularly, so it tends to be very expensive. Since I survived the trek from Houston to Tokyo on meal bars (Continental airlines served a lot of food on the flight yesterday, but it was so unhealthy- microwave pizzas, Haagen Dazs ice cream, fried chicken, cookie after cookie), I was definitely ready for some FOOD food, expensive or not. I found a coffee shop on our now familiar strip called Doutor and was able to successfully order via my newly adopted order-by-point method. Thank god for the plastic food models everywhere! The service people are really friendly, lots of smiles and some have even bravely tested a bit of their English on us. Still, it's a bit daunting to not understand the majority of what is being said to you... especially when prices aren't always posted. The helpful barista this morning did take time to show me the menu characters for ice coffee, so hopefully next time I can be a little bit more inconspicuous by pointing to the menu versus smiling and pointing to the plastic model of iced coffee hanging from the ceiling. Read about typical Tokyo cafes here: http://www.photopassjapan.com/travelguide_tokyo_cafe.html

Time for food.

While carrying my coffee to go in a bag (it's considered impolite to eat while on the move, and I'm not yet sure whether the same goes for drinking), I headed across the street to a bakery lined with businessmen. I found a couple of interesting puffs, and more familiar donuts and scone-looking items, but also found what appear to be breakfast hotdogs- long wieners in a biscuit type bun with dried ketchup already woven across. They even had hotdogs in a doughier substance which seemed to be a doughnut of some kind. For the record, I expect to stay away from the breakfast hot dog.

I continued walking and found a nearby market, much like a convenience store. I also passed a fresh fruit store, but it wasn't yet open. The market I ventured in was full of kit-kats, coke (Coke Zero is huge here), teas, etc. There were also plenty of 7-11 type displays in the front with rotating meat on sticks (no taquitos here). All three of the people in line before me ordered these meat sticks for their breakfast. I managed to find something I deemed to be yogurt, and orange juice and headed back home.

Unfortunately, home is a bit disappointing. Although our apartment is much larger than the other options we had, you'd think $2k a month would get you something relatively nice. Our building overlooks a major road (currently under construction to boot). The noise hasn't been so bad, but the flashing lights are a bit obnoxious from our living area. The apartment itself is on the ground level, which takes away the appeal of the balcony we were promised; instead we have a sliding door and a standing pit out front. It's otherwise rather trailer-like. The ceiling and many of the walls seem to be made out of a plastic, the bathroom is tiny and a bit scary (the tub is a hilarious size... super deep, but SO short). But, on a positive note, the air conditioning works well (it's extremely muggy here today), and the location is great.

I've read Tokyo residents are known for being rather cold. They tend to go about their business without much interaction, which may be due to many of their exhausting work schedules, a typical work day here is from 7am - nearly 9pm. The depiction seems to be true so far; the only friendly encounters I've experienced have occurred while being waited on. Otherwise my smiles have gone unreturned. Eye contact is also considered to be confrontational, so many people walk with their eyes fixed on the ground. I did, however, manage to get looks today as I wandered around in my lavender Barack Obama shirt. Even a smile from the only other Caucasian I've seen since arrival. Talk about a homogeneous Country!

The trains are amazing... so clean, so quiet! All the buses here actually run on time too, so Japanese efficiency is already noticeable. My new train card is the picture attached to this blog. A 500 yen deposit, and then you can load as much as you'd like in order to get around with ease.

Back to my yogurt and ice coffee (which, by the way, is VERY good).