It was a mad dash to get here – no sleep, a last minute shopping frenzy, extreme packing, and finally a bowl of killer shrimp – but I eventually made it onto the plane. Sunday morning I left LA and Monday afternoon I landed here in Tokyo.  I made it – the first stop on this 5-month journey.

Its some ridiculous hour in the morning here in Tokyo (Hello, Jetlag!) and with only a few hours sleep logged over the last few days, I think it’s safer to let a few pictures do the talking on this blog post. These are a few images from my first few hours here in Tokyo:

Even before I left US soil, I was reminded of the “odd” things they put on t-shirts and bags in Japan.  Amorous snails and turtles on a grown man’s luggage? OK!

Requisite Japanese toilet shots: I love how in Japan they have a high tech toilet in one stall and the “hole in the ground” version in the next. Progress and tradition live right next-door to each other in Japan.

My room at the Hotel Niwa – Tokyo. I’ve only been here a few hours, but I’m super happy with my hotel choice so far.  Like most rooms in Tokyo, the space is smaller than a US hotel room, but its really not so bad at all.  The traditional Japanese screens over the window and the lighted rice-paper headboard are a nice touch so you don’t feel like you’re in just a standard box hotel.

And the best surprise of the night? My friend Midori, who I’d met in Tokyo during my first visit in 1994, was in the hotel lobby waiting for me when I arrived. While I don’t have any problem doing the solo travel thing, reuniting with an old friend sure does add something special to the trip.

She showed me around my hotel’s neighborhood so I could get my bearings and then took me out to a dinner of tskue-menn.  Its basically ramen noodles which you then dip into different sauces that you choose (I went with black sesame sauce and a shrimp miso sauce).  Even though I decided to eat around the big slices of pork in my ramen bowl, the food was very good and filling. Thank goodness I had Midori with me because I would have had no idea of how to work the little ticket machine on the wall where you had to select and pay for your meal. So much to learn!!