April 26, Thursday
That's the ANA (Asian National Airlines) that will fly me to Japan
“Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō) is Japan's capital and the world's most populous metropolis. It is also one of Japan's 47 prefectures, consisting of 23 central city wards and multiple cities, towns and villages west of the city center. Prior to 1868, Tokyo was known as Edo, a small castle town in the 16th century. Edo became Japan's political center in 1603 when Tokugawa Ieyasu established his feudal government there. A few decades later, Edo had grown into one of the world's most populous cities. With the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the emperor and capital moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo (Eastern Capital). Large parts of Tokyo were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and in the air raids of 1945.”
Leaving China today.
I skip breakfast and simply pack up my suitcases and head out to the Pudong
Airport by taxi. I would have loved to
take the Maglev train to get there, but it is simply too complicated with my
luggage: taxi from the hotel to the train station; ticket purchase, security
check and wait for the train, but only an 8 minute ride to get to the airport
at 431 km/hour ! At the airport I would
have to lug my luggage around to get from the train to the check-in counter and
go through yet another security check.
It just isn’t worth the hassle this morning. It takes an hour to drive out to the airport
by taxi, probably less total time than taking the bullet train and only a short
distance to tow my luggage. I noticed
that my suitcase is cracked on one side, probably from the taxi’s trunk, but
I’m amazed it hasn’t happened before now.
I will have to find some type of tape somewhere to close that up.
Oh, and by the way, it is sunny this morning of course
! I get a beautiful view as we take off
of the farmlands and waterways around Shanghai as well as the ocean below. When we start flying over the islands of
Japan I can see green mountains below, but as we near Tokyo the clouds cover
everything up and the captain announces that there will be turbulence and rain
when we land.
At the Tokyo airport everything goes so efficiently
! Immigration and customs is a breeze
and no one asks if I have an onward ticket.
The immigration officer actually did a double take when he looked at all
the pages and pages of stamps and visas in my passport, almost all within the
last 6 months.
I have not researched how to get from the airport to the
city centre, and I was not able to print my hotel confirmation with the
Japanese address (staff at the Marvel hotel in Shanghai were not helpful at
all) but when I pass through the doors to the main arrival area there is a huge
sign for “limousine airport transportation” and I decide to simply take
that. It turns out it is a bus service
into the city and the young lady at the desk indicates to me that I will be
better off heading for the City Air Terminal (bus station) and take a taxi from
there. It is more than an hour drive
into the city and it is dark by the time we arrive. I find an ATM machine to get some cash and go
to the area marked for taxis. The driver
does not speak much English, and I only have the name and address of the
Sotetsu Fresa Inn in English, but it seems to be enough because he punches in
some numbers on the GPS and off we go.
It isn`t far at all and within less than 10 minutes he pulls up to the
hotel. After a few problems with both
credit cards (they have to phone their bank to get authorization) I`m checked
in and get to my room.
Well, I guess it is pay back for having had such a huge
suite in Beijing because this entire room would have fit in that suite`s
bathroom. It is tiny, but new and clean
and the washroom is the modular efficiency type, with a 5-star toilet ! Hot seat again with built in bidet. “Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō) is Japan's capital and the world's most populous metropolis. It is also one of Japan's 47 prefectures, consisting of 23 central city wards and multiple cities, towns and villages west of the city center. Prior to 1868, Tokyo was known as Edo, a small castle town in the 16th century. Edo became Japan's political center in 1603 when Tokugawa Ieyasu established his feudal government there. A few decades later, Edo had grown into one of the world's most populous cities. With the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the emperor and capital moved from Kyoto to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo (Eastern Capital). Large parts of Tokyo were destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and in the air raids of 1945.”
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