BOS -> NRT (by plane): hey, look, the Cassini projection. This route isn't exactly right, but we definitely flew over Hudson Bay and over the Aleutian Islands, and definitely avoided Russia. We flew out of Boston early afternoon Thursday, and arrived in Tokyo midafternoon Friday after a 14-hour flight.
waiting in the British Airways lounge at BOS |
the BA lounge bussing robot, that drives around the lounge so you can bus your dishes |
our first Gudetama sighting, on someone's suitcase at the gate |
JAL premium economy has plenty of legroom and places to store your gadgets and drinks |
it's raining in Boston, but we are about to fly away |
flight map of the Boston area, in Katakana |
I think this is Charlton Island, at the very southern edge of Hudson Bay, but i could easily be wrong |
another plane flying next to ours, as we near Japan |
about to descend through the clouds |
flooded rice fields, seen from the plane |
on the ground at NRT! |
immediately, cherry trees (and construction vehicles) |
NRT -> Ueno Park, Tokyo (by train): we arrived around the same time as David, Tom, and Catherine, but they all landed in Terminal 1 while we were in Terminal 2, so we just got our tickets and made our way to the Keisei Skyliner rather than trying to meet up with any of them. From there, we easily checked into our tiny hotel room.
on the Skyliner train to Ueno (it's a lie, our seats were not reserved at all) |
crossing a river |
Keisei-Ueno Station exit |
our hotel (APA Keisei Ueno-Ekimae) is across the street from Ueno Park |
our tiny hotel room (Gina is looking out the window at Ueno Park) |
view from our window of people walking in the park |
around Ameyoko market (on foot): we met up with Catherine, and went out in search of dinner. We had a cool time wandering the Ameyoko pedestrian market, which apparently started out as a black market after WWII, and is now a giant busy outdoor market with lots of stalls and restaurants. After wandering around for awhile, we picked a sushi/tempura place for dinner, and all got tempura
on the streets of Ueno looking for dinner |
we suddenly found ourselves in a giant pedestrian market |
...we'd just gone down an alley looking for a restaurant |
one of the entrances to the market street |
i can't resist a raw bar under basically any circumstances |
first food in Japan! sadly not the best oysters, but a fun experience |
workers packing up a market |
just a giant shoe |