Nerdtour 2016: Arrival, Japan!

Well I’m here, after a long flight with very little sleep, it’s currently 10:45 PM on Monday night, 9:45 AM Monday morning to you all in Eastern Daylight Time, and I’m in Narita, Japan.  Specifically, I’m in a hotel room just down the road (and a short train ride) from Narita Airport, taking advantage of their Internet to post this and a short video I made earlier.  I was just conscious enough to get a JR East Rail Pass to use this trip, and I got a new Suica card to use on the train and the subway, and the vending machines, and a lot of other places!

The funniest and kind of neatest thing so far is, I was interviewed for a Japanese entertainment program called “Why Did You Come To Japan?”, which I’ve seen a few times on YouTube.  They asked me a lot of questions, the main guy spoke only Japanese, very fast, but with the help of a translator I was able to hold my own, and came back with Japanese responses as well!  I’m sure that editing will make it funny, which is okay, because being completely jet-lagged and exhausted I was pretty loopy!

On the train from the airport to Narita proper, I didn’t see anything blooming at all, so I don’t think there will be any cherry blossom pictures from here on this trip, unless they come out just before I leave.  I’ll make a pass by the shrine complex at Naritasan, and at least get some pictures of the area.

I also posted this video just after I checked in, and despite what I said in the video, I did lay down and sleep for about 3 hours, which is why I’m able to type this blog post!

More tomorrow!

Nerdtour 2012: Day 1, and lessons learned (the hard way)

Land ho!
I only took a couple of pictures of Chiba, just south of the airport and the first land seen when coming in to Narita.

So, okay, technically it’s Day 1 and 2, but I don’t feel like counting the day that I travelled here, although it was semi-eventful, in that I navigated the Narita airport support system as well as the Japan Rail system, at least to a small degree!

Continue reading “Nerdtour 2012: Day 1, and lessons learned (the hard way)”

Flashback: Nerdtour 2007: Japan – The Tour Begins!

Continuing my 5-years-later write-up about my first trip to Japan, Nerdtour 2007!  (sorry, pictures don’t start till after some verbiage.  I didn’t take any pics the first day of the trip!) Continue reading “Flashback: Nerdtour 2007: Japan – The Tour Begins!”