I'm Here!

I have arrived.
After a 13 hour flight I arrived at Narita Airport and got through customs without any problems. Kaori had me paged and I met her near the information desk. I ended up checking both suitcases and carrying two bags. I have a lot of stuff! It was rather difficult lugging all that stuff through one train station after another. We took the train from Narita to Tokyo (well greater Tokyo, very big city) which took a while (I don't know how long because I have been using my cell phone to tell time and I left that at home). I think I was having a kind of disconnected from reality from of exhaustion because I was rather enchanted by the late evening light between the houses on the way in (the sun sets really early here, we were probably home around 5:30 or 6 and it was dark, no daylight savings. It makes me appreciate daylight savings. The sun comes up at about 4am!). It reminded me of the way the fields look in Kansas on the way back in from Prayer meeting. The houses, which are very close together, looked enchantingly Japanese in the light(Of course, being Japanese really helps them look Japanese, too). But everything looks beautiful in that light. I was feeling nostalgic. I kept thinking "I'm really here!" Then we took three (I think) other lines until we got to our station, where Kaori had mercy on me and we got a cab the rest of the way home. They live in walking distance from the station, but it would have been torture to have to drag all of my luggage there. I didn't feel to tired, and Jet-lag had not yet set in so I had a nice time talking with Kaori. I am immensity grateful that Kaori has such good English. Kyle got home at around 8 and we had curry for dinner. We had a good time talking and I got to bed around 10ish. I slept on a Japanese style futon.
I woke up around 7am. Kaori provided me with some cereal, and I looked up the places that I wanted to see in Tokyo. First we took another four rail lines to get to Gaihinkan (being translated as Japanese Folk Art museum). It was in a very traditional Japanese type building. As a student it only cost me 500Y.

There was this guy in the 1930's who wanted to preserve the traditional handy crafts as art who started this place. He collected hand dyed cloth, traditional clothing made from said cloth, wall hangings, hand made paper, glass, wood and metal objects, and most importantly (form my perspective) pottery. I got some pictures before being informed that that wasn't acceptable by one of the employees.

There were many beautiful pieces. Kaori and I really enjoyed the building. I think she may bring her mom and dad to see it later.
It was about noon and we decided to eat near Tokyo station, but first we wanted to get some money from the ATM at a post office. We first tried a place that was on the map, but it was closed due to construction. So we had to wander back and forth up one street and down another asking people where is the post office? Their Post Offices' are rather more numerous than the ones in America, so we eventually found one. I got out 30000Y (about $300), and we went to eat. We did some more wandering, until we found a Thai noodle place that was cheaper than the other places we had seen. It was very hot and humid outside and we were very thirsty. I felt rather American drinking copious amounts of water while eating, but I was very thirsty.
After that we went to the ticket office and I bought a shinkansen ticket to Kyoto for Saterday. It cost me about 13900Y, which was more than I would have liked, but that's the way it goes.
We then went to Asakusa which is "Traditional Tokyo"  tourist trap. They have the oldest temple in Tokyo, and many shops selling traditional Japanese souvenirs. I liked many of the shops, but mostly for looking. They weren't all for tourists. The entry to the shopping street had this great huge vermilion gate.

    There was also the temple, where many people offered coins and made there prayers. There were many foreigners there as well as the ever present masses of Japanese.

We wandered around there until about 4ish. It was very hot. We took the train home, and I was very tired. When we got home I was pretty much wiped out, and I developed a head ache and I took some Tylenol then my stomach acted up. I think that Jet-lag caught up with me along with maybe dehydration and exhaustion. I went to bed without supper around 7. But I woke up this morning feeling fine, so I think that I might cut back today.
Thanks for all of your prayers.