I recently returned from my first ever visit to Japan. Over the next week or so, I’ll be using this space to post pictures and stories about my trip. I know it isn’t Iron Chef related (and it’s likely to be boring as it is as much a simple documentation of my trip as it is storytelling effort), so feel free to ignore these posts until a batch of new episodes is posted in the coming weeks.
Part 1 – I’ve Finally Arrived
After many, many months of planning and saving, it was finally time to begin my journey to Japan. I went with a group from Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com on a Japanese Baseball tour. (See some photos of our eclectic group at the JapanBall Facebook page.) I can’t imagine a better thing to do on a first trip to Japan than seeing professional baseball games. It is something with which I am very familiar, baseball, presented in a way in which I’ve never experienced it. (I’ll write more later on what makes Japanese baseball such a fantastic experience.)
After arriving at Narita Airport, going though Japanese Customs and Immigration was a painless process. I picked up my suitcase, exchanged my Dollars for Yen, and found Bob, who got me a ticket for the train into Tokyo.
Here is a video taken from the train.
It was starting to rain lightly when I arrived at the hotel and got checked in, so I didn’t do any exploring of the neighborhood until the next day. As is the tradition on the JapanBall trips, we all met at the JapanBall Hall of Fame (also known as Cafe Noodle Roje) for a group dinner.
Tomorrow brings my first full day in Tokyo and my first Japanese baseball game.
I don’t have many pictures from that first day, but I have included some of what I took in the gallery below. (Click on any of the pictures to open an image browser. You can use the arrow keys to move forward/backward through the gallery.)
tuthead
16 September, 2012