I'm in Tokyo now, but have no pictures yet

After staring at the GPS screen on the airplane for 12 hours, I finally got a glimpse of Japan through the window. It was as should be expected: lots of beach, lots of tall trees, lots of rice. Even so, it seemed an alien world, and this impression continued as I rode the train into Tokyo (or very near it), as I noted all the fun little cartoon characters in all the ads and on the sides of buildings, the lack of frequently placed trash receptacles juxtaposed against the pristine streets and sidewalks, the beautiful young women, hipster-punk teenagers, proper men, the odd tourist, the bicycle parking-lots packed with little seven-speeders with large bells and over-sized wheel guards. I thought, this will eventually all feel familiar to me. And then I was filled with my first full jolt of real excitement about what I am doing here. In the final weeks in SA, I probably said it hundreds of times, Yes I'm really excited, but I did not mean it. I wasn't lying, because I knew that I would eventually be excited, and I did not want to worry folks that I was second-guessing. I was not.

Since I arrived a little early, I get the weekend to poke around the city. I'm not sure what I will do yet but there's already a few things that are peaking my interest. I also got my choice of rooms in the "guest house" and took the bigger one with the DVD player and the balcony.

I don't have photos yet, so I'm posting some that I took during my run up to leaving: