Adventures in Tokyo

I will apologize for this up front as this might be a tad long but I hope well worth the read. This past weekend, I spent it hanging in Tokyo with my friend Tony. He was on his way home from Diego Garcia and decided to stop for a few days. My adventure starts at 0600 last Friday morning as I take the TRAIN 8 hours up to Yokota Air Base, which is right outside Tokyo. This may not have been too much adventure except I had to switch trains 5 times and I'm in a country where sometimes things are hard to read. Thankfully I have my full directions written out to know exactly which train I need to get on. I took a bullet train for the first time. This train moves among the mountains at 120 miles per hour. And it still took 6 hours to get to Tokyo. A baseball team and families joined on my second stop making my trip less than quiet. But it wasn't that bad. Only when I got to Fussa City (which is actually where Yokota Air Base is located), did I realize that I forgot my military ID. This is a big problem as you can't get on a military base without a military ID. I did have my passport but it was little help until Tony flew in some 4 hours later. So I wandered around downtown Fussa for that time waiting for Tony's plane (which was late) got in. I would of course have received the coveted "Butthead" award for my little issue. Who goes to a military base without a military ID?

The following day was extremely uneventful. We basically lounged around the room and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics. We managed to get to the BX and eat some lunch. The highlight of the day would be we went to eat at Kobe Steak. Supposedly this is the best steak in Japan. It was in fact one of the best steaks that I have ever had, though way too expensive. No steak the size of my fist is worth $80. But you can say you had it and its all about experience.

The next day we decided to venture into Tokyo for the day. This involved a sort of plan. We knew we wanted to see the Tokyo National Museum and the Sony Building. So I mapped the trains that we had to take and we were off. The train rides alone took almost two hours. That made enjoying the sights somewhat less than satisfying. The Tokyo National Museum was pretty much a wash. If it had been less crowded it may have been more enjoyable. We walked around the tourist park and that was nice. Then we headed to the Sony building. First we got on the wrong train. So we got off and then took a taxi. This put us right smack in the middle of Tokyo's version of Times Square. It was pretty awesome. The Sony Building was exciting for Tony as he is a big Techie. I was happy because he was happy but otherwise not very interested. We ate at some random noodle and dumpling restaurant. It was pretty good. I had fried rice and dumplings. He had some noodle dish with spicy soup. We did some shopping and then got back on the train headed back to the hotel. Needless to say, such a long train ride there, all kinds of walking, and a long train ride back, we were both extremely exhausted. We watched some Olympics and went to bed.

We thought about trying to play golf the next day, but it was not to be. We both just wanted to not do much. We decided to venture out and go to the shopping mall near the train station. We did some shopping and thought we could enjoy some Sushi. We are in Japan, a sushi restaurant should not be hard to find. Well in Fussa City, there are no Sushi restaurants. We know because we walked about 3 miles around in a big circle (getting partly lost) and never found one. We ended up eating at the local sandwich shop on base, which wasn't bad. Another day gone and not too much but relaxing (both our jobs are somewhat demanding so some time off is exactly what we needed)

The day we were both supposed to leave was the biggest adventure. I get a phone call the night before to find out that I had NOT forgotten my ID. In fact, I had actually dropped it at the Sasebo Train Station and it had been turned into security. I am glad that I found out then, because I would have been hysterical if I had known sooner. Thankfully it would be waiting for me when I got back later that night. Tony on the other hand had a different problem. His plane was due to leave at 1130 and shuttles didn't start until 9 to the Airport which was a 3 hour ride. So we thought about a Taxi. Well a taxi would have been 40,000 yen ($400). That was out of the question. So we had to take the train. Only we didn't have a clue what trains we needed to take. So we got on the train to Tokyo and hoped that we would cut the taxi fare there or find the correct train. We got on the train at 0800. The train finally arrived at Tokyo at 0915. We were working our way to the taxi when we saw the Express train to Narita Airport. This is where I left Tony. I was nervous about him finding his way there but he assured me that he would. Unfortunately he got to the airport at 1130 (when he was supposed to be on the train). He got another flight however and is now safe and sound at home in the States.

Me I got to do the whole trip in reverse and hang out at the bullet train station for three hours. My train didn't leave until 1430. Nothing interesting except that the train back to Sasebo got lost or something and we were about a half hour late. I got my ID from security and made it home just in time to go to bed and go to work the next morning.

Ok....so not the most exciting adventure but a much needed vacation just before I go underway for a long while. It was an awesome time with awesome company. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was well worth the time to get there and get back. I believe the sentiment is mutual. Adventures are about what you make of them and mine was pretty much what I wanted.