Is blogging even a thing anymore? I think I had another question to write here but even though it’s only 8:30PM in Tokyo, it’s 4:30AM in Portland where I started out the day. I’ve almost been awake 24 hours and I’m fading fast.

But even though I had to put up with company elitism at the airport:

and an uncharacteristically rude Japanese person sitting next to me:

I made it to Japan.

The plane landed an hour early, but the lines at immigration were hideously long. It’s just more practice for standing in lines with lots of Chinese people, as I’m going to do at any touristy site in Japan.

Took the Keisei Liner into Ueno which is zippy and clean. I usually take the Narita Express to Shinjuku, but this trip is a special adventure.

I got into town early and was even able to drop off my watch for service at Seiko’s watch repair center. I had allocated a day in Tokyo to do that, but I had time to do it on my first day. The service center was right next to the National Theatre where they seemed to be having some sort of boy band show. There was a huge line of young women waiting to get in.

Seiko’s watch repair center is near Tokyo Station, and Tokyo Station isn’t too far from the Tokyo Tower. Actually when I think of Tokyo Tower I think of the Rise and Win Taproom and I finally made it in! I met the owner and a couple of his brewers when the came to Japan a few years back and I’m also going to visit the brewery later this trip.

Wow, that only took me two hours to post. WordPress is being a huge pain. And my usual headache that I seem to get after a flight to Japan seems to be kicking in. The saline nasal spray an the Neti pot didn’t seem to help. Oh well.

Just a few notes about the hotel. Ueno was historically a place with lots of hotels. I think I remember reading that the merchants stayed here in their travels through Japan. In any case, booking.com had a listing for the “Green Hotel” (which happens to be Pepto Bismol pink) and it’s rated quite highly. It’s quiet, not too far from Ueno, and clean. It’s also a bit odd. You take your shoes off before you go in (not that big a deal) and my room is on the ground floor, through a door behind the front desk, and through the kitchen.

The room is fine, clean, and pretty cheap. But it doesn’t feel like what I’m used to in a hotel. I’ll probably give it a good rating but it did have everything I needed. A warning though: the bathroom is incredibly tiny, so I wouldn’t suggest it for larger people (I’m only 5’9″ and 185 pounds and it’s tight in there.) Plus it’s the farthest thing from being fancy. Small, budget travelers will be fine here. Larger travelers and people who expect some level of fancy will probably not like it.