Tokyo Subway...

Tokyo's subway system is amazing. Yes, it's busy and crowded. However, it is incredibly clean and orderly. Unlike the Swiss, the Japanese actually know how to form a line. There are lines on the subway and train platforms marking where doors will open, and the people actually line up behind these lines, wait for the people to file out of the car, and then file into the cars in an orderly fashion. Once inside the cars, it's nap time!

I've never seen anything like it. Once the subway begins to move, the heads begin to nod. Scenes like these were played over many times during our trip.

People would fall asleep sitting upright, with their heads on their neighbors' shoulders, or even standing up. Seriously! We would see people fall asleep standing up!!! The head would nod, and a few seconds later the person would be stumbling backwards into another passenger wondering what had just happened.

However, the most amazing thing about it all was that people would fall into what appeared to be the deepest coma in the history of sleepdom for minutes at a time, and then they'd...wake up seconds before they reached their stop and just jump off the subway car as if they had been woken up by some built-in alarm clock.

Oh, oh!

...looks like it's contagious!

The Tokyo Adventures Of Sugar Mama And Travel Diva...

We're alive and well in Tokyo. Here's what we've done so far:

FLIGHT - I ask you: Now that I've experienced First Class, how will I ever go back to Business Class again? Unfortunately, one of our bags didn't make it (so Mrs. TBF's been forced to wear the same jeans since we got here...YUCK!), but we just received word that the bag will arrive later this evening. We enjoyed a great Japanese dinner at our hotel, and then we pretty much crashed after that.

FISH MARKET - We set the alarm for 4 a.m. our first morning here so that we could go to the fish market and watch the tuna auctions. Unbelievably, we actually managed to pull ourselves out of bed, take a taxi to the market, watch the fish auctions, and then enjoyed a sushi and beer breakfast - all before 7:30 a.m. Then, we took the subway (where we enjoyed watching the locals falling into a deep sleep while sitting up, and then magically waking up seconds before arriving at their stop) back to our hotel where our two-hour nap turned into a four-hour nap. After shaking out the cobwebs, we walked around a bit and took in some sights in the late afternoon. Later that evening, we went to Roppongi for a Yakatori dinner, came back to the hotel for a drink, and then crashed (again).

BRUNCH - This morning, we took the subway to Ueno where we reserved some train tickets for a day-trip we'll be taking tomorrow, watched more champion Japanese nappers waking up seconds before they had to get off at their stops, and returned to our hotel where we had a nice mid-day brunch. Then, it was back to the room for another nap, and...now I'm here blogging.

I know...not too exciting so far. However, the worst of the jet lag seems to be behind me, our missing bag will be here in a couple of hours, and we're ready go!

More soon...

- posted in Tokyo