Day 1: Tōkyō

One day Ava and I decided to go to Japan, by which I mean I was working, or more likely fighting a boss, and she told me she would take care of everything and found cheap tickets and what did I think? And I must have said yes, because she gave me a big hug and suddenly we were going to Japan.

Our itinerary was a little agressive. We only went for two weeks, but we stayed in a different city most nights and traveled thousands of miles in the process. We visited temples, bathed in hot springs, hiked in the mountains, walked through forests, made new friends, lit fireworks, ate gourmet food, ate fast food, pondered art, survived with our limited Japanese, got lost, found our way, and traveled by plane, train, bus, car, and boat.

I hope this all sounds very interesting because this trip was the primary reason I recently bought a camera. Now, imagine you're sitting in my living room, as I'm slowly advancing through a carousel slide projector, flatly narrating: "And here we are standing in front of the Kurobe Dam click and here we are in front of the dam again click and here's a picture of just Ava in front of the dam…." Perhaps then you will start to understand what a wonderful time we're going to have together. And so:

The roof of Senjo-kaku, the so-called pavillion of a thousand mats. The tiled roof arches, the dark wood textures a strong contrast against a brilliant blue sky. Text super-imposed on the image reads Paul and Ava Go To Japan.

On Saturday, August 1, we boarded a plane in San Francisco at 11am. Ten hours later we landed at 2pm on Sunday, August 2, in Narita, Japan.

A map showing the route the express train from NRT airport takes to Tōkyō Station.

Tōkyō is actually an hour's train ride from Narita airport. The station lies under the terminal, so our first sight of the country was the rice fields and towns when the train suddenly emerged from an underground tunnel.

Ava looks out the window of a train. Rice fields are laid out in geometric rectangles, cut by the occasional road. Forest-covered hills rise in the distance.

Our entire plan for the first day was to find our hotel, get some food, get our bearings, then crash. The ten hour flight did us in (I'm not convinced anyone can survive Ghosts of Girlfriends Past).

These are the backpacks we were traveling with. Each day we'd pack up and move on to the next city.

Two large backpacks lean against the wall in a Japanese-style hotel room. The floor is tatami straw mat. The alcove contains a rotary-style telephone, a small television, and a small, round device that emits smells to repel insects.

Ava sits on the windowsill, silhouetted against morning light streaming through the fine wooden blinds. Though out of focus, the neighboring buildings are visible in the distance.

We felt the jet lag the next day when we woke at sunrise. Ava spent the morning staring out our hotel window. It was really starting to dawn* on us: we were in Japan.

* Heh heh heh.

The streets outside our first hotel, near Tōkyō University. If it's not obvious, I took a lot of these photos with Ava walking ahead of me in the first few days of the trip.

Ava, wearing her large backpack, walks down a narrow street in Tōkyō. Residences line both sides of the road. Power and telephone lines criss cross against the white sky. The road drops down, making the rising buildings several hundred feet ahead even more impressive.

A tunnel connecting Kasuga and Kōrakuen stations. If one were to trust signage, and I do, we walked about half a mile underground. It was actually really disturbing how far we could walk underneath Tōkyō without seeing anyone.

The yellow strip of textured walkway on the side of the tunnel is a common sight in the cities. Different patterns of raised bumps indicate to the blind walking paths, intersections, and the the means to navigate even complicated train platforms.

Ava walks through a wide underground pedestrian tunnel. The ceiling is an undulating red surface punctuated by white lights. A set of stairs and an escalator are visible at the end of the tunnel. Along the right side is a strip of yellow textured walkway.

Okay, so this part of the trip was a bit boring, but hang on, this is going to be awesome.