Safe in Japan!

Well, I made it! After 16 lengthy hours of travel, I landed in the Narita airport yesterday excited and utterly sleep deprived. As I exited the terminal I was greeted by my joyful brother, a lovely sight indeed, who whisked me onto a train and then into his apartment.

It is there that I sit now (it's afternoon here in Japan). This morning we got up and left the house at noon, Josh to take a train to work and I to walk around the city. After wandering around for a few hours I'm a bit tired, but I am better than I was yesterday and just so happy to be here! Here are the pictures from my travels thus far (and ones of the apartment will hopefully follow in a day or so):

I only got a couple of shots from my actual flight, but here I am at my layover in Vancouver; not looking my best here...

I wouldn't normally put this on a blog but toilets in the nice parts of Japan are legendary for their technology; upon exiting the plane this was what I was greeted with in the restroom.

Step aside, Star Trek, these are potties of the future!

Katsutadai! When Josh and I got off the train at our station, this is what I saw - a small city center surrounded by housing, misty with rain, gently bustling with people and little cars...

then and there I knew that I would love it here in Japan.

Josh with my suitcase.

And that was the last pic from yesterday.

Today after I walked Josh to the train station my very first stop was an international ATM at the post office. Or, Post of Ice, rather.

With cash in hand I thought it would be a great time to get to know the city better so I continued down the street that I was on. Pretty soon I got out of the area of shops and went past row after row of houses. The climate of Japan lends itself well to nurturing plant life and the people of Japan seem to take full advantage of this blessing. Everywhere I walked there were little gardens and pots of flowers. Purple seemed to be a frequent color, which of course made me very happy. :)

Also sprinkled throughout the city were smallish parks like this one:

My street finally T'd into another one and just as I was wondering whether the houses would go on forever I glanced to my right and saw a little sliver of countryside. I followed my curiosity and found that the city did indeed end, so I ventured down that road to see what it was like. I was met with a green misty countryside complete with trees...

and bamboo groves...

and rice fields!

The fields, I thought, were just beautiful.

They were sectioned off into small plots and irrigated with ditches and man-made conduits.

As I kept walking I soon got back into city again, and at this point rather than just backtracking the 45 minutes to Josh's place, I took a gamble on my sense of direction and attempted to make a loop through the city of Yachiyo back to the small Katsutadai station where I started (which, by God's grace, was a successful venture!).

Yet even back in the city it seemed that plant life still crept in to the scene. This house took moss-covered to a whole new level!

And this stairway seemed to get lost into a mass of overgrowth too. Hope no-one has to flight through that on their way to work every day!

At one point I noticed some young children going home with their moms from school. This little one wore a long rain coat that wiggled adorably above their feet. Sadly, the picture doesn't do the cuteness justice.

Later I was standing by a tree getting my bearings when I noticed a plaque beside it. Imagine that! Here I was in Japan, standing by a tree from Tyler, Texas!

Near the end of my walk I stopped by a store for a bite to eat. Here's a picture of the cat litter section, tellin' it like it is.

Japan, as I noted at one point to Josh, seems to have a firm love of the whimsical (just watch a good Miazaki film if you doubt me). Yet as I walked by this statue on the sidewalk I wondered whether it was really meant to be whimsical or if it was thought as a perfectly normal decoration to put in front of one's store...

you never know...