Distractions, reflections

When I left Tokyo in August, I took the bus from Shinagawa to Narita airport. On this trip in, I came from the airport on the Japan Rail Narita Express train. This Saturday afternoon departure had an easy schedule out and I felt adventurous, so I tried the third (slightly cheaper) option: the Keisei Skyliner. My luggage is on wheels. I dragged the bags the few blocks over to Tamachi station.

I was entertained by the smoking area in the middle of the block, away from anyplace a pedestrian would object.

I presume that the translation of the caution is literal.

I rode up the escalator into Tamachi station, bought a Japan Rail ticket, and went down to the train platform.

 Read more... (549 words, 27 images, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

As a first — with meetings at universities in Tokyo and Helsinki less than a week apart — the best way for me to travel was to book a round-the-world ticket, with a stopover in Beijing to see Eric. The first leg of trip brought me to Narita. When Diana and I came to Japan last summer, we landed in Osaka and returned to Narita on the bus, so this is my first time on the Narita Express train.

The plane arrived just at dusk, so there wasn’t much to see outside the train windows in the dark. I had reservations at the same hotel as in the summer, so I knew that I would have to change trains at Tokyo Station.

From there, it was only a short hop over to Tamachi Station. The station gates are up over the tracks. Walking south, there’s a small cluster of restaurants down the escalators.

Diana and I tried some of these restaurants last time. The map of the surrounding area provided by the hotel listed an additional cluster of restaurants and shops a little further south in Shibaura, so I went there looking for a noodle shop.  Read more... (315 words, 6 images, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)