去东京 Heading to Tokyo

2023年5月27日，星期五，东京之行第一天

Friday, May 27, 2023 – the first day of the Tokyo Trip.

期待已久的东京之行终于到来了，今天从旧金山机场出发，很平稳顺利的10个小时飞行就到了东京成田机场。我在飞机上看完了最近很火爆的8集台剧《人选之人》，真的很好看，讲述了很多各种中文语境下很难看到的东西，比如男女平权，同性恋，工作环境下的性骚扰等等的话题。

Our long-awaited trip to Tokyo finally arrived. Today, we departed from San Francisco Airport and arrived at Tokyo’s Narita Airport after a smooth 10-hour flight. I finished watching the popular 8-episode Taiwanese drama, “The Wave Makers” on the plane.

It was really good to watch. It tells a lot of things that are difficult to see in various Chinese context, such as equal rights for men and women, homosexuality, and the work environment – sexual harassment and so on. The series was surprising for the content that was allowed to be seen in China; for now.

到了成田，很顺利地过了海关，日本入境不让带水果，肉类制品之类的入境，我忘了把没吃完的水果扔掉了，还好他们没有检查。通关之后的第一件事就是去取PJG在家提前买好的手机流量卡，这样在东京的时候就有网络了，这个卡是30美元，8天，无限量的网络，性价比还不错。

When we arrived in Narita, we smoothly passed through customs. Fruits and meat products are not allowed to enter Japan, but I forgot to throw away my unfinished fruits. I was sweating. Fortunately, they did not check our bags. The first thing to do after clearing customs was to pick up the mobile phone card that PJG bought in advance so that we would have Internet in Tokyo. This card was about 30 US dollars for 8 days of unlimited data; the price is not bad.

取完卡，下楼去做成田到新宿的轻轨，像以往旅行的经验一样，在售票机器这里排队买票，没想到这是来到东京的第一个小小挫折。看好了要买，3点44的那班，我俩站到机器面前，选择英文菜单，选择，选择，一切选好之后，插卡付款，矣～～ 卡不能用，退出，一切要重新选择，选选选，换了一张信用卡，哦～～ 还是不能用，又重新来过一遍，第三张卡还是不能用，我问两边的买票的人，他们也是游客不知道，又重新操作一遍，用了第四张卡，还是不行，我说我去取现金，PJG在售票机这里继续尝试，此时买票的队伍排了很长～～，我飞速去找提款机，附近没有，问了机场服务人员，她说要去楼上找，我天啊，不知道要多远，我跑回去，我了决定去人工售票窗口重新排队买票，此时已经过去了20多分钟，我俩已经错过了要坐那班轻轨，哎～～ 小小挫折，别怒～～ 又在只有两个售票员的人工售票处排了10多分钟，终于买到了两张往返的车票，每张是4,070日元，往返票是打折扣的，原价单程票每张是3,090日元。当然这个工作人员告诉我俩，那个售票机不接受美国的信用卡！什么？！？！ 此时真的是满脸黑线，为什么不在机器旁边贴一个告示呢？非常意外！

After getting the card, we went downstairs to take the Narita Express train to Shinjuku. Like our previous travel experiences, we queued up at the ticket machines to buy tickets. I didn’t expect this to be the first small setback when just arriving in Tokyo. We were optimistic about buying tickets, but the train was at 3:44 with only 15 minutes to go. We both stood in front of the machine, chose the English menu; click, click, click and after everything was selected, we inserted our credit card to pay. Huh! The card cannot be used, exit, everything has to be re-selected all over again. We picked a different credit card – oh! It still can’t be used! And then tried it again, the third card still can’t be used. I asked the people who bought tickets on both sides of us, who were also tourists struggling, so we did it again and used a fourth card, but it still didn’t work. I said, “I’m going to get cash.” PJG continued to try at the ticket vending machine. At this time, the queue for buying tickets was getting very long, I quickly went to find an ATM, but there was none nearby, so I asked the airport service staff and she said to go upstairs to look for it – My God, I don’t know how far it was so I ran back and we decided to go just use the staffed ticket window to re-queue and buy tickets. By this time, more than 20 minutes had passed, the two of us had already missed that train. Hey, a little setback, don’t be angry …. we waited a while queued at the ticket window, with only two staff for the very long line, but were finally able to buy two round-trip tickets, each of which was 4,070 Yen – round-trip tickets are discounted, the original price of a one-way tickets is 3,090 yen each. Of course, the staff member then informed us that the ticket machines don’t not accept foreign credit cards! What? ! ? ! How stupid! Why not just post a sign next to the machine to avoid this? Very surprised!

总之大概90多分钟的车程，到了新宿站，出了站，顿时感觉到东京的震撼力，在地广人稀安静的湾区呆习惯了，突然到了这个人潮涌动，五彩缤纷的东京，怎么形容呢，就像是两只小小的蚂蚁走进了Lady Gaga的千万人演唱会。

In short, it took about 90 minutes to get to Shinjuku. When we arrived at the Shinjuku Station, I immediately felt the shock of Tokyo. I was used to staying in the sparsely populated and quiet Bay Area. Then suddenly, I was in this crowded and colorful Tokyo. How can I describe it? Well, it’s like two little ants walked into a Lady Gaga’s concert with millions of fans there.

东京有很多狭窄的小胡同繁华，窄窄的胡同里有很多家小酒馆，小饭馆，这些小酒馆的标配是一个小吧台，吧台后面有各种类型的店主，吧台前面有的只有几张供客人坐的凳子，来之前我就很期待感受一下这种日本小酒馆的提供的奇怪的亲密的感觉。我俩所在的新宿区就有几条这种街。

There are many narrow alleys in Shinjuku with taverns and restaurants lining the alleys. The standard configuration of these taverns is a small bar for 6-10 people. There are various types of owners behind the bar, with only a few bar stools in the front. We was looking forward to this weird intimacy that these Japanese bars offer. There are many alleys like this in Shinjuku, near where we are staying, and certainly we will explore them all.

在飞机上几乎没睡觉的我俩竟然坚持到了11点多，我俩很快会进入安静的梦乡，繁忙的东京街道霓虹招牌依然在闪烁，仿佛进入了宫崎骏的世界。

The two of us, who had hardly slept on the plane, even persisted until after 11pm determined to shake the jet lag. However, soon after getting back to the hotel, we fell into a quiet dreamland. The neon signs on the busy Tokyo streets are still flashing, as if we had entered into the world of the famous Japanese animation director, Hayao Miyazaki.

晚安.

Good Night.