From Yamaguchi to Narita

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Narita, Kanto, Japan
Today we make the trip from Yamaguchi to Narita, to prepare for our return trip to Canada. Time seems to have slipped away so quickly.

We got up this morning and Mizue had prepared a breakfast for everyone. Yasutoshi had the day off, we guessed to be here for our departure. We had packed last night, so we were pretty much ready to go. We had to leave for the Shinkansen station at about 9:15, to catch our 9:41 train.

We all piled into Yasutoshi's Toyota, lots of luggage and all five passengers. We had taken two empty pieces of luggage with us, and, we really needed them, as it looks like we arrived with about 85 lbs and departed with over 200 lbs. Next we arrived at the station, the car was parked and we went up to get our tickets. With our JR Rail passes we can get onto the Hikari Shinkansen, and even get reserved seats with no extra charge. We should have gone a day or more earlier to reserve seats as this time all the reserved cars were full for the first half of our trip to Osaka, where we have to changed trains and lines. We were able to reserve for the Osaka to Tokyo portion. So from Yamaguchi to Osaka we sat in one of the unreserved cars, which was good to experience. As it turned out, this was no different than the reserved cars, except that you didn't have your own seat number. The trip was fairly uneventful, and in 2.5 hours we were in Osaka. We had about 30 minutes there, and then departed on our train to Tokyo.

We made it to Tokyo Station in another three hours. Once there, we had to determine our way to our hotel in Narita. An ex-colleague of Eve's had booked us a room at the Mercure Hotel in Narita. Our little problem was that the directions on this hotel's website were a little vague, so we weren't entirely sure where we were to get off the train. We jumped onto a JR train and headed toward Narita. After changing trains a couple of times, due to a split in the line, we arrived at the JR Narita Station. Once there we weren't quite sure how to proceed, the hotel website said we should get off at the Keisei Narita Station, and we couldn't find that line in JR Narita Station. At this point we decided, it would probably be prudent to get back on the train we had just gotten off and head right to Narita Airport and work our way back.

We arrived at Narita Airport, Terminal 2, and got off the JR Rail train. Once off we quickly found signs directing us to the Keisei Line. This turned out to be a 500 meter walk through a tunnel, to what seemed like an abandoned station. We found a nice gentleman at the ticket/information booth who helped us determine we were in the right place and we purchased our tickets. 220 yen each. He also helped us take our luggage down some stairs, as the down escalator appeared to be under repair. We were very grateful. I'm sure this was above and beyond the call of duty! Once on the abandoned platform we had about a half an hour to wait for the next train. Apparently this line is not as busy as the JR Line trains, which always had another train arrive every 4 to 6 minutes. However, no big deal, as we are always up for an adventure. So having said that we got some drinks out of a vending machine, Eve, some lemon drink and I some other drink, that I have no idea what it was, but it was good. Our train arrived and we were off for the next stop, Keisei Narita Station. Once there we got off , went out an exit, observed our hotel about a block away, started making our way, luggage in tow. We discovered the JR Narita Station across the street. Apparently we could have just gotten off there, and hour earlier. Oh well.

We are now at the Mercure Hotel in Narita, and have time for a quick shower as Eve calls Mr. Yamaguchi (a work acquaintance), and arrange to go out for supper, at 8pm. He met us in the lobby of the hotel. We walked down the street and around a few blocks to the Grill House Hero's restaurant, where he proceeds to order too much food. We dined on a type of Okinomiyaki type pizza, Teppanaki Beef, Caesar Salad, grilled octopus, Japanese style noodles with vegetables, Japanese style fried rice and another dish that I really liked(can't remember its name). It was all wonderful and we had a great chat with him, about our trip, Japan, business travels and their business and current business trends.

We had a few beers, then it was time to walk back to the hotel, another long day - traveling for us and working for Mr. Yamaguchi. On the walk back, we discovered another Mister Donut, just around the corner from the Mercure Hotel - perfect for tomorrow's quest (or should I say, request).

After we made our thank-you's and goodbyes to Mr. Yamaguchi, Eve and I decided to make a quick stop at the AM PM convenience store across the street. We picked up a few drinks and some interesting chocolate bars and went back to our room.

The Blue Jay baseball game was on tv when we made contact with my mom and dad on Skype. It was a clear line. We chatted for a few minutes as we were winding down our day and they were just starting theirs in Regina.

Tomorrow: the journey home
low.
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