- - - 5/7/2004 - - -

My first night

Filed under: — Andy @ 6:57 pm

I arrived at Narita airport late due to the fact that we were delayed an hour for take-off. Once there, I went through customs very quickly. There was no line at all :) The first thing I did after getting my luggage was get one of those luggage carts, and it was just a coincidence that I got a cart with the advertisement for ECC Foreign Language Institute on it, which is where I work of course. I then went to the baggage delivery service to get my bags delivered to where I will live and then went down to the train station.
I had to spend the night around the airport and take the train into Tokyo the next morning, so what better place to spend the night than the Japanese bath house I stayed at when I was in Japan a year ago with my friend Josh. I didn’t need a map as my experience last time has given me a clear mental picture on exactly how to get there. I remember perfectly how to get train tickets from the machine as well. I took the train to downtown Narita and took a walk to the bath house only to find this…


Yes, the entire building was closed down and blocked off. Now, since I didn’t make any reservations and my first choice of place to stay was closed, I needed to find an alternative that was also not expensive. On my way back to the train station I noticed a very nice hotel…


Center Hotel Narita.

When I went in it seemed like an expensive place but after talking to the guy at the front desk, who thankfully spoke English as my Japanese is very limited, I realized that it was cheaper than anything I was looking at online the night before. I paid and took the elevator to the top floor to my non-smoking Japanese hotel room…

It was tiny! A bed a dresser and 1 foot of walking space. The bathroom was also tiny…

Although the room was small, I have to say that it was ingeniously designed. The bed was super comfortable and had switches to control the room lights and a clock as well. The view out of the window was great, and the small bath was actually very nice. They also provided me with a Yukata which is a Japanese robe. In the morning when I checked out they had a very nice free breakfast as well. Overall, I enjoyed the stay there more than I would have at an American style hotel.
After that, I took the train back to the airport and got on the first express train to Shinjuku.

Comments

  1. good job getting around. I don’t remember any place i’ve been a week later. Although you could have gotten Takeshi to pick u up if we knew u weren’t doing anything. My cousin Yuko will be working in Japan until October so maybe she’ll show around.

    Comment by Ken — 5/8/2004 @ 9:18 pm
  2. They closed our bath hotel!!! Oh the humanity. BTW, we will pass along word to yuki and other J-friends we know that you are there…

    Comment by Josh — 5/9/2004 @ 12:45 pm
  3. In soviet russia, the hotel stays in you!

    Comment by Lenny — 5/9/2004 @ 5:48 pm
  4. AHHH!!! I hate/envy you so much! Nihon ni kaeritai!!!

    Comment by Ari — 5/9/2004 @ 7:24 pm
  5. u mean ikitai?

    Comment by Ken — 5/9/2004 @ 7:40 pm

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