The only thing that surprised me about Day 1 was how quiet it was. The 10+ hours in the plane didn’t surprise me. The fact that I only got 20 minutes of sleep on the plane didn’t surprise me. Not being able to read any of the signs (once I left the airport) didn’t surprise me. The fact that the 3-train, 2-hour train ride was packed with people wall-to-wall and body-to-body didn’t surprise me. The quiet surprised me.
As I stood on the train with several people I’d never met pressed up against me I noticed that no one was talking. Not to each other. Not on their cell phones. Not at all. Other than my buddy Cam and me whispering to each other, the only sound was the sound of the train itself. Talking on a cell phone on a train is more than a little frowned upon. It’s rude. And Japanese people don’t do rude.
Sixteen hours after leaving my house in Kirkland I arrived and Cam & Kristen’s house in Tokyo. Two hours later I arrived on my bed. Oops…I mean “futon.” Slumber, sweet slumber…
