Tokyo

So way back on the 13th of October Kinsey and I flew to Tokyo for what was supposed to be a two day stopover before flying on to Bangkok to meet up with Nate. However, instead of saving enough yen to buy train tickets back to the airport two days later, we got thirsty and decided to buy the biggest container of orange juice imaginable, and upon arriving at the Nippori train station realized that we were 60 yen (basically 60 cents) short. We were already late because we had been walking around Shibuya with the two English kids we met and spent most of our time in Tokyo with, Nicky and Tim, so I was sent on a mad dash around Nippori trying to find an atm that accepted Kinsey's American bank card, which is much, much more difficult than you would think in such a cosmopolitan city like Tokyo, while she stayed back at the station with our packs (mine being of exemplary quality, thanks pops). So, five atm's and half an hour later I make it back to the station but am not allowed to enter the area where Kins is waiting for me, and after buying our tickets am directed directly to the platform where the train picks up. So, coupled with the dual emotions of complete panic and complete terror, I double back around and break through a toll gate going the wrong direction, find Kinsey literally bawling her eyes out, slap some sense into her (just kidding), grab her and my shit and rush back through the same gate I just broke through to make it onto the train seconds before it leaves.

"Thank God, everything's going to be okay, they've got over two hours to make it to the airport and the train ride only takes about an hour" is surely what you're thinking at this point.

Nope.

Kinsey and I have this amazing ability to form some kind of horrible anti-superhero team when we combine our powers, and these great things tend to happen to us, like getting on trains that go almost all the way to the airport but then divert to local access and take us to the middle of nowhere before we see a station attendant running at us telling us to get off the train because there is truly no more track left.

So, we scramble around the station, find a train going back the other direction, realize where we made the mistake, get on another wrong train going the right direction, realize our mistake quicker this time, jump off, jump right back on the last and final and right train that does in fact go to the airport which gets us there with just enough time to make it to the United counter at 6:30 pm, the same time our flight is scheduled to leave. It is at this point we are told that we can't catch a flight out of Tokyo for Bangkok until two days later.

So from here our worry shifts to Nate, who is currently boarding a plane in the same airport and expecting us to meet him on the other side of customs in Bangkok. We run, and I mean that, I actually ran, across the South terminal of the Narita airport to find the North terminal where at the Northwest Airlines counter I am lucky enough to find a woman who speaks nearly perfect English, and who can translate a message to the attendants on Nate's flight, letting him know we missed our flight and will e-mail him with all the details.

At this point neither Kins or I really have any energy or motivation to do anything. After an hour or so of silence, we finally decided to head to the city of Narita, about a ten minute train ride from the airport. Neither of us have any hope or desire of finding anything of merit in Narita, we just don't want to go all the way back to Tokyo. So we eventually find a hostel, after walking the city for hours due to horrible directions, and fall asleep right away. We are woken early in the morning by the lovely sounds of two Englishman snoring, and that oh so delightful smell of whiskey and beer finding it's way out of the body through the skin. In the morning we begrudgingly talked to these two men because proximity forced it, and we found out they were flying to Las Vegas later in the day. Such surprise rushed over us.

But after all of this, all the hassle and toil and running, we were given the chance to explore a quiet, quaint little city, tucked away in the Japanese countryside that we never would have gone to otherwise. It is always amazing how in the bad moments there is no way to see outside of them, even when you know the only place they can lead you is somewhere sweet and unknown.

We spent our two days roaming outdoor markets filled with traditional foods and instruments and old country people so separated from the crush and flow of Tokyo. It was here, while walking down a long winding road, happy with what we were seeing, content in the culture and kindness of the people, that we turned a corner at the bottom of the hill to find a temple complex as big as any I'd ever imagined, unassuming and shy in it's placement, here, in the middle of nothing, with only the trees and the waterfalls to speak of it's existence. It was here that we found the Japan we had seen in our minds since youth, unaffected by the way memory can change things, natural, silent, green, bigger than our ability to accept it.

At night we stayed in a traditional style Japanese room where we watched Japanese television we couldn't understand but still found all of the hilarity in. We had the entire upstairs to ourselves and were drinking very cheap and very bad Sake when Austin walked in and instantly became our friend. He was from Galveston, and his family had recently suffered from the latest hurricane whose name I can't remember. He had been teaching English in Taiwan for the last few years, but had finally run into trouble with his visa and was in Narita because he missed his flight due to the hassle with customs. We spent the next day at the temple again, showing him all we had seen the day before and finding new paths in the walkway that led to fish ponds and graveyards. In this way you make new friends, when for no other reason than random chance you stumble upon people with common interest and purpose, and you have no reason to not accept them into your life.

Later in the day, after eating grilled sweet potatoes and watching traditional Japanese music performances, we said goodbye, and shortly after, Kins and I caught our train, this time far earlier than we needed to, and made it to the airport on time. On the plane we watched The Hulk and ate awful food, waiting to greet Bangkok, but really, waiting to greet Nate.

Love,
B