I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about being in an airplane for 12 hours. I had never been on a flight that long before, but knew my limits for sitting in one place were usually set at around 30 min. It turned out to be ok, though, because the plane was really cool.
They had SkyMall in Japanese!
...And, a TV set in front of each seat!
I was excited:
They had an on demand sort of thing, where you could just choose a movie from the list and watch it whenever you wanted. They had a lot of movies to choose from, so the ride went by relatively quickly.
Once we got there, we didn't want to have to worry about taking the train system to our hotel, especially given that it was 2am US time. On our way to the taxi pickup area, a man stopped us and asked us if we wanted a taxi. We said yes, and asked about how much it would be to take the taxi to our hotel. We didn't have that many yen, and told the man so. He then escorted us to the ATM within the airport, so that we could withdraw the necessary cash, rolling our suitcase for us the whole way! Then, when we got in the taxi and were about to drive out of the airport, we realized that we had left our envelope of important papers at the ATM. The man drove around to the loading zone again for us, then ran (literally ran) in with Erik to the ATM to find our envelope. He left me in the car with the door open and the motor running.
I'd like to point out a few things here:
1) taxi driver ESCORTED us to the ATM
2) taxi driver stopped the car, turned around and RAN in with Erik to get the packet of papers
3) the guy left his car running, doors open, unattended... at an airport
4) our packet was still there! It was still sitting there on the ATM
5) taxi driver didn't charge us a cent more than the original quote
Only in Japan, ladies and gentlemen.
***
Our hotel room is small...
But! You can control the lights for the entire room... from the bed!!!
!!!!
Come on, why has this not made it to the states yet???
A word on toilets (for Dad):
Toilets in Japan may or may not come equipped with a bidet. If a public toilet does how a bidet, it will be indicated by the sign shown below (bottom):
Also, here is the toilet from our room... it appears tankless:
However, we were disappointed to note that the tank is actually found inside the counter behind the toilet... a clever space-saving technic yes, but I must say I am still disappointed that the Japanese toilets do not run on magic, as previously thought.
Ha ha! I especially like that you noted the location of the symbol in question by pointing out "bottom".
ReplyDeleteRock on! :) Also, is it space-saving to put the tank in the wall-- or does that just mean they built their wall a foot farther out to fit the tank in it? I'm sure it is space-saving... I know the Japanese are famous for this... but it makes me wonder what's in MY wall, when it could have toilet tank there!
So the bidet button is the bottom button. Of course it is the "bottom" button. What other button would it be? I recognize a picture of a bottom when I see one!
ReplyDeleteDad (using Mom's login to post my comment)
What an awesome taxi guy! XD
ReplyDeleteMy aunt in Japan has an awesome toilet where the tank has a mini sink on the tank lid (since usually Japanese homes have the toilet by itself in a tiny closet, separate from the room with the bathtub and sink). When you flush the toilet, the clean water that is going into the tank is first routed through the mini sink on top, so you can wash your hands with clean water but save water at the same time :)