Part 3, “and everyone you meet”…

After freshening up in the room we took a taxi to the area of Shibuya, this is the very famous area of the Tokyo that you usually see on the news or films that is basically the area around what is a huge road junction with several 40ft wide crosswalks going from side to side and corner to corner. The masses of people that cross the street when the lights go to red is amazing, i don’t think I’ve seen as many people cross the street at one time in my life!

Its also surrounded by huge tall buildings that have large TV’s and huge advertising signs on their outside (kind of similar to Times Square in New York but a lot cleaner and a lot less seedy! Cleanliness is something i haven't mentioned yet but its evident the 2nd you arrive in Japan, everywhere is spotlessly clean yet you don't see a lot of people cleaning the streets or areas at all. The people are ever so polite too, when we checked in the hotel the staff nearly outnumbered the actual guests in the lobby and everyone was full of “pleases” and “thanks yous” and couldn’t have been nicer, (something i think a lot of western places could learn from!)

     

Kami and Mark had been to the restaurant we were heading to a few years previous and whilst we knew what area it was in within a couple of streets, Kami had to ask in a convenience store as to which actual building it was. Something very VERY amazing happened next!!

     

Have a look at the pictures above and you’ll see the street where the taxi driver dropped us for the restaurant,see how busy it is ? its packed with people, not many cars but just masses of people. As i said above, Kami walked into a convenience store to get directions as she speaks Japanese fluently and has the edge above Mark or I asking. Mark and i waited on the street, i took a few pictures (as seen above) whilst we waited for Kami to come out which she did probably 90 seconds later with a women from the store who was pointing towards what i now know was the restaurant we were looking for. As Mark and i watched the women go back into the store and Kami turn around to head back over to us there was some sort of “issue” and Kami started talking to a girl that had literally bumped into her. This girl turned out to be a friend whom Kami had gone to school with while she was living here in 2006 ago and was also a friend on Facebook!!! Mark and i just looked at each other in disbelief as a huge smile apeared on Kami’s face and the two of them chatted and realised what an amazing coincidence had just occurred.

Kami and her old school friend.

Still in disbelief at what had just happened the three of us headed up to the restaurant and waited 10 minutes for a table. The style of the restaurant was called “Shabu, Shabu” You were given a pot of “soup” on the table, this was placed on top of an electric burning in the middle of the table. You were then brought plates of uncooked pork and beef and also asked to help yourself to a buffet type display of vegetables, you then proceed to cook the meet and veg in the boiling broth in front of you and eat as much as you like within an allowed time of 90 minutes.

The food was amazing and probably cooked the most healthy was i can imagine, it took probably 6 seconds at most to cook the pieces of thinly sliced meet once you dipped it in the broth with your chopsticks.Im not the biggest loves of vegetables, i tried a little but i was more than happy to keep eating the slices of pork and beef along with some of the angel hair type noodles that we soon referred to as “slime”

We stayed our allotted 90 minutes and whilst we did eat what must have been 20 trays of meet it wasn't actually a “greedy” amount as the meet was sliced very thinly and we all took our time and had a great first meal out together in Tokyo.

We walked back towards the mass of people and the crosswalks and crossed the street a few times just for the experience!

Were geeks, i know.                                   We looked for Dave K, there's space:)          Kami and i with Hachiko the famous dog.

The three of us headed down to Tower Records for half an hour and walked our food off before grabbing a taxi back to the hotel and arriving back around 11:30pm. If tomorrow and the subsequent days are even half as good as the last 5 hours then i’ll be more than happy, we had a fantastic 1st night here and i couldn't be happier and with better company.

Day 1 picture album:

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Day 2 picture album:

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Part 2, Friday, 22nd June, day of the surprise….

So i got about 2 hours sleep last night, i slept from 6am to 8am!and  was wide awake with jetlag and had no idea what time or even day it was at one point! i even called my dad thinking it was 3 in the afternoon in Europe but it was 3am! Anyway, I’ve now downloaded an app on my laptop that shows, UK, New York and Tokyo time:) I don’t get how i went around the world backwards but they are 13 hours ahead here, so confusing.

Tokyo is catching the back end of what was a big Typhoon that swept through Japan yesterday, i heard the rain lashing on the windows last night and all early this morning.Looks to be brightening up a bit now though, hopefully it’ll pick up over the next few days.

No tennis today!                                         I hope this isn’t the hotel pool!                    Airport view from hotel room

   

I had planned on going to the pool and using the gym at the hotel this morning before leaving to meet Kami at the airport at 3pm but they don’t open till 2pm! So I’m laying on the bed watching the TV and flicking through the channels when flick to some what looks like a 70’s Kung Fu film and i hear a tick, tock, tick, tock sound that sounds strangely familiar! second later i hear the opening bars to Time!! i grab my digital camera and start filming the TV! Only i could come to Japan, lay on my bed surfing TV and find a Kung F film that is playing Roger in the background! ( i later googled this and it appears to be Bruce Lee’s 1st major film role in a film called The Big Boss)

I watch the film and it plays the same piece 3 or 4 times during the next 30 minutes, very odd! i bet they don’t get royalties for it!

 

Took a shower, checked out the hotel and then caught the 2pm shuttle bus back to terminal 1 where Mark and Kami were due to land at 3pm, I’d checked their flight details online and they were due to land 20 minutes early.I’d told Mark in and e mail that when he comes through customs to take a right out of the exit, I’d be there watching for them and would come up behind surprise Kami.

I found a place in the arrivals that that was in full view of both exits just in case they turned left, i had a clear line of sight on them but they would find it difficult to see me unless they were really looking. I still had half an hour to pass before they landed and headed up to the observation deck and the area with restaurants as i hadn't really eaten since arriving yesterday.

Narita airport outside observation deck.

There were a couple of noodle restaurants and a couple of hole in the wall type take away’s with seating in the front,i wasn't actually that hungry and found a small convenience store that had a few “western” type sandwiches but at $7 each i made my way over to the “local” cuisine and bought a 4 pack of what looked on the picture like real nice white meat chicken nuggets! i also found what a carton of what looked like and turned out to be strawberry milk.

   

I found a place to eat out on the observation deck, the milk was good but the “chicken” nuggets whilst looking nice on the picture were certainly different once bitten into! i left three and a half of them in the bag and the other half in the bathroom and filled up on my strawberry milk!

After walking round the upstairs level for ten minutes and  seeing a hair salon that looked more like a Dr’s surgery including a couch, a small curtained off area for anyone that wanted their hair cutting in private! and hairdressers in white surgical masks i then walked past a window of the most amazing looking desserts that i could eat all day and never put on weight! yup, they were all plastic.

   

I looked on the arrivals board and flight 890 for Seoul had just landed so i headed downstairs to my lookout point and waited.

In the airport lounge…..                              Cute kids at the airport each group with colour coded hats and T shirt.

   

By the time i got to my position the status for flight 890 said “in customs” having gone through this exact same customs hall the day previous i knew exactly where they would be and knew they wouldn't be long at all. By the time that thought was over in my head i saw Kami appear pushing the luggage trolley closely followed by her dad, Mark. i moved a little closer in, trying to hide behind the crowd of people in front of me (which given most Japanese people are shorter than 5 ft and I’m 6ft 2” was a challenge in itself!) I turned my digital camera on, pressed the video button and started to shuffle towards where they were. They had seen the bus ticket counter as they came through and actually turned left but this didn't cause a problem, i circled round them and sneaked up behind Mark without Kami seeing me as she was in front of him still pushing the trolley. I tapped Mark on the back, he turned, saw me and i then made my move to se Kami.

As i walked around in front of her i held the camera p and videos her reaction while says “gotcha”!! She turned, looked, smiled (not realising at first exactly what was going on or who i was for that matter) and a split second later it dawned on her that i wasn't supposed to be there and i was! As you can see from the video below she was pretty much speechless for a few seconds!

 

I remember her saying “that explains a lot” or something like that and me mumbling that id got on a flight to Toronto and ended up here.

I turned the camera off and went over to give her a hug, it had worked, all the planning and secret keeping, she really had no clue that i would be there, id got her back for the couple of times she had surprised me, especially the time in Omaha in 2010 when she jumped out of the closet on me! As we were walking over to the bus ticket counter she explained to me that her comment of “that explains a lot”  wasn't that she had guessed or knew i was coming but more so she had been thinking it was odd that i had been out of touch for 15 hours while on the flight, this was something i couldn't help and I’m glad it didn't give the whole surprise away!

Mark was also taking video and pictures too and I’ll get them off his iphone and update the pictures below when we get back to the US.

Seconds after her shock of seeing me                                                                            A beautiful sight :)

        

After getting tickets for our ground transportation and taking the picture below (just for Kami’s sister Kim) we boarded the bus and headed to downtown Tokyo to our Hotel.

There's still a yellow stain on the ground Kim!                                              Reunited and on the bus to Tokyo

 

It wasn't the most scenic drive in but it was interesting just seeing a different culture on the way into the city. We passed Tokyo Disney World, the huge Ferris wheel and saw the new Tokyo sky tower that’s just been finished(more about this later on)

      

It took us a good hour to get the hotel and then after arriving it took us another hour at least to sort the room out, long story but by 7pm we were all settled in a nice spacious room in a beautiful hotel, the same hotel that Roger and the band had staying in in 2002!

First port of call was a bar within the hotel an there were at least 6 or 7 to choose from, we ended up in the Oyster bar and Kami and i had a really nice glass of champagne whilst Mark got refreshed with a couple of ice cold beers while watching the waiter mix up cocktails in what can only be described as a form of art!

Part 1, Surprise, surprise, surprise…..

 

So its Wednesday 20th June 2012, 7:30pm eastern time and in about 30 minutes time I’m about to cross the international date line for the 1st time in my life! Yes you read that right, I will be crossing the international date line!  how is this possible when I’m in the USA to see Rogers’s shows ? Well at this moment in time I’m actually on a flight to Tokyo, Japan!!

As some of you may know, Kami and her dad are in Seoul, Korea at the moment, they’ve been there for 5 days and in 2 days time they fly to Tokyo for a week, and who’s gonna be there to surprise them ? yup, me!

Ever since Mark told me about 4 months ago that he was planning to go to Asia and Kami would be with him I’ve planned to meet them in Tokyo and surprise Kami. Mark has been in on it from the start and was overjoyed when i told him of my plan. She’s surprised me enough times so this is payback and I’ve had to keep it a secret for weeks! A few of my close friends have known about this for a while, Wendy, Chris, Jackie, Dave K,  Beth, Bob, Gail, Paula and a few others, however Kami has always thought (and been told) that I’m going to Canada for the shows in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal which are on the same time as she is away.

Its pretty hard to surprise her due to her being…. well……. er…… honestly, very clever and always suspicious! I’ve even had to convince myself that I’m going to the shows in Canada just so as not to slip up when talking to her, especially the last couple of days when I’ve been talking and skyping with her while she is in Seoul. She had problems with her camera the first couple of days in Korea and i almost said to her on skype “don't worry we’ll have my camera in Tokyo”

There's been a couple of other occasions where I’ve nearly slipped up too but Marks been great on Skype and kept asking me about my trip to “Toronto”. Just last week I even got my Tokyo e flight ticket, copied and pasted it into a Word document and then changed all the flight numbers, flight times, cities etc to make it look like i was flying to Toronto. I called Kami over to the kitchen table when I’d done this and asked her if she wanted my flight details and we both then started trying to work out what time it would be in Korea when i landed in Toronto!!! Kami, darling,  I’m ever so sorry but these things had to be done and a few white lies had to be told, I love you.

(its now 7:55pm eastern time and I’ve just taken the picture of us crossing the international date line)

The last couple of days while Kami has been away I’ve been helping Beth move things in the house as they got all new carpet through the upstairs yesterday. I know Greg and Col are staying with Beth next Monday and Tuesday and I’m ever so sorry i couldn't be there guys, the above is the reason why and i hope it all makes sense now as to how non committal I’ve been about saying whether or not i would be there when you guys are, hope you both have a fantastic time.

Beth dropped me off at IAD airport in Washington DC around 11am this morning,  with huge thanks to my friend James i was booked on the 1pm direct flight to Narita, Tokyo. As much as i was looking forward to the flight i wasn’t looking forward to sitting on the plane for just under 14 hours! At the moment I’ve been sat here 7 hours, so I’m nearly half way there, i managed to sleep for the first couple of hours and have been watching Dexter season 1 on my laptop for the last 3 hours. I’ve got 2 hours left on my laptop battery and after that I’m gonna be twiddling my thumbs and getting agitated for a few hours until we arrive!

I decided to try to arrive in Tokyo the day before Kami and Mark get there, couple of reasons, i wasn’t confirmed on the flight and was hoping there would be seats free and I’d get on as i was 3rd on the standby list and the flight was already oversold!  If for some reason i didn’t get on the flight I’d be trying to get on the flight tomorrow and would still arrive the same time they did. Second, i wanted to catch up on some sleep before Kami and Mark arrived, its a long flight and I’ve been travelling a lot this last few weeks but wanted to be all fresh and relaxed for my time in Tokyo, plus i wanted to be there when Mark and Kami actually arrived.

Beth and a few other people had said to me to make sure i got some pictures of Kami’s face when i actually surprised her, i wasn’t sure how to do this really as id have my bags and would want to give her a hug etc so i decided I’d have my digital camera on video and just video her as i walk up to her.

Id been wondering how to actually surprise her and approach her, the best idea i came up with would have been great but not really possible. As they were waiting for their baggage to arrive on the carousel i would have loved to have been sat on the carousel with all the bags  going round and have come through the hole in the wall with all the luggage, just sat there, legs crossed, arms folded and video running, however i don’t want to be arrested on my first trip to Japan but it would have been classic to have been able to pull that off!

At the moment I’m thinking of finding a place in the baggage hall where i can see them arrive to claim there bags but they cant really see me, I’ll wait till Kami has her back to me and then approach her from behind and maybe just say something like, “ excuse me, can you tell me the way to Toronto ?”,  i don’t know, I’m still not sure yet and i think I’ll have to play things by ear and see what happens when i get there.

I do want to say thanks to everyone for keeping quiet about this for the last few weeks and thanks to everyone that’s helped out and kept the “secret” a secret!

I guess I’ll sign off for now and will add more below when i arrive in Tokyo.

Just got to my hotel, i booked a hotel at the airport that has a shuttle bus and is only 5 minutes away from the terminals. Kami and Mark arrive tomorrow at around 3pm. Its 3am Thursday eastern time here and 5pm Thursday Tokyo time! I’m gonna go have a dip in the hotel pool and then hit the bed, i don’t have to check out till 2pm tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to get a good nights sleep tonight.

Crossing for men with hats only                   Narita airport, it was cloudy but 75`           Like you wouldn’t know where you were ?

 

Ok its 10pm, i had a shower watched some TV and went to sleep about 8pm Tokyo time, i feel like I’ve been sleeping for the last 12 hours but its only been 2 hours! I’m now wide awake and that's because its 9am in eastern US, time to get up! so I’ve just put the kettle on and I’m having a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and gonna watch an episode or two of Dexter:)

Mark just sent me a couple of e mails so he and Kami are awake, i sent Kami a message on Facebook last night when i got here but then realised it was 3am eastern time so told her i was awake as i couldn't sleep! she just messaged me 10 minutes ago to say she was shattered after her day at the DMZ in North Korea and is going to bed which is great as i replied and said we’ll chat tomorrow, which of course is her day of arrival here, D Day!

My hotel for tonight                                         My toilet              with buttons!        and instructions!

   

To be continued…..