My 2005 Trip to Tokyo

[JohnBraden]

I left O'Hare on this bird.... an old livery Boeing 747-446 JA8080 as Flight JL009 headed for Narita.... I love the 747... going to miss them now that JAL only operates Trip-7s between ORD-NRT....




It was cloudy over the Bering Sea, now made famous from the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch show....




I didn't take any other photos until I reached the hotel....something I will remedy this time around....


I arrived a day later at this place.... The Keio Plaza hotel in Shinjuku-ku....



My room was decent, albeit a bit old-fashioned.... I'm sure they've renovated since....

[JohnBraden]

So I got up, opened the curtains and was greeted with this.... the TMG (Tokyo Metropolitan Government) building.... the one that crumbles in the opening scenes of Battle Royale 2....



So I went out to the street and took another shot of my hotel....



I left the United States, but some of it always seems to go wherever you are....





It was an early Wednesday morning in March and I decided to walk to Shinjuku Central Park, on the other side of the government buildings. It was then I noticed how clean the streets are: the pavement is almost oil-free, the sidewalks are trash-free, even the cones are lined up very orderly. It was a refreshing sight....



It was a pleasant sight to see kids on their way to school....



One of the girls noticed us (my friend and I) looking at them and smirked.... it was cute....