Day 12 - Travel Day to Japan

This morning we had to be out of the hotel by 5am and on a bus for a 2 hour ride to the airport.  I am going to miss the mountains.  They are so beautiful when it is not raining .  The group was split on four different planes throughout the day, but many were on my same Delta flight. that I was on.  I was never able to find a Taiwan shot glass.  Instead I got a little figurine guy that I thought was a cute souvenir.  I am used to having a variety of souvenir shops at most places I have traveled too.  Although many thing were cheap, Taiwan did not have things that I liked.  The flight was not bad.  We had to regroup to hop on a train to Shinagawa, right outside Tokyo.  A camera crew was interviewing all the foreigners as they left the airport to ask them why and what they came to Japan to see.  Dr. Laurence explained that we were here for study abroad and they asked to follow us around a little while when we are here.  It should be interesting.  We all had to do a quick interview.

The train ride was hour then the escalator at the station was broken.  I was really regretting packing so much.  After we checked in at the hotel they let us have a free evening on our own.  A bunch of us went to get pizza and pasta.  We sat outside at a nice restaurant and people watched.  I have never seen so many people in suits.  There was a business group next to us that were getting drunk, even drinking out of the pitcher.  After dinner we walked around.  We walked through a pachinko parlor.  It was the loudest thing ever!  You can not actual gamble in Japan so you win prizes and take them down the street/ally to be traded for cash.  It is really weird.  The biggest difference between the two countries so far is that they drive on the wrong side of the road and there seems to be a little less English prevalent here in Japan.