Boston to Tokyo

An auspicious start- 4:30 am wakeup only to find no limo waiting, and according to the dispatcher- no record of our reservation. Martin got a 5:45 wakeup call and as he stumbled down the stairs, our limo arrived.
We got to the airport to find that our flight to Newark was cancelled. A supervisor made a quick change to put us on the 6:30 jam-packed flight. A few hours in Newark and we started our 13 hour flight to Tokyo, a 777 surrounded by children. The flight was horribly long- especially with a choice of “My Dog Skip” or 70’s TV sitcoms for entertainment.
We arrived in Tokyo for a simple immigration/customs procedure. Everything works here- it’s like living inside a watch. The bus to the hotel ($33/each) ran like clockwork with an announcer for each bus- timing its’ arrival to within 30 seconds.
We timed our arrival perfectly- the start of their 3-week rainy season. We got to our hotel, the New Otani (a deal with our 50% discount- the room was only $175/night). It came complete with in-room fax and programmable toilet. We dumped our bags and went up to the rooftop bar. $9.00 for a draft beer- our first experience with Japanese sticker shock!