Ohayo gozaimasu!

The hotel in Tokyo, Keio Plaza, is apparently where they filmed Lost in Translation. Some of it certainly seems slightly familiar. And it is, indeed, tres tres swank. Not that we've had much time to explore - too tired!

It's 1:30 a.m. here (Monday morning), so not much of a post here. Suffice it to say, it's been a long week. Moving on Thursday was nutso. Cleaning the apartment and then packing for Japan took all of Friday afternoon and night. We barely had a chance to enjoy our nice Novotel in Ottawa (how long ago that seems!). Our flight to Detroit on Saturday afternoon was delayed because of mechanical problems. At first we were going to stay an extra night in Ottawa (how anticlimactic that would have been), and then they told us we were going to Detroit and hopefully would catch our connecting flight, and if not, we would be put up in a hotel in Detroit for the night. Not ideal, as you can imagine. Finally somebody said, "Get on the plane now! They're waiting for you in Detroit!" Tiny tiny 40-seater plane - I'm still amazed we made it to Detroit alive - but that's another story for another day. The 33 Ottawa JETs caused some 2 or 300 other people to have their flight to Tokyo delayed by an hour and a half - whee! the power!

Long flight but I slept lots. Upon arrival, some of our bags were missing (including one of mine); apparently still in Detroit but now on their way to the Far East. There were screwups at customs, and never-ending lineups. We landed in Tokyo around 5:45 p.m. local time but did not make it to the hotel till 11:00. We have since eaten some yummy sushi and noodles (finding a little restaurant that is open till 3:00 a.m. every night), and now, dear reader, your Beloved Narrator shall lay her head down on the nice pillow on the comfy-looking queen-sized bed in her room, and she won't awake again until, uh, 7:00 or 7:30. (Breakfast is only till 8:45.) I can hear Randal having fallen asleep already, and I'm quite anxious, as you can probably imagine, to join him.