Japan

Setting out It’s a 12 hour direct flight from DEN (Denver International) -> NRT (Tokyo Narita), which is both long and exhausting—but better than connecting I guess. Watched a bunch of movies on the flight, including Weapons (creepy, but cool) and also Bugonia (love Yorgos Lanthimos + Emma Stone). Upon landing, we considered shipping our roll-on suitcase ahead of us to Sendai, but when the clerk told us it might take an extra day or two due to snow-related delays, we opted to carry it with us. Got our Suica welcome IC cards, loaded with 5,000JPY each, and then hopped on the train into central Tokyo, Asakusa station. Looking out the window of the cramped train I spotted a “Fun Spot”-looking mall + amusement park, watched tiny vans and cars ride alongside the train, and tried to begin absorbing the language being broadcast to me in huge symbols of varying fonts. ...