Okay, it's about time for some catch-up I think! I'm very sorry about the huge gaps between posts at the moment, but things keep happening, and then nothing happens, and then huge things happen!
But the really huge huge thing is my family's visit last week. The original plan was for them to come to Japan for my birthday (9th April) but because the Church decided that Easter would be early this year the school holiday didn't coincide (for the second time in my entire life!) with it. Of all the years to make it early!
But anyway, they booked the holiday, having to miss my birthday by a mere four days. It still worked well, as it was very close to the halfway point through my trip, and split it into two bitesize pieces of being away.
The morning they arrived, another of my housemates moved out. It was very sad as I like him a lot. I had gotten him a small leaving gift, because he always chatted to me when I was feeling down or homesick, or just felt like talking to someone! And he never complained when I babbled away for hours about nothing in English, and asked for random translations to Japanese. I think that deserves knighthood, but unfortunately that gift wasn't at my disposal so a book had to do!
After saying my farewell (he has visited since then and still lives in Tokyo so I will meet up with him again), I headed out to Narita Airport to meet my family.
I took the Keisei line, which originates from Tokyo as the Toei Asakusa Line and then transforms past Oshiage station into an above-ground train. This was a hideous mistake. There was no direct train to Narita Airport, and I ended up changing train four times along the route until I finally found one that could actually take me there. It was ridiculous. On the way back to the airport when my family left we used the JR Sobu line from Tokyo station, which was direct. But if you want to use the Narita Express (N'EX) then you need to reserve. There is also a Skyliner from Ueno station.
My mum rang me when I was two stops away saying that they were waiting in the Arrivals Lounge and the plane had arrived half an hour early. Surprisingly, her phone worked in Japan as it was quad-band and 3G. I don't think any other phone types work in Japan at the moment.
I arrived at the station (the train stops at Narita station first but this is the town, not the airport, then Terminal 2, and finally Terminal 1, which is called 'Narita Airport') and a sign said that my bags would be inspected at a checkpoint, but they just asked for ID. Passport or Alien Card is okay.
I had a choice between North or South Arrivals Lounge, and naturally I chose the wrong one. I walked round to the other and ambushed my family. I saw my mum first, and ran forward to give her a hug. She told me that my youngest brother, Dominic, was waiting at the entrance downstairs, and I should go down and see him.
I found him, then we went to find my middle brother and dad. It was so incredibly surreal, and so incredibly amazing, to see them in Japan.
Just like me, none of them had slept on the plane journey over but they were all wide-awake with excitement. We had a bit of lunch in the airport, but I couldn't eat anything because my stomach was so jumbled up with emotion.
After that, I bought our Limousine Bus tickets from the counter, and we wheeled the luggage out to the front. It was exactly like my first day in Japan, which added to the surrealism.
We didn't have news to catch up on, as we email and Skype each other regularly, so we chatted about random things, just like normal. I was the guide right from the off, translating signs and annoucements, pointing sights out from the window of the bus.
We hit bad traffic on a road into Tokyo and my brothers and mum closed their eyes to get some energy back but my dad was busy reading the travel guide and asking me questions about the language. During our conversation he pointed at me as he said something, like people do naturally, and I was shocked to find that I was really taken aback by the forwardness of the gesture. I have been careful to always use open hand gestures when indicating direction or a person. If you want to point to yourself, you should point to your nose, and never use a direct motion towards another person. So that was interesting as I hadn't realised how 'Japanised' I may have become.
The journey from Narita Airport to Tokyo City Air Terminal (TCAT) was meant to take 55 minutes, but I think it must have been more like 90. I live very close to TCAT and my family's hotel was about 15 minutes walk from there. They stayed in a new Toyoko Inn, which was surprisingly cheap, and very convenient as it was so close to me.
I took them to the hotel, pointing things out from my local area as we went. They couldn't check into their hotel until 4pm, and it was only noon or something. Getting up early makes the day a lot longer!
We left our luggage at the hotel, and went to find some lunch. We went to my local supermarket, Daimaru Peacock, and bought some ready meals. This is not as bad as it sounds, Japanese ready meals are surprisingly good quality.
Of course, it started to rain as soon as we sat down outside, but we didn't care. We were together!
After that, I showed them my local shrine, Suitengu Shrine. My mum got her fortune from the fortune telling drawers. You put Y100 in the slot, and then shake one of the wooden cylinders full of thin wooden straws, then tip it upside-down until one comes out. Then you match the number painted on the stick to the right drawer (the numbers are in kanji) and take a fortune slip from the drawer. If it's bad then you can tie it to a string nearby and give it back to fate, but you can keep it if you like it. Unfortunately, I couldn't decipher my mum's so we don't know if it's good or bad!
Everyone was pretty tired after that, so I took them back to my guesthouse via a Doutor coffee shop and showed them my home. It was really nice to be able to show them my life, so they could have an image to attach to the information and stories I'd told them.
After a bit of recovery, we went back to the hotel and had some dinner, and sorted luggage out. Everyone then went to bed, except my dad because he was still hungry and went to a ramen (noodle) restaurant nearby.
My family had difficulty sleeping that night due to jetlag and maybe a bit of excitement, but I slept quite well.
The next day it was time to start the itinerary I had made for the holiday. Everyone needed to be well rested because it was very full!
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