Got to Ginza - Wednesday April 8th

It's 15:00 in Ginza .
We've made it to the apartment and have been welcomed by our most friendly host.
Our stay in Tokyo will be sweet, as will become apparent during my blog.

But first some telling of the trip from our lounge room  in ritzy Rosanna to the gorgeously gargantuan Ginza pad.

We left last night, Tuesday, without a hitch.

I actually managed to pack fairly lightly, albeit quite late, and didn't pack an overly large compliment of electronic stuff.
I kept it to a minimum - a couple of phones, a couple of battery packs, one laptop, a 240v Australian outlet  power-board with a Japanese Type B plug, a 1TB portable hard drive ...... and some other stuff. 
I know what you're thinking, but it's all relative when I say I packed "light" and compared to most trips I have.
Where I have done well is in the clothing department. Layers. It's all about layers.
The women folk have known about this for decades, but I have embraced the idea for this trip, for the first time.
Wear four layers of clothing above the navel and below it jocks, jeans, socks and shoes.
Same as above goes into bag, plus a few spares jocks. 
Simples! Clothing ends up weighing less than the "entertainment", as it should.

Tiz had packed days before and with total female logic. 
From her, all was planned and executed with precision, as expected. 

We got to the airport very quickly, as it seems like most of Melbourne were still away on their Easter break. 
Getting through to the international departure gate was made a little easier by using the web check in two days before.

Then came the flight. Arrrrrrrrgggghhhhhh.
Let me say right up front that I do not fly well.
Having said that I thought I would make an effort to try and make this as pleasant (bearable is more apt, when it come to me and flight) by getting some very good noise cancelling headphones. 
On my side was also the fact that the time difference is only one hour and we were flying overnight.
When I looked at all those points I would have bet this trip was going to be different to almost every other long flight I have ever had.

I'm glad I'm not a betting man as I would have lost, big time.
Amount of sleep had whilst on the plane? Zero, nothing, niente, nada, zilch, 何も!

Oh well, at least the trip was comfortable for 10 hours. Lemons ...... lemonade ........

Yay, we got in to Narita's new Terminal 3 at 9am and it was all shiny and clean and overwhelmingly pleasant to be in with all the helpful Japanese staff making sure that everyone is happy and knows what they need to do to get to where they want.  

We decided to get the limousine bus as it would drop us off closer to the apartment than the other forms of public transport. 
We bought our tickets and followed the instructions given to get out of the terminal to the pick up point.

That's when we realised that this years Tokyo spring was not going to greet us with typical mid teen to low twenties temperatures.

It was -1C! Yes, MINUS ONE CENTIGRADE!
THAT'S NOT A TEMPERTURE, THAT'S A PENAL SENTENCE.
This is where I imagine my Canadian cousins would bellow about their soft bellied Aussie cousin, as they live in a place that makes -1C feel like a very pleasant temperature indeed.
In fact I should complain less, because the temperature has skyrocketed to 2C by mid afternoon.
Thank the mighty Lord for layers, is all I have to say.

Me, at Narita, looking quite happy considering the temperature

Tiz, happy to be in Japan AND inside, out of the cold 

Gee, they're little over here! 

We settled in, not that it took much because we pack light. 

We got some ideas of where to go for a good feed from our host and he also reminded us 
that the Tsukiji Market is closed on Wednesday.
As it happened there was a very inviting tempura restaurant just across the road from the apartment and that's where we ate. It was just what we needed to revive our cold caffeineless bodies.

  

This is a little part of the welcome pack. 

I included this picture specifically for Emma

Tiz outside the Ginza Kabuki Theatre

With our first meal in Japan out of the way we proceeded to give one of the local coffee chains, Tully's, a shot. They too proved worthy of future business. 

We're now back in the apartment thawing out and planning our next few days aound the weather.

More soon ..........