I’m finally at Tokyo!!!! I had arrived a few days earlier, but never had the time to blog. I finally have a bit of time to do some blogging. So what happened the past few days? A LOT. Let’s start with my flight to Tokyo. So my company helped my book my flight, and I was travelling with Air Canada but AC messed up. They overbooked(over-sold) their tickets and I was put on waiting-list. But luckily I was able to get onto the plane because I got there early to the gate and waited in line to tell them that I need to leave for Japan today. Now I think about it, I didn’t really had to get to Tokyo that day but a day later. That is what happen to other new employee working in Rakuten. He lives in the same building as I and is from Toronto. He was suppose to be on the same plane but unluckily (luckily) he was able to get on the plane. So he had to arrive Tokyo one day later, which didn’t make much of a difference. Anyways, after I got on the plane, it was a nice 13 hours flight. It has been a while since I was on a plane for that long. Last time was to England and I think that was only 8 hours. So 13 hours wasn’t too too bad. I gotten a window seat, so I got to enjoy the view. I arrived in Japan like 3.30 PM local time in Japan because we had delays taking off. It was because of all the last minute luggage getting onto the plane.(aka my luggages, since I was like the third last person to get on). From the airport I took the express train and the taxi to my hotel. I was stuck in custom for a very long time. I waited in line for like an hour to get my residence card. It took so long that my luggage was removed from the carousal, and I had to go to the counter to ask for it. I was freaking out at that time, but luckily people at the airport could speak English. The express train usually cost 3300 Yens but if you are a travelling with a foreign passport, you can get a discount for 1100 Yens. So as cheap as I was, I decided to get it. THat took other hour because you had to wait in line to get the special discount, and the line was LONGGGG. After that it was straight to my hotel. The hotel was a lot bigger than I thought, the hotel was right beside our company. So I was able to walk around the neighbourhood and check out our company building. Its pretty huge and there is a lot of things near us. So that is good.

The next day, I met the other international employees from Rakuten. There were like 10 of us. We were all from different part of the world. And it seemed that I was one of the few who didn’t know Japanese at all. Most of them can understand some Japanese. I guess its time for me to learn Japanese as fast as I can… I really want to learn it as fast as I can so that I can order FOOOD! Anyways, the first day didn’t do much. We went to our apartment and got the certificate (proof) of residence. My apartment is not that bad. Bigger than I expected. A lot bigger, I thought I would be leaving in a very very small place. Second day we did a lot more stuff. We opened our bank account and got a cell phone plane. Cell phones planes are expensive. I’m with docomo but nevertheless I have a number in japan now!! Finally connected to the world. But Japanese plans are super expensive. THe living cost in Japan is really expensive. Transportation is good but it adds up. It is like Hong kong, cost depends on distance.

I have already been to several places. Been to a shrine in Shinjuku, and went up a tower to see the view of Tokyo. Went to the fish markets and Sky Tree. Ate a variety of different food. So far so good. Work starts in a few days and I haven’t really settled down yet. My place is still a mess (didn’t really unpack yet). Today, I finally decided to go out and buy things that I would need in a daily basis. Time to settle down in my new town, Tokyo.