Welcome to Tokyo!

I made it to Japan!! But not without a few bumps in the road.. my flight from Charlotte to Atlanta was delayed by 15 minutes and then we sat on the runway in Atlanta for 15 more minutes when we landed. I only had 40 minutes between my flights, and of course, my plane arrived in A3 and my next flight left out of E11.. so after running through the airport, I made it with minutes to spare! I was the last one on the plane, but I made it!! I was one of about 10 non-Japanese people on the flight. There were lots and lots of unhappy Japanese children surrounding me in every direction.. 14 hours of fun! The plane ride itself wasn't too bad, just rediculously long. When we got to Tokyo I had a very nice American professor help me make it through customs. He taught English as a second language at the University in Tokyo so he knew the ropes and could tell I was completely out of my elements! We all made it through customs and took the hour ride to Ginza. Ginza is the main shopping district in Tokyo where the store is located. When we got to the hotel the receptionist had our reservations starting the next day, so we had to wait around until they got us rooms for that night! We finally got our rooms and they are so sweet! I love mine!! They are very modern looking & are my favorite colors- black, white, and red!!
After we put our stuff away we went down the hotel buffett to eat. It wasn't too bad, except I would never eat 3/4ths of the stuff on it! I had steak (the very very small portion the grill man gave), rice, mashed potatoes, and a roll. No squid for me, thanks! :) We were all exhausted, so I unpacked and went to sleep, until I woke up WIDE awake at 4am!!
This morning we decided to meet for breakfast before going to the store for a meeting. First meal- Denny's!! Buuuut not like the Denny's in the states.. no Moons Over my Hamey :( They had a lot of normal breakfast foods, but then they had things like tuna salad, rice, and seafood soup on the breakfast menu. I had french toast and bacon. The french toast was good, but the bacon was still raw, so that was a no go! After breakfast we stopped at Starbucks to get some energy & it was delicious!
After our store meeting we decided to go to Shibuya. Shibuya is the young "hip" area of Tokyo where the "Time Square" of Tokyo you see in movies and tv is located. It was NUTS!! I've never seen so many people in one spot in my entire life! We ate at a restaurant called Jonathan's because we figured with an American name they may speak English or have an English menu. Wrong. The menus are all pictures with Japanese characters, no letters we understand. So we did a lot of guessing and pointing. The Japanese characters have definately been the hardest part of getting around (my Japanese-English dictionary=worthless). After dinner we headed to the Hachiko crossing, which is the intersection with the "Time Square" feel. I think we all just stood there with our mouths hanging wide open. We went to the Starbucks at the intersection and sat on the 2nd level and just watched the crowds of people, it was insane!
On the train back to Ginza we met some American college students that were doing a semester at sea. They were ported in Tokyo for 2 days and on their way to Hawaii for their last week of class. It was nice to be able to speak to someone that understood!!
We decided to stop by the grocery store on the way back to the hotel to get drinks. It was strange.. the grocery store employees all sounded like they were chattering "swing batter batter swing" at a baseball game! They were all yelling different things constantly. I have no clue what they were saying, but it was very intense! I was ready to leave after 5 minutes, haha!
I am about to go to bed now, it's about 8pm here. I am still feeling under the weather from my sinus infection and its freezing outside! It was sprinkling off and on, so I don't think it would be the best idea to go exploring outside while I'm sick!
Enjoy the pictures! I have been taking a lot just for yall :)
Oyasuminasai! (Goodnight!)