1/20/03 - 12:30pm or so
Sitting on the plane, surrounded by infants and small children, cramped into a window seat with no leg room whatsoever, about to endure a nine-and-a-half hour flight. Our captain's name is Lance. It can only get better from here, right?

1/21/03 - 3:15pm or so
Arrived in Tokyo. It's a clear day -- the next day, I might add -- and it appears to be the land of the setting sun. Flying in, we got a clear view of the Japanese landscape, which is tightly and neatly organized, as one might expect I guess. It seems that every inch of land is being used… neatly spaced fields fit snugly between tiny pockets of housing. Even the trees that dot the landscape are bunched tightly, and these small groves are placed perfectly within the patterned landscape. The little I saw from the plane didn't seem particularly exciting or attractive, but even the evenly quilted shades of brown trees and tan fields offered something unique.

Sunset at Narita Aiport

Narita Airport is very clean, spacious... and empty. Perhaps it's the extremely high ceilings, or the giant windows that stretch from floor to ceiling. These grand panes are 75% shaded by mesh blinds, but they still manage to magnify the sinking sun, cranking the heat in here several extra degrees.

Checked out the bathroom too. Urinals seemed normal, as do the sinks, but I passed a stall that simply had a hole in the ground. I can't be certain if this is some bidet-related entity, but my fear of falling in or being discovered while staring at this lavatorial (lavatorical?) marvel outweighed my curiosity.