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in Tokyo

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

My day was pretty full. Starting at 02:30, Mari and I got up to prepare to leave. I discovered that mum was still awake, having been unable to get to sleep. Just before three I woke the kids to say goodbye, then said goodbye to mum, and we left. Mari and I had packed all my things the day before, and she'd made me a small breakfast and even coffee. I was all set.

The first leg of the trip was to Minneapolis-St Paul, which I'd visited previously a destination via some old terminal. Expecting the same I was surprised to find a modern and truly sprawling set of terminals. I looked it up and found that including the military component it sits on well over a thousand acres of land and "supports" well over 80,000 jobs. It was like visiting a combination of shopping mall and entertainment district.

Then it was off to Tokyo. Unusually, I was able to sleep on the trip. I wondered if breathing through the N95 mask wasn't somehow helping with that. Then in Tokyo:

• Upon arrival, I detoured from the normal arrival line to obtain my new residents card.
• I went through customs and took my duplicate form to the shipping company that we're using to ensure that both the government and the company have their act together so I won't have to pay duty on my own possessions.
• The shipping company was so slow (everything involved paperwork; they had to photocopy the form for me to fill in) that I missed my bus and had to wait 45 minutes which put me square into rush hour, which meant that the potentially 45 minute bus trip became a solid 90 minutes, and that the following taxi ride was stretched out to a full $25 fare (we were literally at walking speed, I saw a father with a boy about two years older than our sons, with fishing rods).
• Nap.
• Mos Burger and then two gluten-free beers and a couple episodes of "Picard".

For her part, Mari got home from sending me off at the airport, took The Girl to school, then fell asleep until 15:00-when it was time to pick The Girl up from school!

Tomorrow I'll see a house that we want to rent. I also have to obtain a mobile phone contract.