Good Morning from Tokyo!

“Waking up in a foreign land, tryin’ to act like I got something planned.”—Jimmy Buffett, Window on the World

After 14 hours in the air, we landed at Haneda Airport around 4:00 PM local time yesterday. Customs was smooth — suspiciously smooth — and just as we were bracing ourselves for the post-flight chaos, there he was: Holden, grinning outside the arrivals hall in a Celeste anime T-shirt, like some kind of pixelated welcome committee.

We’d expected a confusing transit adventure. Instead, we got a surprise pickup and a crash course in Tokyo traffic. Our 16-kilometer cab ride took one hour and forty-five minutes — proof that in Tokyo, time and distance have officially filed for divorce.

We rolled into the hotel, didn’t even bother changing clothes, and wandered downstairs for dinner. And yes, our first meal in Japan was cheeseburgers. In our defense: we were tired, dazed, and unsure which direction sushi was. Holden caught a train back to his dorm, and Jen and I were unconscious by 7:30 PM. Possibly while still chewing.

So here we are: waking up in a foreign land, pretending we’ve got something planned. We didn’t rehearse this trip. We didn’t make color-coded itineraries. We just showed up — passports in hand, eyes still a little blurry, ready to see what unfolds.

The adventure begins today — after 11 hours of glorious, unplanned sleep.