A long day ahead of us, today we start our adventure, going to Japan for three weeks, two of which will be spend on a motorcycle, driving around the country.
It's my sixth time, but the first time for my brother. After a sort of bet (if I'd get my motorcycle license, he'd join me and we'd drive around in Japan), we're now going to fulfill it.
The airplane is full, even though it's shortly before eastern. The rest of Schiphol seems very quiet, but this flight is really booked full. The flight itself goes okay, although the footrests that JAL added to their chairs only make the legroom smaller. Still, I manage to catch some sleep, and when we arrive, I feel fairly fit. Travel by train, and then a changeover to the subway, we find ourselves at the apartment well in time.
The apartment is fairly large, for Japanese standards, so we immediately fill up the room with all the luggage we brought along. With my length, I'm not going to chance renting a Japanese motorcycle jacket and trousers, and we brought our own helmets with com-system as well. So within minutes, the clean apartment is littered with all the stuff from our suitcases.
Since getting into the rhythm means going for food at the right time, we head out, but either Sundays some of the restaurants are closed, or we've gone the wrong way. Not a lot of options, though we end up with CoCo curry, which is excellent.
Afterwards, we see a bit of the immediate surroundings (with the Hie shrine) and my brother gets his first (of many, during this holiday) hot coffees from a vending machine. The first pictures of cherry blossom as well.
I already know I'm going to miss those when this vacation is over.