Konnichiwa Tokyo!

Thanks to a Signal 10 Typhoon in HongKong, my flight from Hong Kong International Airport to Tokyo Narita was delayed for nearly 7 hours.

Apart from the hellish queues at all the eateries at HK Intl. airport and wallowing in ultimate boredom, nothing was worse than being surrounded by Chinese Mainlander tourists who are infamous for their lack of consideration and manners. But that is another travel story, which i shall leave for the days when i feel like bitching.

My flight landed in Narita at 11pm instead of the scheduled time of arriving in Tokyo at 3-ish pm in the afternoon.

By that time, Narita was closed/closing, we were the last flight in. 

The last train for the Narita Express(NEX) has left, there were no more airport limousines and taxis were out of the question. Taxi fares in Tokyo are generally very expensive!

so United Airlines (whom i flew with) decided to put us all into a coach and take us on a 2-hour drive into the city center Tokyo Station.

Still without a local sim card, I sent an email using Narita airport's free public wifi to the staff of my accommodation, who had earlier acknowledged my delayed arrival due to the airport chaos and the typhoon. 

Family Inn Saiko office hours are 8am to 10pm but they so graciously stayed opened until my arrival, which turned out to be 1am by the time i got to Tokyo Station, which was far from the inn.

"Dear Melissa-san,

 

 

Regarding Narita & HongKong airport information, it seems your flight UA78 is still in HongKong.

 

Here we send you the latest Airport bus / train times bound for Ikebukuro from Narita Terminal 1 as follows just in case. And we will open until your arrival.

.

.

.

.

.

In case of severe delay or cancel, please let us know at your earliest convenience.

We hope to seeing you tonight! :)

 

Warmest regards,

 

-----
Family Inn Saiko "

I didnt ask for any of that extra information about transportation, i was already fed up with the typhoon and its timely arrival as well as hungry and exhausted. but they so readily thought of it and provided it.

At Narita, while waiting for the coach to depart, i sent another email informing them i had landed in Narita and will be taking a taxi from Tokyo Station to the inn.

This is what i got in reply:

"Dear Melissa-san,

Welcome to Tokyo! Thank you so much for your arrival information.

Since taxi fare in Tokyo is quite expensive (over 10,000yen from Tokyo Sta. to our inn in late hours), now our staff, Mr. YUKI, is going to Tokyo main station to pick you up.

We don't know which side of Tokyo station your bas will arrive, so please call to his cellphone (***-****-****) when you approach to Tokyo station and hear an announce where your bus arrive.

In case his cellphone is not available, please call to ***-****-****. It's my cellphone! :)

Sincerely yours,

Nicholas @ Family Inn Saiko, Tokyo"

What did i do exactly to deserve this kindness.

They could have easily said, yeah we are still open at bloody 1am thanks to u, grab a taxi and get your ass here now.kthnxbye.

thereafter, I ran out of WiFi, got to Tokyo station around 130am, realise how BIG the place was and thought "oh shit i didnt even tell them where i'd meet them. GREAT." 

Thankfully i found a little police post somewhere nearby, tried explaining my situation to them in a series of hand gestures and broken English. 

The Japanese are renowned for being very helpful, even if they dont understand your language, they will go out of their way to find out what you want/ need and help you like their lives depend on it. (:

Finally they got on the phone with the Yuki-san and his son who were waiting for me at Tokyo Station.

One of the policemen left the post to walk with me to find them.

He chatted with me on the way, asking me if i like Japan and stuff.

It was rhetorical question im sure. Dude, ive only been here for less than 5 hours but I'M IN LOVE WITH JAPAN.

People of Japan, stop being so nice to me i dont deserve this T.T

In no time i was in Yuki-san's car and off to a homely inn ran by absolutely lovely Japanese people and my warm futon bed.

Thank You Tokyo. Thank You Family Inn Saiko. you are one of the many reasons why I love Japan