Our first night in Tokyo went surprisingly smoothly. I reached my quota for minor document disasters when I left my wallet on the plane (but not passport). Fortunately the lightning bolt in my stomach realization about the missing wallet struck me in baggage claim, so we were able to find some attendants to help. As I sat there with Ben, trying to get the adrenaline and shame to subside, we talked about his past travel mishaps. I also learned "domo arigatou gozaimas" meaning "oh god thank you so much for saving my skin", which I was able to promptly use on the kind baggage claim attendant. Not that there was much in my wallet I needed: I hadn't taken out cash, and my passport was safely with me, but my picture of my puppy would have been sorely missed!

We figured out the rail line relatively easily, watching the narrow streets dwarfed by towering buildings go rushing past. Occasionally we could pick out interesting billboards. The final leg from our station to our beds was helped along by the explicit instructions from our first hostel (ryokan), as in, "Walk towards the Mr. Donuts, make a left after the AM/PM convenience store."

Reunited with Meridith, my room mate from college, who had arrived exactly 24 hours before us, we set out to find dinner and some more cash. We ended up at what must have been the McDonalds equivalent of ramen shops, but I swear it smelled so good! We slurped our ramen appropriately, polished off the gyoza, and made it back to the busy streets of Asakusa, and then to our futons on the floor. With buckwheat pillows. More about our accommodations later.

Lesson learned today: cats say "nya nya" and dogs say "wan wan"