The Flight

The flight was uneventful. In a very clear weather we able to see the city of Archangelsk and the westernmost (I think) of the great Siberian rivers meandering. Above Siberia the pressure went down to 800 mb and the flight was a little rough for some time. Somewhere on the tundra I saw a single light source.

It was quite boring. Kummari saw several movies and I tried to read until I noticed that Kummari had started to watch "Ravintola Lokki" - a movie that I had missed. I thought Id see it on DVD but now I saw it when four jet engines were roaring in front of me. I liked it very much. A sympathetic film and I must visit Lokki some day.

The Sea of Japan was the next sight of interest. I took some pics. Some time after that one could see the mountains of Japan in the frontal camera of the plane. Soon we were engulfed by the clouds and when we came under them we were above Japan. Lots of mountains but we had not a glimpse of Fuji-san.

A smooth landing and we got our gear, Japan Rail Passes and Kummari got his rental mobile phone. We took Narita Express to Shinjuku where we changed trains to one we thought would go to Koenji but it stopped at Nakano. A friendly woman pointed out that the train would be getting back towards Shinjuku and we stepped out and JR personnel pointed the right platform for us.

At the Koenji station Kummari called our landlady and we walked to our apartment at Koenjikita. These 18 square meters would be our home next three weeks. A six tatami bed room, a small hall/kitchen and a Yamaha bathroom.