Japan 2026 - Day 1 / Flight, Arrival, Tokyo

Japan! Finally.

We were supposed to go in 2009, but our tour got cancelled and we never got around to planning a new trip until now.  In hindsight, I am happy about it because looking back on all my trips, I always have better and clearer memories where we've done it all on our own instead of just blindly following along on a bus tour.

Having said that, the planning for this trip was not as enjoyable as usual. It felt like homework instead of fun research - so much to learn and I didn't have the heart nor the time. It got to a point where I started to feel overprepared and overwhelmed... I wasn't having fun.

And the flight?? UGH I was dreading it!!!  Although lucky for us that it was direct, it's still 13 hours in a cramped tin can.  In all honesty, if Frank had told me along the way: Let's go to France or Italy instead, I would have jumped on the opportunity.

Things started to turn around a LOT when my Fairy God Mother intervened and got us a free upgrade on the flight to business class.  How did I get so lucky? Now the part I was dreading the most was the part I was looking forward to the most, and this little boost put me in a better headspace about it all and I started to get more excited about the trip. 

The fun started at the airport with the Maple Leaf Lounge access. I have never experienced an airport lounge before and I was looking forward to it! Because of the flight time, we arrived for breakfast which is not my favourite meal, but it was all good AND they had sparkling wine so I could feel a little celebratory.

Hard to take pictures against the window, but you get the idea - it was very comfy and we had a perfect perch to see our plane coming in. I have never seen a plane from this angle before!

And so how was the flight? Great! I am spoiled for life now, and it was so comfortable that time seemed to pass quickly and overall it felt like a short journey.

I did lie flat to sleep for a few naps, but mostly I stayed in super-reclined armchair position. It was so cozy and relaxed that I think I slept more deeply in that position.

I didn't quite succeed at taking a shot of my entire pod, I would have had to hang from the ceiling, but you can clearly see how I was not short on leg room!...  or drink options!

The food was good - bottom line it's still airplane food, but presentation helps! How nice to have a table cloth, plates, and a proper napkin. 

And cheese for dessert! Hello!

We left Montreal after lunch on Monday and landed in Tokyo around 3:30PM on Tuesday

Another perk of our flight upgrade was a Fast Pass through customs, I was not expecting that  - bonus!

We were staying in the Shinjuku City part of Tokyo which was about 90 minutes from the airport to Shinjuku Station - the busiest in the world but we navigated it quite fine. Our hotel was in the Kabukicho District, with all the typical neon-lights and frenetic-vibes I imagined Japan would offer. My head was a on swivel and I wanted to stop and take pictures but we were dragging our bags and getting swept along in the sea of people so it was impossible. I did manage to take this video while walking that  captured our first glimpses, it was around 6:30PM by then.

Our hotel was nice, I am cheating here with a picture of it from the next morning

I booked this hotel sometime in January / February... and I DID NOT remember that the mattress bed was on the floor. I just remember being sold on "King Size". Thankfully it was quite comfy, but it became tedious over the week to crawl around at 2AM for a pee break! I slept on the right side by the window and had to crawl over Frank to get up since that little round table took up all the space at the foot of the bed.

The bathroom was ENORNOUS, but the sink was in the entrance of the room instead of in the actual bathroom. Hard to tell from this picture, but beside the toilet was a shower room with a bathtub in it, you don't stand in the tub to shower but in the room.

All very clean and thankfully quiet despite the neighbourhood and the blackout curtains were excellent! Good thing too because the sun comes up nice and early at 5AM! Here's the view from our window at 5:48AM. Full on day time feeling.

 

We unpacked our bags and set off to get a quick bite to eat before calling it a day. We immediately were challenged by the food options. We were tired, a little crabby and just wanted to relax with a bite. We had no energy for translating or making new discoveries at this point so we ended up in small shitty bar and had an edible hotdog and a drink.  Just something to plug the hole before crashing after a very VERY VERRRRY long day.