Tokyo: Day One: 2010-07-19
The wedding went great, the rehearsal was a ton of fun, as was the ceremony. I spent the entire ceremony trying to make Diana laugh, and I succeeded a few times, really helped with my nerves. Had a bet with the justice not to say awful wedded wife, supposed to be lawful, so I said waffle leaded life. Came close to making the justice crack up. It feels weird having the ring on my finger, I'm not sure if it is too tight or not, I'll give it a few weeks and see if I get used to it. Did a lot of dancing and drinking at the wedding, tried talking to everyone but it's hard when there are so many people and you start getting wrapped in a conversation and don't want to leave; I'm not a good mingler. I was saddened a few of my friends weren't able to make it, and they never informed me they weren't coming until I called them after the ceremony, but I understand why they didn't come.
The flight was exhausting, I didn't realize flying could be so tiring. Slept/read pretty much the whole way and by the time we got to Japan we just wanted to collapse. Have been reading The Dome by Stephen King on the flight, picked it up in Winnipeg; about halfway through right now. It's not like his previous works, it hasn't really captivated me as much as The Cell or The Stand, there have been a few parts where I've become involved in, but not so much for the characters but the scene. When he breaks the fourth wall it just doesn't feel the same, like it's more forced. That is not to say it's not a good book, it is, it's just not as good a book as I would expect from King.
There was a bit of a rush when we got off at Beijing, as our flight left 20 minutes after we landed, but when we found the gate we discovered we weren't late and they just moved the boarding time up. On Our way home we will have more time for departures. I've apparently already broken a few cultural taboos, did not know you're not supposed to touch the door on a taxi cab, I just opened it for Diana when we got in, and got out myself when we stopped. Also all that sleep gave me a lot of hard dry boogers that were making breathing difficult, so naturally I picked them out, which Diana has told me is a big taboo here. When we got to the hotel there was a bit of a problem getting our room since Diana lost our confirmation information, and they had us booked as leaving three days early.
I really regret not learning more Japanese, at least basic phrases, I'm sure we'll manage, but it would of been really nice to of known some. I've already forgotten the few words the customs official taught me, which is probably one of the reasons I haven't learnt more, I don't have the memory for it. The hotel is huge, the lobby is over-powering and they have bellmen that take your luggage out of the car and wheel it to the front desk, where they then lead you to your room, never been treated like that before, like in the movies, I'm used to doing everything myself. Diana says I have to get used to letting people serve me here, as it's disrespectful otherwise, like helping the front desk man take out luggage into the room, I just can't help myself. So far everyone has been really friendly, which I was expecting. The airport in China was really efficient, same as the one in Tokyo, by the time he got to the baggage claim our luggage was already there, compared to Toronto where we had to wait 20-30 minutes for the luggage to start coming off the plane.