My Trip to Japan - Day 1

Sunday, October 12th 2008

On Sunday, October 12th, 2008 I flew toTokyo, Japan for a week long tour of the entire country as a part of the 2008 Seiko Media Experience.  Many thanks to Seiko Corporation for this once in a lifetime opportunity!  I've been a Seiko fan for many years - in fact the first "nice" watch my father ever bought for me when I was 16 (during a very special trip we took to Lexington KY) was a gold Seiko quartz model which I still own:

For the trip I brought my recently acquired Seko Premier:

And for for plane ride, my GMT - great for tracking two time zones with the 13 hour time difference between Japan, and back home in Ohio:

Sunday morning, Karen dropped me off at the airport, and I caught my turbo prop hour and half flight which took from Dayton, Ohio.....

...to the Toronto airport. 

I then transferred to the plane I'd be on for the 13 hour flight to the Narita Airport near Tokyo. This was my first experience on Air Canada. Fortunately, their "Executive Class" seating made the long flight go by pretty quickly.

With the push of a button, these seats can fully recline to make a completely flat bed. As it turns out, I actually was more comfortable sleeping at about a 45 degree angle than completely flat.

This nice big screen foled out which served up your choice of movies, TV shows, or video games - plenty of entertainment to pass the time:

They also have this handy electrical outlet for your laptop or to keep your phone charged so I was able to get plenty of work done along the way:

I finally arrived at Narita Airport at about 5pm Japan time. 

 

It didn't take me long to realize I wasn't in Ohio anymore - notice anything peculiar about the car which picked me up from Narita Airport?

 

 I was taken to the Conrad Tokyo located in the heart of downtown Tokyo:

   

 The Conrad hotel chain is the high end brand of the Hilton Group.  I've stayed in the Conrad Miami before, but the Conrad Tokyo was even more impressive.  Here's a shot of the 1st floor lobby: 

 

The front desk is actually on the 28th floor - here's a shot of the lounge area.  Nice view:

 

After checking in, we headed up to the my 35th floor suite:

 

 

 

 

 Check out the Japanese toilets - heated seats and electronic controls :

 

 

 I thought the toilets were perhaps unique to this upscale hotel, but I was wrong. I would learn over the next week they're everywhere in Japan.

After unpacking I was read for a little room service and had to catch up on email I'd missed over the last 18 hours of travel.

 

I had a breathtaking view of downtown Tokyo to enjoy while I worked - in the distance you can see Tokyo's famous "Rainbow Bridge."  The Reinbō Burijji?) is a suspension bridge crossing northern Tokyo Bay between the Shibaura Wharf and the Odaiba waterfront development in Minato, Tokyo

 

 

 

 

It was then time to get some sleep and try to adjust to the 13 hour time difference. Tomorrow would start with an early morning meeting with the representatives from Seiko, followed by a trip to the Seiko Institute of Horology (the Seiko Museum) and a train ride to Suwa City and first factory tour of the week.

 *All text and images contained in this review are the original work of the author, John B. Holbrook, II and are copyright protected. Use of any of the information or images without the permission of the author is prohibited.

Please note that the Author and this site are in no way affiliated with or related to The Rolex Watch Company Limited. All trademarked names, brands, models and designs mentioned herein are the sole property of The Rolex Watch Company Limited.

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