Tokyo (Day 1).

I arrived in Tokyo at about 2 in the afternoonb local time, but didn’t reach my hotel until about 5. The trip from Narita Airport to Shinjuku took a little more than an hour, but the main deal is that I was made to undergo a full search at the Customs in the airport. Not too sure why the officer picked me, but I had a good time chatting with him using my limited Japanese.

After reaching the hotel, the few of us decided that we want to watch the game between Japan and China going on at the Ajinomoto Stadium, so we set our foot off to the stadium. When we got there, we went to the stand with the Chinese fans – there were quite a few of them with the majority being students who are studying in Japan. Managed to see a few people who spoke Cantonese, and hopefully they would be in the stadium to support the Hong Kong team tomorrow when they take on the Koreans.

The game between Japan and China wasn’t exactly a classic, and in fact to a certain extent it was a bit dull. Both sides didn’t really have clear cut chances, and when one did finally come, the Chinese striker managed to miss the penalty which was awaded to them after Yuji Nakazawa (or was it Marcus Tulio Tanaka) handled in the box. So the game finished 0-0, and it looks like it will make for an interesting tournament.

Besides the game, I think the highlight of today is that it was really cold here in Tokyo! When we touched down, it was about 6 degrees. And then while we were inside the stadium, I was so cold that I was literally wrapping myself with whatever I could find! I was secretly cursing myself for not wearing my down jacket to the stadium, as I thought my 4 layers of clothes would be enough – big mistake! After the game, when I was on my way back to the hotel, it was apparently 2 degrees outside!

Anyway I’ve got the pictures of my adventure in Tokyo so far posted in FB, so if you are interested please go there to take a look. And tomorrow I’ll be making my way to the National Stadium for the game between Hong Kong and Korea – but not before I attend a church service at the Tokyo Baptist Church. I hope the experience in a Japanese church would be interesting.

See everyone tomorrow.