Jack Eaton- May 26,2026

    Today was definitely one of the most mentally tolling days on the trip after an already tiring day with the Great Wall and Tiananmen square behind us. After a brutal 3:30am wakeup call, we got on the bus to the Beijing airport. There we parted ways with our amazing guide Ally. After helping us throughout the week navigating China and its culture, it was a sad moment to see her go. Once everyone got checked in, and got past the unnecessarily tight security, we had a couple hours to kill before the flight. I was able to do some much needed updates to my journal at that time as were others.

 

We boarded the plane around 7:20am and I was knocked out by 7:25am. I was able to sleep for the full four hour plane ride which was amazing. We landed around 10GMT and quickly got through customs. The first thing I officially did in Japan was buy a bunch of snacks from the airport. While China was great, one thing I won't miss about it is paying with Alipay. At the airport we met with our new guide Riki and he showed us to our charter bus. On the bus ride we were able to see a large part of Tokyo and some of the main sights including the Tokyo Skytree tower.

 In total, the bus ride took about an hour from the airport to the hotel. We then each split up into our respective rooms and were able to relax for an hour before meeting back in the lobby for some sightseeing. We checked out Asakusa street which is a big shopping street with some old temples as well.

 We were given some free time to roam the streets and by coincidence, a large number of us ended up in Uniqlo and bought some clothes for amazing prices. Around 6:30 we met up for dinner which turned out to be a multi course meal filled with amazing dishes. Just to name a few: Bamboo shoot and wakame salad, Japanese black wagyu hot plate, Chicken steak with mentaiko butter sauce, and Temari chirashi sushi with clams and rapeseed blossoms. After dinner, we all went back to the hotel to get some much needed rest after the long day. Japan has already been a drastically different experience than the other countries we have been too. But resoundingly, it is becoming many of our favorite places we have ever been.