Day 8: Final hours


On Friday there was news that a typhoon was threatening Japan.  Fortunately it was not predicted to hit Tokyo before we left.  However, by the time we were due to check out of the apartment it had begun to rain.  Our intention was to go to Akususa but when we got to Shinjuku the rain was very heavy making a decision to stay inside the most sensible one.  We booked our seats on the Nex, the express airport train which would take us to Narita.  Then it was making a decision on what to do for a couple of hours before went back and got our bags and headed for Narita. While we were standing contemplating our choices, three lovely helpful Japanese people came up and asked if we were lost.  We told them what we wanted to do, which was to and eat, and they suggested a place to go. Their advice was taken and we found a  popular restaurant, it had a queue of people waiting to be seated.  when served the Japanese version of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  It was pork or seafood covered with panko breadcrumbs and deep fried.  It came with the usual pickled vegetables and shredded cabbage.  It was delicious.

Then it was time to collect the bags and head for the airport.  The rain had eased off and we quickly got to our local station, took the train two stops and then found our way through the crowds to the correct platform at Shinjuku Station.  We had a short wait before the Nex glided in and we quickly secured our luggage, found our seats and then watched as Tokyo slid past us and before we knew it we were in the countryside.  An hour and a half later we arrived at our station.  

The next part was a very painless exercise.  In a jiffy we had our bags tagged and our boarding passes in our hands; at security helpful people put our stuff through the scanner and then we went find somewhere to sit. 

The only hiccup was that once we were on the aircraft there was a delay while they waited for air traffic control to give permission to push back and start as there was a bit of congestion on the runway.  Before we knew it we were in the air and on the way back to New Zealand. 

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