Our Arrival in Japan (or.....How we lost an entire Tuesday!)

Well, after over a year's anticipation and planning....we're FINALLY in Japan!  I'm sitting in my tiny hotel room this morning.....trying to reconcile my body with the time difference.  I'm now living approximately 15 hours in the future!!  We totally lost an entire Tuesday yesterday when we flew across the international date line. The flight from Nashville to Chicago O'Hare wasn't too bad.....once we got to O'Hare, we had a 10 minute turn-around-time to get to the other terminal.  We literally ran the entire way.  I thought my lungs were going to explode and my feet fall right off before we made it!  We were one of the last ones on the plane....huffing and puffing and with a really red and sweaty face.....I made my way to my tiny seat that would be my "space" for the duration.  I think it's mean that they make you walk thru First class, Business class and elite economy to get to your own tiny cheap-seat. You get to see how the lucky few get to fly in comfort while you're stuffed into a pea pod.  haha!  Never the less, the seat was much more comfortable than on any domestic flight I've ever been on.  The stewardesses were so friendly and helpful and smiling and bowing.....the service was amazing!  The meals were actually GOOD too!  I got miso soup, a salad, a chilled vegetable  plate, tender pieces of beef in a soy gravy and some Soba noodles!  Everything was diet friendly except the noodles....and I had plenty to eat.  I did skip the cup of ice cream they offered, but got a cup of Matcha tea instead.  It was very good!   They served a second meal about an hour before we landed and it was just as good...more salad, veggies and meatballs with a pasta.  Skipped the pasta...ate everything else and was a happy girl! I did have the roll they gave us. It was all carbs....but it was DELICIOUS....and I did really well the rest of the day.  Once we got to Tokyo, we had an even shorter turn-around time, complicated by the fact that we had to go through Customs and Immigration before we could check-in for our Nagoya flight.  We spoke with the stewardess before we got off the plane, explaining the situation and they had ladies with clipboards holding up "Nagoya" signs asking for Mr. and Mrs. Griffin....they walked us and expedited us through the entire process and even though we still had to run, we made that flight too, just in time!  And they were SO gracious!! They even brought me a cup of water to help me catch my breath.  Once I got in my seat and settled down....I started crying.  I knew it was dumb....but just the enormous stress of all the rushing, the fact that by now I've been flying for 26+ hours and hadn't been able to sleep....and the anticipation of seeing Alyssa in 50 minutes....all came crashing down at once and I cried and cried for about 20 minutes.  It's so hard to look cool when you're sobbing at 30,000 feet! hahaa!  I did manage to collect myself and calm down and by the time we got to Nagoya....I was FINE.  We collected our bags and saw the most BEAUTIFUL sight in the whole world waiting for us just beyond the arrivals door...my baby GIRL!!!!!!  Needless to say, once I saw her, grabbed her and started hugging her...the tears fell again...but these tears were HAPPY ones!!
We went on a "death march" to the subway.....made more deadly by my weariness and the fact that I was pulling suitcases that didn't want to roll and the fact that there were a billion stairs and no escalators or elevators....dragging an entire set of luggage up and down 3-4 flights of stairs was brutal.  We finally made the subway and rode to Nagoya station.....where we had to negotiate another maze of steps and hallways (called wickets???) to find our connection train. By the time we made it to our hotel to check in and drop the luggage, I was a dead-woman walking....barely upright.  We dropped everything in our hotel room and walked back up to the Station where we found a plethora of cool looking cafes.  Alyssa took us to one of her favorite....Pepper Lunch.  The way you order your food is cool....you look at a giant menu-board on a vending machine.  You pick which "set-up" you want...feed Yen into machine and then push the buttons to make your selections.  The machine spits out a ticket, which you give to your waiter.  He sat us down at a table that was already equipped with chopsticks, water glasses, tongs and napkins.  They bring your food on a hot sizzling cast iron plate and the food is raw.  They put some garlicky spiced butter on top of the meat and you let the meet cook, turning it with your tongs until it's done to your taste and then you remove it from the sizzling plate onto a plate of rice. My set-up included soup and salad and veggies as well as the beef and a giant pile of bean sprouts.  I was very hungry and everything tasted SO good!  I ate my salad, my veggies and almost all of my beef....but gave my rice to Alyssa.  I tasted the corn soup...which was wonderful...but not on my diet...so I only tasted and didn't eat the whole tempting bowl.  By the time we'd eaten...I was feeling MUCH better and we walked back to the hotel and stopped at Lawson's, a convenience store located downstairs in our hotel building.  We bought water, tea and a Coke-Zero (in a gold bottle!) for the room fridge.  I've been soooo thirsty since we got off the airplane that I could drink an ocean! 
We came back up to the room and Alyssa opened her suitcase of goodies that we brought her and she wrote down directions for us to find her work tomorrow night to meet her for dinner. We snuggled for a little bit....but Steve and I both kept falling asleep (He was snoring loudly.....Alyssa and I giggled!) Alyssa finally just tucked us both into bed and kissed us good night and headed home herself because she had to work tomorrow. Our first evening in Japan went VERY well......now to rest up for the fun parts!!!!