Our Tokyo Visit

Our Tokyo Visit

July 6^th,1992

Tokyo

We enter the hotel bobby near Tokyo train station. The hotel receptionist at the counter gives us welcoming smile. “What can I do for you sir?”

“We need your help” Rup my husband replies.

The receptionist waits.

“We want to have dinner in your restaurant, but our taxi is waiting outside. We need to pay for it. Can we get some yen in exchange of dollars?”

“Of course” the receptionist responds. He is happy to help and hands over the amount of yen in exchange of our dollars given to him.

We come out of the hotel lobby while the receptionist turns his attention to the next customer waiting. I feel a little guilty as we leave and head for the Tokyo train station instead of eating at the restaurant but we have no choice.

Yesterday after reaching Narita International Airport by Japan Airlines whcin took off from Los Angeles, we stayed in Hilton Hotel Narita which is about 10 minutes drive from the airport.

Earlier today when we boarded the JR train from Narita for Tokyo city, we are mesmerized by its speed and the sparled interior of the train. The screen showing the speed and destination is really astonishing. Rup is spellbound watching the technological innovations of this country. After about an hour in the train we reached Tokyo staion.

We got out of the train and walk around the city but stay close to the station. Admiring the landscape of the city along with skyscrapers and greeneries side by side, we stroll around for some time. We finish our lunch and do some shopping for souvenirs to take home. We lose all track of time and suddenly realize we are short of yen for our return journey.  The banks are closed now.  Running out of time, we try nearby shopkeepers for exchange of dollar with yen. But no one is ready to help us. In other countries we have visited, we have never experienced like this. It has been always easy to get local money in exchange for American dollars.

The train ticket for going back to Narita has to be purchased with yen only. As our flight to India is next day early in the morning we need to be in the hotel at Narita tonight. We are in a fix.

It is at this point that we see the hotel with the nice receptionist. My husband and I enter the hotel and we are lucky to get our yen through the trusting unsuspecting receptionist. My admiration for this country increases as we leave the hotel and I hope the receptionist does not feel bad  that we did not stay to eat at the restaurant. Despite our problem we did buy some great souvenirs. One of them is picture below.