We are finally here!
We arrived in Tokyo's Narita International airport a little disoriented as we left on a Wednesday and arrived on Thursday. Spending around 13.5 hours in the air. After navigating customs and baggage claim we were met by Norishige Shoizawa, Section Chief of International Relations Section, Cultural and International Affairs Division for Maebashi City Hall and our translator Jalen, an American working for the city of Maebashi. We quickly learned that Jalen would be our asset, helping us to navigate Japanese culture and language during our stay.
We also discovered that our travels were not over. Despite our long flight, we were only 3/4 the way to Maebashi. We had another 3 hours by bus ahead of us. Excited about being in a new country, we spent the majority of the drive looking out of the windows.
Our first excitement was seeing the Ushiku Daibutsu (牛久大仏) or "Ushiku Giant Buddha". The statue held the record for the tallest statue from 1993–2002. It is one of the top five tallest statues in the world.
It wasn't long after seeing the giant buddha that we had our first meal in Japan.
The broth was delicious and the noodles were a Japanese word for "pig ears" because of the shape of the noodles. It was yummy and a great start to our trip.