I left Karlstad in the still dark morning. A small Embraer plane took me and my fellow passengers above the clouds serving us the sunrise first hand. In Frankfurt I had some hours to wait, slowly the time went by until I took my seat in the Boeing 747 bound for Tokyo. The flight went smooth and eleven hours later we circled Tokyo with Mt. Fuji magnificent guarding the misty Nippon landscape. At Narita airport I went through customs and took a train to the nearby city Narita. Since I had ten hours to kill I might as well get but a taste of Japan, a country I have been wanting to visit.

Stepping out in the bright sunshine and too warm weather, considering my clothing, I started to make my way to the Narita-San Temple which is situated about one kilometer from the train station. I was in Japan.

The one way streets I passed seemed narrow and the street was clean. One thing I immediately noticed was how I truly felt being in Japan since I didn’t see any other tourists. There were Japanese people going to school, to work, opening their shops and restaurants and making the city alive in the morning glow.

Walking towards the temple I felt this sweet and salty smell and I couldn’t understand where it came from until I saw the chefs preparing the famous Unagi (eel). The smell was a bit too much for me since I had barely slept for 24 hours, I walked on.

Arriving at the temple I was amazed by its size and the many smaller houses it was surrounded by, as well as the gorgeous park. I spent more than an hour just walking in and out of the shrines, strolling down the wonderful paths and just enjoying being there.

Being exhausted I decided to not have a local Unagi for lunch and instead head back to the airport, which later I found a very good decision. I rested at the airport and took a well shower in one of their dayrooms. After I was sitting at the gate zoning in and out of sleep.

The rest of the trip went without problems and 46 hours after I left Karlstad aircraft took to the ground in Dunedin. Travelling literally across the whole earth I was grateful to have reached the destination safely. Now the real work would start

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