We're finally checked in at the Southern Century Tower Hotel - it's quite nice
We're on the 24th floor with awesome views.
The flight over wasn't too bad, but it was a sold out flight so it was cramped
I managed to sleep despite the dude sitting next to me taking up my space. Overall so far I think I prefer VAustralia, but there's nothing specifically wrong with Qantas, so I can't really pinpoint why. I think the fact that Qantas seat 4 abreast in the middle, whereas VA only seat 3, makes it feel a lot more opened.
One thing I like about Qantas that VA doesn't have is that the sides of the headrest move, so it's easier to sleep while sitting up. Virgin should do that to their chairs...
It was pretty easy to go through customs and security at the airport, and then from there it was easy enough to find the JR counter to get our SuicaN'EX passes. I had a good sleep on the N'EX, as it's an hour and a half trip into Shinjuku. The announcements are done in Japanese followed by English, and they're clear and easy to understand. So it would be next to impossible to miss your stop.
We used these directions to get from Shinjuku station to our hotel
http://www.gabrielmendes.com/blog/2...wer-from-shinjuku-narita-express-nex-platform
They were really easy to follow, except the first step tells you to go up the escalators. This might change, but while we were there the escalators were only going down, so we had to take our suitcase up the stairs.
We dropped off our luggage at CST and wandered around for a few hours. We went through Shinjuku Chuo Park
And made our way to the Government building to check out the observation deck. There was a little bit of a line up for the elevators, but we maybe waited 15 minutes, but it was probably closer to 10. The deck is a fully enclosed room, with nick nacks and toys for sale in the centre, and large open windows around the sides. They also include panoramic maps alongside the windows so you know which buildings you're looking at.
There's also a tourist info centre in the government building, so we grabbed some free maps and stuff from there, and started heading back to our hotel to grab some food before trying to check in.
We came across all of these little streets, where it was obvious that we weren't in just any big city. DH was so excited because it was just lined with all of these restaurants. The majority of them seemed to be noodle houses, which usually is fine, but it's so sticky and hot outside at the moment we really wanted something cold to eat. So we kept looking until we found a sushi place. It was really good sushi, but it turns out they put wasabi on your sushi unless you ask them not to
I can't do hot food...
I'm currently trying to get my phone to accept the travellers sim that I've put in it, so I can use it for maps ect. when we're out and about. Lucky DH has such a good sense of direction, because when we went wandering earlier I got completely turned around!
We're going to have a little snooze and a shower now, and then head out again. I'll try and post photos tonight.
So exciting! That is going to fly! (no pun intended
Can't wait to hear all about it 
