Tokyo

This is my third trip to Tokyo in four years. In my previous two trips I stayed no more than 2 1/2 days. This trip will be no different. I arrived at 11 p.m. on Sunday evening and will be departing my hotel for the airport at 3:30 Tuesday, right after the presentation I'm giving, for on a 7 p.m. flight.

In my previous trips, I never strayed more than one block from my hotel; I might as well have been in Chicago. I am thinking of getting up at 4 a.m. tomorrow to go to the Fish Market which I hear is very cool. Chances are I will be awake anyway since this trip wreaks havoc on me.

It took me 21 hours, door to door, to get to my hotel in Tokyo from Ramat Shiloh. I flew El Al to Hong Kong (10.5 hours) and, after a 2 hour layover, went the rest of the way to Tokyo (a four hour flight). The bus ride from the airport to the hotel took over an hour and a half on a Sunday evening when there was no traffic. The bus ride back is scheduled to take over 2 hours. (Taking a cab from the airport costs around $250).

The saving grace is that I flew business class and that the hotel I'm staying at is first class (The Four Seasons at Chinzan-So). Nevertheless, this trip wipes me out and it takes me a long time to recover. It's very hard for me to reconcile spending all this time traveling, and getting so messed up, for, effectively, a one-hour presentation. But, that's the way it is.

The only reason I'm posting now is because it is delaying me from having to prepare my notes for tomorrow's presentation. I've procrastinated long enough. I have to do some work.