JL3052 FUK NRT 0720 0905 738 3C

We upgraded again for the Y1000 or $8. It was as expected
and hoped for a nothing flight. We took off and landed if
anything a tad early. So what to do for 8 hours? Visit
Narita Town, which some say is a huge waste of time, but
others find it wonderful, which we did, even though it was
drizzling and cool the whole day.

From the airport station it's a 10-minute train ride for
two or three bucks (day pass is something like $4); coin-
operated lockers in the airport so we didn't have to lug our
luggage on our adventure.

The local train is appointed more like what we would think
of as the subway, with hard bench seats and straps for
rush hour.

Overlooking town is the temple complex built atop Narita-San
mountain: you walk up the main road past shops, restaurants,
and the Jet Lag bar, and in ten minutes you're there, if
you take the right road, which I initially did not (a
helpful policeman helped us get on the right track). When
you get there it's really quite extensive and busy as
anything, with hordes of tourists from the city and actually
not too many foreign gawkers such as we. We spent maybe four
hours in the soaking mist-rain, my shoes squishing as I
walked, but I didn't notice, the architecture was so
wonderful. At one point we walked in on a wedding in one
of the temples, augmented by tourists crowding in to get out
of the rain, which was kind of interesting, though I saw
little or nothing of it. When our stomachs started rumbling
we decided to head back down, and as we went past all the
little restaurants, numerous smiling touts came out to greet
us, but we figured we'd get a better deal down by the train
station.

Oh-Sho is a slightly ratty little place, but when we passed
it something told me this was the real deal. Little did I
know that it is an outlet of a chain - didn't look chainlike
to me, and in fact each of the restaurants has considerable
leeway in presenting itself, both in appearance and menu.

Speaking of which, there's an English (sort of) menu with
pictures, very helpful. It's a Chinese restaurant.

After we were greeted, it was quite a long time before our
order was taken, and quite a long time before we were
served. I think my comical lack of Japanese might have had
something to do with it - some big Dutch-looking guy and
his party were served in half the time, but then he was
speaking what sounded like fluent Japanese. Anyhow, our
food was eventually ordered and delivered and was very good.

For a special treat I ordered hormone with miso. This is
pig intestines and uterus chopped into bits, cleaned,
boiled, and then stir-fried in brown sauce with, in this
version, onions both white and green. The meat was tender
- too tender for my preference - and totally clean-tasting
- perhaps too much so for my preference, as part of the
appeal is the, er, gaminess that almost inevitably escapes,
though not apparently in the Japanese version. Nonetheless,
I ate most of it happily enough.

lili's treat was fried chicken, six boneless nuggets three
or four times the size of fast-food nuggets, served with a
sort of slaw dressed with pink stuff and corn kernels. The
chicken was fresh and tender and didn't have a lot of
distracting flavors to put her off.

And of course gyoza, which were excellent - thin wrappers
pan-fried just so, the filling fairly plain, pork, soy,
and chopped scallions, just the way my mother used to
make it. A wonderful goodbye to us from this town, which
is lovelier than its reputation.

Three minutes through the drizzle from the restaurant to
the train, which took us to the airport a little before 3.

As she was flying American and I was flying United, there
was no chance to have parting drinks together, so we went to
our separate clubs. I thought of the more glamorous options,
but there wasn't all that much time, so I just went to the
United Club, which was not hugely crowded, so I had a shower
with no wait and then settled in for an hour with a glass of
mediocre Kirin brandy and some quite pleasant cream-filled
sponge cake things in various colors.

Boarding was fairly orderly, that's to say not the usual
rest of the world scrum but then not the normal Japanese
straight queueing up either.

UA 882 NRT ORD 1730 1510 744 15A

I was fairly late to board, so my bag wasn't all the way
back in the closet.

Some mechanical weirdness, and we were delayed half an
hour taking off.

My seatmate was a young Japanese fellow whose taciturnity
was agreeable to all.