First steps on Japanese soil

This afternoon at 2 pm local time, we landed safely at Tokyo Narita Airport after a very pleasant ten-hour flight.

What will we experience in the next 3 1/2 weeks? Who will we meet and how will they welcome us? Have we thought of everything?
These thoughts and the urgent desire to reach our first destination of the trip were swirling in our heads as we left the plane.

After a relatively uncomplicated entry with a slightly longer wait time (as several planes landed at the same time), we immediately picked up our Japan Rail Pass and pocket WiFi for the next three weeks at the airport. Now we're ready to go :)

Since we saved Tokyo for the end of our trip, we immediately started gathering information for the next train to Hiroshima. From the airport, we hurried off to Shinagawa Station. From there, we took the first Shinkansen (bullet train), which took us to Hiroshima in 4 hours at a top speed of up to 300 km/h.

What a fantastic train experience! Punctual, clean, quiet, relaxed, and the staff friendly and accommodating. However, punctuality is a challenge for the inexperienced non-Japanese-speaking traveler when making transfers. The departure times are scheduled very closely. Since we had to transfer twice, we had to run to the correct platform several times.

Due to the overall long journey, our plan for the first evening was to relax at the hotel.