First night in Japan

So I finally finished packing around 2 AM on June 20th in New York, but decided to stay up till 4 AM reading up on tips about living with homestay families because I planned to sleep on the 16-17 hour plane ride. I got about 2 hours of sleep and then rushed over to JFK with all my bags. Why didn't anyone tell me the plane ride was sooooo horrible? Flying from New York to Los Angeles is bad enough with 6 hours, but I immediately went from that flight to the 11 hour connecting flight from LA to Narita. 11 long unbearable hours cramped in non-aisle, non-window seat. I felt my legs and especially my perpetually bent knees atrophying. Sleeping was barely possible even though I was so tired. I spent most of the time trying to sleep and maybe drifting and napping for 10-15 minutes at a time. Fortunately my friend Joe lent me his DS and I played the English Ouendan for a good 2-3 hours. Bad airplane movies + bad airplane food + super-cramped space + indeterminably long subjective duration = my formula for Hell on Earth. When I arrived at Narita, I was pretty dazed and just wanted to get a shower and brush my teeth (this was about 3 AM in Eastern Time on the 21st of June). My friend Karn is yelling that I'm a flying noob as I write this blog.
Anyway, we had a great little Dartmouth Japanese class reunion and then headed over to Hotel Springs in Makuhari where we would be staying for a couple of days before our homestay families picked us up. I took the time before dinner to shower and brush my teeth (which in itself was a strange exploration of the Japanese modern hotel room). First, I locked myself out of the room because although you are given a key to open the door, the door automatically locks itself when it closes.... Second, I did not realize until my friend Sam pointed it out that one had to hang one's key in a little slot near the door before any lights or other appliances work. Finally the bathroom is a strange world unto itself. The toilet has a bidet and shower option... which I've been reluctant to try out (Edit: Actually Karn says that he tried to shower button without sitting on the toilet and it sprayed over the bathroom floor. Sam and Karn have informed me that the toilet seats are heated too....and its really hot). Everything is pretty cramped together unlike the massive space I remember in American hotel bathrooms. Finally there's a nice little dispenser in the shower (like a hand soap dispenser) for shampoo, conditioner, etc.
After being thoroughly disoriented and lost, I sort of settled back into a normal groove when I went to dinner with the entire Language Study Abroad (LSA) group. After the buffet dinner at a variety South-Asian restaurant, some of our members and I went to the Sega Club in Makuhari Amuse Mall to try out the arcade. They had the card strategy games that my friend Kyle from Scarsdale mentioned. The game has a Yu-Gi-Oh like control board with different themes (Gundams, soccer, Medieval armies) and you have to actually buy packs of cards to play the game (amazing thing is that the board looks like it senses what card you put down and where)... I'm reluctant to try because I don't know how to play and it seems like a somewhat substantial financial commitment compared to other games that I could try to figure out for 100 yen a try. What surprised me a lot was the prominence of smoking and adults in the arcade room. There were even ash trays placed here and there for their sake. I played a couple of different games but only realized in shock afterward that a 100 yen a pop is like a dollar (more like 84 or so cents a pop)....which could be really bad if I get addicted to game centers. I think I'll save money for a lot of souvenirs/omiyage for you all (or you all who are not in Japan with me).
It only hit me after leaving the arcade and seeing a bunch of anime figurine dispenser machines lined up in the same mall that I was actually in Japan. This is craaaaaazzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyy....... :)
Sorry I haven't posted any pictures, I forgot to bring my camera with me when exploring today, but I will make sure to bring it tomorrow and start posting the pictures at least by Monday when classes start and I have access to Kanda University's computers. Ok gotta go to sleep for another exciting day.