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WE ARE IN TOKYO

Our flight to Tokyo on Hawaiian Airlines featured the ususal take-off view of Waikiki and Diamond Head.

The food and service were great.  Started with prosecco, then went on to Johnny Walker Black, sake and Kirin Beer with a Japanese meal.  Followed by cheesecake, Bailey's and cognac.

Saw three films.  Guy Richie's The Covenant, which got 83/98 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, really good move, and Someone You Loved, a Korean romance film with a different kind of twist at the end.  Unexpected.
The last one was Contact, but the iPad had to be turned off when the plane approached Haneda Airport, so I missed the last few minutes.
However, I turned to Google, and found this article, which tries to explain what happened., 
  • Left more questions about the reality, except that Jody Foster playing the role of a Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence (SETI) scientist, possibly went through a wormhole and returned back again, for this was recorded in 1's and 0's, but was classifed.
  • Could have been the premise for a second film.  
  • In any case, the 1997 film and 1985 book (by Carl Sagan) endings were different, and Sagan was an
    advisor to the production.  The concept of wormholes was suggested after the book was published, so was incorporated into the story for the movie
  • My Sunday posting is usually somewhat spiritual in nature, and this film attempts, like I do, to reconcile faith and science.
  • I have a special interest in the subject of SETI, for I once worked for the NASA Ames Research Center on the Orion Project, when Nobel laureate Charles Townes and I proposed a better way to detect extrasolar planets, and later when I was a Senate staff member, helped Sagan get the initial funding for this field.
In any case, on the approach to Haneda Airport, I think that was Mount Fuji in the background.
Turns out that the more official name is Tokyo International Airport at Haneda, or Tokyo-Haneda International Airport.
We caught a cab to the Tokyo Westin for around $70.  The new executive club was still open, so we had a few drinks, salad, soup, nuts, cheese and other stuff.  Our view was of Tokyo Tower.

Went to sleep at around 10PM, or 3AM Hawaii time.  Got up and saw Mount Fuji at dawn.
Big day today, for we're off to view the cherry blossoms.  The dinner tonight is at Robuchon's, located across the street just below our hotel room.  You can see both Mt. Fuji and that mansion where the restaurant is located.

Read about various meals I've had there in the past.  If you keep scrolling, you will come to a Las Vegas Robuchon's.

Yikes, we just had an earthquake.  The whole building shook.  I'll tomorrow report on how serious this was.  Tokyo has been on the brink of The Big One for a century now.

 - 

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