* * * * * Flag of Japan In its service to Los Angeles, Singapore Airlines included a night stop at Tokyo. Departing Singapore on 11th December 1987, I flew this route for the first time, and would thoroughly enjoy doing so for the succeeding five years. The city of Tokyo sprawls inland from the northwest edge of Tokyo Bay. It’s the most populous city in Japan, and the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Once a year I’d spend one night there (shudder), similar to visiting a gigantic anthill swarming with tens of thousands of scurrying Japanese. If you can’t read or speak Japanese, don’t wander too far from the hotel. Why? No one speaks English and all the signs are in Japanese. Less than thirty minutes south of central Tokyo lies Haneda Airport, with three runways right on the waters’ edge of Tokyo Bay. During this period it was used primarily for domestic flights. The airline billeted us at a cold and sterile, five-st