fugume
I arrived in Japan on March 18th, with a couple of weeks to spare before classes were to start. Spent my first two nights in Shinjuku. Many thanks to Uncle Akira for help with the hotel. Here you can see the weather was nice, and I could even see Mt. Fuji from my hotel room.
Shinjuku is a very convenient first stop. The Narita Express train will take you directly there from the airport, well, via just a couple stops. Last trip to Japan I actually got off a stop early (sorry Jason), but this time around I was confident enough, and tired enough, to nap most of the way in.
At the airport I used the baggage shipping service for the first time, and sent my two largest dufflebags ahead to the school. It was surprisingly cheap, on the order of 3,500 yen ($30 US) for the both of them. Still, even after getting rid of them I was travelling with an overstuffed garment bag (thanks for the loan Dad), a small dufflebag, a shoulder bag, and a couple of jackets.