Quick Tokyo facts
• The population of Tokyo and surrounding areas is roughly 12.06-million. Japan's population is more than 126-million.
• There are four major islands in Japan with more than 4,000 smaller islands.
• This is the start of the rainy season in Japan, but weather.com predicts a high of 83 with no chance of rain for Saturday's game. The humidity should be above 85 percent.
-- Source: Japan National Tourist Organization
TOKYO - The floor bounced from his booming voice, the walls shook from his laughter.
You could hear the ferocious footsteps as Warren Sapp prepared to take over Tokyo.
Then he walked by fluttering a yellow, paper fan like a 300-pound geisha.
"You know I get a souvenir wherever we go," Sapp said, flapping the fan, called a sensu.
Who said Sapp isn't fan friendly?
Certainly not the employees of the Tokyo Dome Hotel, who scurried to check in the weary world champions after their 15-hour flight arrived early Wednesday.
Sapp, however, was missing a roommate.
Defensive Player of the Year Derrick Brooks did not make the trip because he is attending to his ill mother in Pensacola and won't play in Saturday's American Bowl against the Jets.
"It's just a personal matter he's dealing with at home," coach Jon Gruden said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with him."
Gruden, a self-proclaimed insomniac, said he spent the Bucs' first overseas trip studying the Jets and Dolphins and making preparations for Saturday's preseason opener.
"I get a little stir crazy after an hour and a half and you know there's 13 hours to go," Gruden said. "It was overwhelming. You know what I mean? It was an experience. I made it half a leg. I'm proud of myself.
"I didn't sleep. ... Obviously, we've got to do some work for this game. It's a little bit different because we don't have the quarterback-to-coach wireless communication system. We're using wristbands, so we worked on that and the scripts and organization, so we know what we're going to do here the next couple of days."
Most Bucs players fought to stay awake for a team meeting and didn't venture out of the hotel with a few hours left before curfew.
They were exhausted by a marathon trip that included a two-hour layover in Chicago before flying over Canada, Alaska, the Bering Strait and the Pacific Ocean. Players stretched out comfortably in a Japan Airlines 747, many either in business class or occupying an entire row of seats.
The Bucs left at 10 a.m. Tuesday and touched down at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, Tokyo time. They breezed through customs and had a 90-minute ride from the airport to Tokyo.
"We watched a lot of movies, talked to each other, ate a lot of food," quarterback Brad Johnson said. "It's a long trip, but it's good to get on land and get back to catching up on your sleep and rest and get back to football."
Johnson is no stranger to the Far East. He was part of a Vikings team that played Kansas City in '94 in Japan and has had passports stamped in NFL Europe.
"I've done this trip before," he said. "It's really kind of how I earned my job. I had a good game, and it was big for me to come out here.
"Living in the World League, it was 12 weeks of this. You weren't staying in nice hotels. The food was bad, and living was tough. But it just makes you thick-skinned for everything. You really don't blink at anything that happens that's pretty bad. Like One Buc (Place.)"
Despite being held out of practice Monday with a sore throwing arm, Johnson will start against the Jets and play a series or two.
Gruden said backup Shaun King will relieve Johnson in the first quarter and likely will start the second half before giving way to rookie Chris Simms.
Also left in Tampa was tight end Todd Yoder, who is suffering from dehydration and wouldnot have benefited from the flight.
But the absence of Brooks and Yoder means more action for young players trying to earn roster spots.
"Every year in training camp somebody bursts upon the scene," Gruden said. "We've got a couple guys like that. I know the Jets have a lot of guys in their locker room feeling the same. There are five preseason games. You've got to use them."
The Jets arrived in Tokyo nearly an hour before the Bucs but did not arrive first at the hotel because coach Herm Edwards had his team stop on the way from the airport for a brief workout.
Edwards, an assistant for six seasons under former Bucs coach Tony Dungy, has a history with football in Tokyo.
"This is my third time being here," he said. "I went with Kansas City, and this is actually where me and Tony met. In 1977 we played in a college all-star game in Olympic Stadium.
"What we did today, when we got off the plane, we went to another field and we just needed to get out of the plane and stretch a little bit. That's what we did, we got the blood going. ...
"The offensive linemen, the problem with those guys on a 13-hour flight (is) they gain 10 pounds apiece eating. It ain't happening. When they hit the ground, they knew they were going to run."
There was little time for the Bucs to rest. They practiced Wednesday night, Tampa time, at the Tokyo Dome, which has not been converted to a football field because of a Yomiuri Giants baseball homestand. Gruden was concerned about practicing on a field that wasn't lined.
"That's exciting," Gruden said sarcastically. "We don't need to work on hash splits or anything like that. ... This is all going to be very exciting."
For the record, lines were painted in time for practice.
