Departure and Arrival for Two Nights in a Row

January 22 – 23

Greetings one and all from Japan! I would like to start by apologizing for the lag in posting. The computers in the lab all display Japanese text on all websites and I was afraid that posting anything would leave a long strew of gibberish for the readers back home. In order to use my laptop, I had to get it registered for internet usage, which took some time. But now I am up and running, so I will try to keep you posted daily.

The trip to Japan began at approximately 2AM Eastern time. In order to make this work, I stayed up extra late on Saturday and woke up extra early on Sunday so that I could go to sleep extra, extra early at 6 PM. By doing so, I could wake up at 2AM and be relatively awake.

After waking up, I began making my final preparations to make sure that I was ready to leave. Once 3AM came around, Dad drove me to the GROOME service that would take me to Atlanta. As the time of departure approached, the van became progressively more populated until it was absolutely full. Our posse of approximately 13 people made our way to the Atlanta Airport in the rainy and drab-awful weather. After a fairly uneventful drive, we reached our destination where I was left with my bags. Carrying the four bags (two check-in, two carry-on), I made my way to the United Airline check-in counter. Contrary to the much repeated horror stories, I stood second in line upon arrival and had absolutely no trouble getting my boarding passes for both planes as well as my passport checked and verified for my whole flight. The next step was making it through security. With no one there to instruct me, I watched what everyone else was doing and followed their example. As with most infrequent flyers, I set the alarm off. I was told to make sure that all metal objects were off of me at which point I removed my belt and cell phone clip and passed through with no problem. After reassembling my gear, I headed down to the very end of the terminal to sit in front of my gate for about two full hours. If ever there was an example of so many things that didn’t go wrong, that would be it.

The flight was on what, to me, was a big plane. The plane sat five people in a row in groups of three and two. I was on the aisle seat of the three grouped seats. From what I gathered, the first-class passengers were separated from the economy-class passengers (such as myself) by a thin, blue curtain. After the plane took off, the flight attendants came by to offer free pretzels and a drink. More than happy to partake, I quenched my thirst with a can of apple juice. After that point, I stared at a movie for two hours. I say ‘stared’ because I was still somewhat drugged from the Nyquil that I took the night before to assist me in going to sleep so early, and I found it difficult to pay attention to the movie. Once the movie was over, there wasn’t much to do for the next several hours except listen to the radio provided by the airline. After what seemed like an eternity, the plane finally reached San Francisco. As we were taxing to the gate, I turned to my neighbor and said, “I have no idea how I’m going to do this for eleven hours.”

In San Francisco, I had an hour and a half to find my next flight. Looking at the departure sign near my gate of entry, I learned that I had to find gate 95. Having no idea where that was, I found a travel services desk and asked. The man told me to get on a nearby line that would get me on a bus to the international terminal. After a short bus ride, I entered the international terminal and again walked to the end before reaching my gate. At that point, I waited near an hour for the flight to begin boarding.

The flight was on what, to me, redefined what I thought a big plane was. Seating nine people in a row with a very distinguishable class separation, I found my to the designated area that was about three fourths of the plane back. The seats were grouped as two, five, and two with aisles in between each group. My seat happened to be in the middle of the group of five. That meant that I would have to crawl over two people to go to the restroom no matter which way I went. Surprisingly, the person to the right of me seemingly asked for a seat change, leaving only one person on that side of me. On my other side, I discovered that the girl next to me was going to the same school that I was. This did not surprise me, as expected to find someone who was. Her plan for the flight was to be knocked out by taking some Tylenol PM. Still somewhat woozy from my Nyquil, I did not wish to partake in such a plan.

Before the plane took off, it sat at the runway for a long time. The pilot finally informed us that there were mechanical problems that had to be fixed before takeoff. Finally, we were in the air. My school buddy warned me to avoid the airline food, but having eaten nothing but pretzels and a small box of cereal over the last twelve hours, I decided to take my chances. The food could have been considered quite repugnant had I not been starved. It was as if it had been dried, frozen, and then reheated in a microwave five times. It was nice to actually eat something though.

The plane gave each person their own personal TV on the back of the seat in front of them. The TVs came with several channels that you could switch to as desired. Each person also had a radio that could be accessed from the same console. My favorite feature, however, was the GPS map of where the plane was flying over. It showed us on the map and gave accurate times and mileage to the destination. After reality showed me that we wouldn’t be moving very fast on the map, I decided to try to sleep on the plane. Never actually reaching the point of sleep, I returned to being fully aware of my surroundings and sought some entertainment. I found entertainment in my MP3 player, which I listened to for awhile before trying to sleep again. I was almost successful in falling asleep that time, but I reached a point in the music where one song ended and the next song started with a sharp jolt that brought me back to the plane. At that point, I decided that it was time to ask the one person on my left to let me out so I could go to the restroom that had a steady flow of visitors ever since dinner. After I returned to my seat, the person who had to move for me decided to go off with one of his friends in another section of the plane for a long time. I tried using the empty seat next to me to increase my comfort for sleeping, but I was vastly unsuccessful in doing so. Not knowing when the other person might come back, I could not use his seat to completely lie down.

The rest of the flight pretty much consisted of me attempting to go to sleep and eventually watching a movie. At long last, we neared our destination. With about an hour to spare, the flight attendants began to bus out dinner. I wasn’t particularly hungry since I had been snacking on some boxes of cereal that I brought with me, but I decided to partake of the meal so it would take up some time. The meal was of no better quality, but the fruit was good since they didn’t have to make it.

We finally landed in Japan and made it a point to follow my school buddy who had been to Japan before. The first step to enter the country consisted of standing on a fairly lengthy line in order to get your passport checked and be given permission to enter the country. Next, you had to claim your baggage and pass through customs. This consisted of showing your passport to the officer and moving onward. Finally, I entered the airport, which looked like a normal airport with a bunch of Japanese writing. Not but a few feet away, I found the Kansai Gaidai greeter. Only a few minutes later, a bus driver instructed us to follow. He asked for a fee of 2,000 yen (<$20) and then brought us to the bus where some airport personnel put our bags into the bus. After another two hours of sitting, we arrived at the school dormitories where I finally got to leave my bags.

After getting settled, I went on a tour around the area. Unfortunately, I was too tired to recall anywhere we went. During the tour, I got to talk with some of the Japanese people on the tour. I asked a few cultural questions and pointed out a few differences between cultures. One of the main differences that any American would instantly see is the fact that cars drive on the left side of the road instead of the right. Seeing such things simply pointed out that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

By the time the tour was over, I was ready to actually sleep. After two bus rides, a five hour flight, and an eleven hour flight, all with practically no sleep; I was ready to fall over for the night. When I got back to the dorm, I noticed that there was no one there. Such being the case, I took the time to explore my new home. The first trick was getting the lights to turn on in my room. As I later found out, the green light on the switch is for finding the switch in the dark, and the green light turns off after the lights are activated. The trick is that the lights take a second to power up. Because of the power up time, I was lost as to how to activate the lights because of the other switch above the light switch which I now know activates the heating unit. The showers are different as well. The temperature is controlled by a degree-labeled knob and the water is turned on by its own knob. The shower itself is a detachable wand with two holders for a tall person and a short person. Right outside the shower, there is a changing area that is designed to drain any residual water. The toilet has an interest device as well. At first, the operation of the toilet is no different than in America, but when you want to flush, you have to choose between ‘big’ and ‘small.’ I’m not sure what the difference is, but it can be left to the imagination. Even more interesting is the sink on top of the toilet that turns on when you flush so you can wash your hands as it fills the toilet again to save water.

I was finally ready to sleep. The bed consisted of two two-inch mattresses with sheets, a fuzzy blanket, and a comforter. The pillow was very firm, but still comfortable. After I slept for awhile, the other roommates returned. After a few minutes, they retired to bed as well. From there, I slept until morning.