着陸成功！

Sunday, January 31st, 2010 in: News, Travel

I’m writing the first half of this from the lounge in Narita Airport, waiting for my connecting flight to Nagoya. I’m still considered on an “international” connecting flight, even though I’m safely over the ocean and on the right island. This of course means that I still have to deal with Japanese customs and immigration in Nagoya. Hopefully they won’t have too much trouble with my one-way ticket. I’ll be here for a while, and it was too expensive to buy a ticket to some other country before I left for Japan. Hell, I don’t even know which country I’m going to first. I might put off language school for another month so I can go hang out with my Grandpa in Shanghai in April, which means I might bounce over to Taiwan or Hong Kong first. In fact, having to plan my language acquisition in China has been a thorn in my newly found itinerary-free lifestyle. I’m tempted to drop the whole thing and just look for a school once I get there. Really all I want is a nice family to stay with to teach me a little Chinese. Know anyone?

The flight itself was impressive. JAL does right by their passengers, even in the cheap seats. The food was decent, the service was friendly and prompt, and the plane itself was very quiet and comfortable, compared to previous experiences with other airlines. Unfortunately, the presence of TV screens behind every seat made it easy for the passengers to ignore each other, and I already began to feel some of the mental isolation I remember so vividly from living in Tokyo. Aside from short, polite exchanges, my neighbors to either side were absorbed in their own materials, and I was left with my books and thoughts, and the in-flight movie selection. I watched UP in Japanese. 冒険はそこにある！

As we neared land, I switched the screen to the camera on the nose of the plane and watched the white clouds fade away and the sunlight on the ocean scroll like movie credits, signaling the end of our voyage. I sailed through security for the 45 minute connecting flight to Chuubu International Airport in Nagoya. Once we boarded, we drove in circles on the tarmac for what seemed like forever. I was getting ready to stop and ask for directions to the runway; I tapped the shoulder of the guy across the aisle and said 運転するほうが早いのかな、It might be faster to drive. This led to a brief single-serving friendship with the young orthopedic surgeon returning from two years studying spinal cord injuries in New Jersey. Pleasant guy, I welcomed him home as we parted ways at the customs gate.

Immigration and customs were a breeze. No one even asked me about a return ticket, and the customs agent seemed more interested in contraband and drugs than anything else. I’m a good boy, so I didn’t have to lie about anything. I got settled into the express train to Hiro’s station, and when it smoothly pulled away from the airport, I realized how much I missed Japan’s fabulous transportation system. Hiro and Shinya (the current 1A world champion) were waiting for me at the station. We went up to 魚民 (Uotami), an izakaya chain, and had us a feast. These guys can really put the food away! Jun joined us later, and we kanpai’ed to my safe arrival and the work that laid before us.

Good thing, the World Hobby Fair is being held tomorrow at the Nagoya Dome, and we’re all going.

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