Day 0: Arrival

ALL. DAY. I was internally freaking out. Even last night, when I kept putting off bed, I had a hard time believing that I was actually coming to the country that I’ve adored for years. When we went to TGIF for my last dinner in the States, when I wasn’t fully enthralled by the conversation, I remembered what I was about to do in less than 12 hours.


Then, during my 3-hour layover in Oregon, it was like, “Okay Ro, this is it. Once you step on that plane, next time you hit land will be in Japan.


Really, the panic ended when 8 hours later, my laptop had about 20% of life left and my PSP was running on reserve battery. I was ready to be off that godforsaken plane, although 30Rock on the TV screen did help with the boredom. :P


It was pretty straightforward when we landed – follow the path to immigration, baggage claim, and customs, although there were times when I worried if I was going the right way by following these random people. I think the best part about the walk to immigration was on the huge escalator where I read 「お帰りなさい」(Welcome home) on the wall. For some reason, it warmed my heart knowing that the Japanese have little signs like that welcoming their people back to their country. And then on the same escalator, in roman letters, it read “Yokoso Japan!” (Welcome to Japan) It was written in other languages as well, but I wonder why they couldn’t just write “Welcome to Japan” for the English sign. Haha.


As soon as I left customs, Kristina was waiting for me, and then I made my first withdrawal of Japanese money (￥yen). Handling Japanese yen is really weird for me: the bills are much bigger than US dollars, I feel bad for folding them to put in my wallet, and the coins are such similar sizes that I typically have to look at the amount on the coin before handing it to the cashier. (I’ve dropped change at almost every store I’ve been to so far. -__-;; )


Amusingly, my first meal in Japan was pork ramen. REAL ramen. Of course, I’ve had real ramen in NYC, but I got to see what Japanese pork is like. My slice was rather…tough.

So my first night in Japan was rather eye-opening, as I expected. I learned that you stand to the left side on the escalator so as to let people pass on the right. When you pay, there’s a little plate at the cashier where you place your payment – that way your hands don’t brush against the cashier’s. And that I want to buy everything I see in the コンビニ (combini = convenience store).


I was too tired and carrying too much luggage to take any pictures. Besides, all I would have taken pictures of would have been the subway and Azubu-Juban (the prefecture where Kristina and Baku stay) at night.