Tempest7: Blogger

Japan Trip 2006 - Day 1

Kuko de nimotsu o nakushita, dakara mondai （くこで荷物おなくした、だから問題）. That about sums up my first day, the trip felt long, I flew at around 9:40am. Just before I boarded the plan I went through a security spot check. This was my first time sitting by an exit door. It was interesting, I enjoy the extra space for my legs but after the safety talk I was a little worried. Incase of an emergency I need to assist others in getting out, the attendent made sure I was both capable and willing to do this role. Luckily the plane landed without an incident. Once in Japan everything started to happen.

First off for those that don't read Japanese I lost my luggage at the airport. Even though I thought it would be UA's fault, apparently my luggaged arrived fine, but some lady mistakenly took my luggage instead of her own. The lady was a foreigner and did not leave any contact information so we had no choice but to wait for them to contact us. That came later on in the evening. In the mean time I went to get my JR Rail pass, and my Airport Limo ticket. I had to make a few calls once I arrived and the interesting thing is that the phones charge you based on the time. Even if you make a local call to a fixed line the phones will ask you to put more money into the phone after a minute or so. The cost to call a mobile phone is different than the cost to call a fixed line as well.

I made arrangements to meet up with Yoji at the Starbucks in SeiSeki Sakuragaoka. The airport limo was stuck in traffic and it took over 2 hours for me to get from the airport to that location. Once there I found out quickly that most people don't speak English. Hong Kong is an English speaker's paradise compared to this, but that's okay I came to practice my Japanese and so using my basic broken Japanese I managed to find Starbucks, buy a hot chocolate (that wasn't easy surprisingly), and find a telephone so that I could call Yoji again.

Yoji took me to go shopping for underwear at "Life" and then we went back to his house. His son Max is as crazy as ever, and we played most of the night. So far it has already been evenful, but promising. The weather isn't great but I'm still looking forward to the rest of my trip. My luggage has been found and I have tourguides for the rest of Japan.

Labels: Travel

posted by Tempest7 @ 09:18