Tokyo, Japan Day #1
So, my first full day in Japan is finished! It wasn't the most eventful day, but it was quite productive ^__^
Anyway. I guess I'll start off with departure and whatnot. I'll try to keep it short~
At the Airport (NY-JFK) Scheduled Departure time- 1:55pm
Ok. First of all. We were all doing fine, my family and I. No crying. Now sadness. Just being normal. And then my sister,, who couldn't come to the airport, texted me this sad message. It said something along the lines of "Who am I going to watch Arashi vids with? I was watching an Arashi vid which made me think of you, which made me think of you leaving, which made me sad. And Arashi is supposed to be my happy place." Pathetic right? :P Anyway. I showed it to my mom and dad, and that was it. Tears were falling. Mom, Dad, AND Joseph (lil bro). And once I saw my dad tearing up, I started too! I always cry when I see men cry...It was awful. It was short though. Thanks Andrea.
By then it's just about 12:50. So we head toward security, where I have to leave everyone and officially be on my own~ I hug everyone, get in line and get through security just fine. IDK how my family reacted to me leaving from there. I made sure to give them a final wave before I disappeared though. As I'm sitting waiting for boarding to start, there's an announcement saying the plane's running 20mins late. Ok. Not that bad. Finally we start boarding. We taxi to the runway. And wait. And wait. And wait. Then another announcement comes on and says that we need to wait about 15mins before we can take-off. So that brings the delay to 35 mins. Not toooo awful. BUT THEN! ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT saying that because President Obama was leaving/arriving (can't remember), all air traffic was stopped. So we had to wait another 20-ish mins for that. Bringing the flight delay to a whopping HOUR. So we didn't end up taking off until 3, when we were supposed to leave at 2.
On The Plane
The flight was about 14 hrs long I think . No stops. And the plane was FULL of Japanese people. I think there were only like 5 distinct americans. I was supposed to have an aisle seat (yes!) but this little man asked if I could switch so he wouldn't bother me when he went to the bathroom and stuff, and since I'm nice (and because the guy on the other side was semi-cute), I said yes. (boo--) And boy was that a mistake. Now I'm stuck in the middle seat (front row so lots of leg room though), people weren't using the right overhead compartments so my stuff had to go like 2 or 3 rows back, AND I went to the bathroom and got up more than that little man. Poo on him! HE WAS SO ANNOYING. He kept burping. And he slept the whole way, but he had his arm on my armrest, and the guy on the other side of me had his arm on my armrest. I HAD NO ARMREST lol. I wasn't that upset about that. But that little man couldn't figure out how to do ANYTHING. He didn't even know where the bathrooms were! There's clearly signs! And not knowing English is not an excuse because he was fluent. And then, when I was watching the flight progress on my little tv thing before taking a nap, as I was going to turn it off (it was super bright and i was about to sleep) Little Man says "No, it's okay. You can leave it on. I'm watching it" WTH. It's MY tv! Turn on your own! So I told him "You have your own tv you can watch. I'm going to sleep." I may have sounded a little harsh but seriously? Come on. Okay. Enough of that.
We got 3 meals. If I remember correctly. We had...dinner, mid-flight snack, and...dinner again lol. Because of the time difference. AND WE DIDN'T GET PEANUTS! or wet towels to wipe all over me like Nino. Must be a PJ thing. Oh you don't know what that is? It's a Private Jet XDDD (first class got the towels though) I watched 2 1/2 movies: 17 Again (I LOVE Zac Efron in this movie. for reals.), Some REAL sad Korean movie called More Than Blue. I cried a little. If I was by myself I probably would have cried even more. Omg it was so sad! And then I started to watch a really sad Japanese movie with Eikura Nana (from ProDai, Mei-chan, and Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru) and the guy from Last Friends....Takeru I think. It was called...Yomei Ikkagetsu no Hanayome. IT WAS SO SAD! I didn't finish because I was really tired and kept falling asleep. But I could tell it would be worse as it went on. I need to download it to finish. It's based on a true story, and is VERY similar to A Walk To Remember, without the popular vs unpopular thing. Yeah. And then I slept a lot. Listened to my ipod (which is so totally trying to make a come back because it would light up for a few seconds when I pushed buttons. But only sometimes), and tried to read but got motion sick a little. (that never used to happen. I used to be able to read practically all the way to N.C. and that's 12 hours driving!) And since my laptop and bag were in the overhead and I was lazy, I didn't feel like getting it to watch Hanadan like I planned.
At Narita and the Journey Beyond
My friend was telling me that I'd get lost in Narita Airport. He lied. It was really easy. There were signs everywhere in English, Japanese, Chinese AND Korean. Plus people directing. And since I clearly looked like a foreigner, they directed me to the foreign passport line. The girl who checked my passport and stuff went to the same Uni that I'm at here in Japan! (Toyo University for those who don't know). She asked (in Japanese) if I understand Japanese. I said a little bit. So she spoke to me in Japanese, nice and slow and easy questions. It was fun! She was nice. I had to get fingerprinted and my picture taken. Ohhh Japan. There were signs about the Swine Flu/H1N1 whatever you wanna call it everywhere. And tons of people wearing masks lol. Anyway. I followed the signs for Baggage Delivery. Got my bags sent to the school so I didn't have to carry them (he didn't know English. That was interesting). And then I went to the pay phone. Called the dorm, told them I would be arriving later than I thought. They said ok. I went to the atm to get a bit of extra cash. Bought the KEISEI SkyLiner train ticket. It was 6:42, the train left at 6:47. I was RIGHT on time. The next train doesn't get there for an hour. There's assigned seats on the skyliner. I can't read Kanji real well so I just guessed at my seat. Good thing the train was pretty empty and no one kicked me out. Either that or I actually got it right. So I get out at Nippori Station. Follow the crowd to the exit. Head toward the line of taxis. Get in. Give him my map and tell him where I wanna go. In the best Japanese I can muster. He doesn't know English. And he got lost. So instead of charging me by like minute or mile or whatever, he just charged me a flat rate of 710円。Which is about 8 USD, for a 20 min ride.
Ok. So I get to the International House (I-House), get my stuff, get a tour, instructions, and led to my room by the manager guy. I meet my roommate, Anna from Dublin, and sorta get settled in. Anna and I decided to go find a コンビに, or Convenience Store to buy something to eat for dinner. (it was like 8pm by the time I got there) We both bought some Yakisoba. Yum. And omg, the store was so cute! Everything was just so cute!
First Full Day
First off, I couldn't sleep because my brain was still on NY time aka 13hrs behind. Meaning that at 3:00am I couldn't sleep and wasn't tired because my brain was like "Hey! It's not time for bed! It's only 2 in the afternoon!" Silly brain. I finally went to bed at 4am. Woke up at 8:30, so it was more like a nap. But I wasn't tired all day, which is good. It'll hit me though I'm sure. The dorm is near/on the way to a High School or Middle School. So I went onto my balcony and saw all these uniformed kids headed to school. That was fun lol. Today, Anna, a girl named Khallandra (who also likes Arashi, but not quite to the extent of us livejournalers), and I went exploring. We went to LAWSON. Got basically everything on our list (stuff like detergent, hand soap, tissues etc) and then headed out to find our way to the University. It's an easy walk. And it's a beautiful school. I'll have to remember to take pictures tomorrow or whenever I'm there next. I took some pics of the street and views and stuff. And of stuff I bought. lol. So we got back to the dorm, watched some TV (which is AWESOME. And I can't wait for Himitsu tomorrow! INOUE MAO!) Then Anna and I went back out, bought some milk and stuff for lunch (yum sushi). As we were taking pictures of the dorms (for documentation), School must have just let out because all the kids were walking past us. And one boy was like "Haro!" So we said "Hi" and waved at them. They loved it lol. It made me happy ^__^
That's it basically. Uneventful. Sorry. But I don't even have culture shock! Everything's totally different obviously: driving on the wrong side of the road, steering wheels on the wrong side of the cars, the buildings, the schools, the roads, the vending machines, everything. I don't think it's hit me that I'm here yet.
Now if only Sept 20th would come! So I can find out about those Arashi tickets....
I think I'll do a separate post with pictures, so as to not overwhelm you. And so I can explain them without feeling bad that this post is way too long.
PICTURES
If you read all this, thanks!
I DID try to keep it short lol. It just didn't work...
And that's the end. <---I don't remember writing this. How/when did it get there? Weirddddd
Anyway. I guess I'll start off with departure and whatnot. I'll try to keep it short~
At the Airport (NY-JFK) Scheduled Departure time- 1:55pm
Ok. First of all. We were all doing fine, my family and I. No crying. Now sadness. Just being normal. And then my sister,, who couldn't come to the airport, texted me this sad message. It said something along the lines of "Who am I going to watch Arashi vids with? I was watching an Arashi vid which made me think of you, which made me think of you leaving, which made me sad. And Arashi is supposed to be my happy place." Pathetic right? :P Anyway. I showed it to my mom and dad, and that was it. Tears were falling. Mom, Dad, AND Joseph (lil bro). And once I saw my dad tearing up, I started too! I always cry when I see men cry...It was awful. It was short though. Thanks Andrea.
By then it's just about 12:50. So we head toward security, where I have to leave everyone and officially be on my own~ I hug everyone, get in line and get through security just fine. IDK how my family reacted to me leaving from there. I made sure to give them a final wave before I disappeared though. As I'm sitting waiting for boarding to start, there's an announcement saying the plane's running 20mins late. Ok. Not that bad. Finally we start boarding. We taxi to the runway. And wait. And wait. And wait. Then another announcement comes on and says that we need to wait about 15mins before we can take-off. So that brings the delay to 35 mins. Not toooo awful. BUT THEN! ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT saying that because President Obama was leaving/arriving (can't remember), all air traffic was stopped. So we had to wait another 20-ish mins for that. Bringing the flight delay to a whopping HOUR. So we didn't end up taking off until 3, when we were supposed to leave at 2.
On The Plane
The flight was about 14 hrs long I think . No stops. And the plane was FULL of Japanese people. I think there were only like 5 distinct americans. I was supposed to have an aisle seat (yes!) but this little man asked if I could switch so he wouldn't bother me when he went to the bathroom and stuff, and since I'm nice (and because the guy on the other side was semi-cute), I said yes. (boo--) And boy was that a mistake. Now I'm stuck in the middle seat (front row so lots of leg room though), people weren't using the right overhead compartments so my stuff had to go like 2 or 3 rows back, AND I went to the bathroom and got up more than that little man. Poo on him! HE WAS SO ANNOYING. He kept burping. And he slept the whole way, but he had his arm on my armrest, and the guy on the other side of me had his arm on my armrest. I HAD NO ARMREST lol. I wasn't that upset about that. But that little man couldn't figure out how to do ANYTHING. He didn't even know where the bathrooms were! There's clearly signs! And not knowing English is not an excuse because he was fluent. And then, when I was watching the flight progress on my little tv thing before taking a nap, as I was going to turn it off (it was super bright and i was about to sleep) Little Man says "No, it's okay. You can leave it on. I'm watching it" WTH. It's MY tv! Turn on your own! So I told him "You have your own tv you can watch. I'm going to sleep." I may have sounded a little harsh but seriously? Come on. Okay. Enough of that.
We got 3 meals. If I remember correctly. We had...dinner, mid-flight snack, and...dinner again lol. Because of the time difference. AND WE DIDN'T GET PEANUTS! or wet towels to wipe all over me like Nino. Must be a PJ thing. Oh you don't know what that is? It's a Private Jet XDDD (first class got the towels though) I watched 2 1/2 movies: 17 Again (I LOVE Zac Efron in this movie. for reals.), Some REAL sad Korean movie called More Than Blue. I cried a little. If I was by myself I probably would have cried even more. Omg it was so sad! And then I started to watch a really sad Japanese movie with Eikura Nana (from ProDai, Mei-chan, and Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo Suru) and the guy from Last Friends....Takeru I think. It was called...Yomei Ikkagetsu no Hanayome. IT WAS SO SAD! I didn't finish because I was really tired and kept falling asleep. But I could tell it would be worse as it went on. I need to download it to finish. It's based on a true story, and is VERY similar to A Walk To Remember, without the popular vs unpopular thing. Yeah. And then I slept a lot. Listened to my ipod (which is so totally trying to make a come back because it would light up for a few seconds when I pushed buttons. But only sometimes), and tried to read but got motion sick a little. (that never used to happen. I used to be able to read practically all the way to N.C. and that's 12 hours driving!) And since my laptop and bag were in the overhead and I was lazy, I didn't feel like getting it to watch Hanadan like I planned.
At Narita and the Journey Beyond
My friend was telling me that I'd get lost in Narita Airport. He lied. It was really easy. There were signs everywhere in English, Japanese, Chinese AND Korean. Plus people directing. And since I clearly looked like a foreigner, they directed me to the foreign passport line. The girl who checked my passport and stuff went to the same Uni that I'm at here in Japan! (Toyo University for those who don't know). She asked (in Japanese) if I understand Japanese. I said a little bit. So she spoke to me in Japanese, nice and slow and easy questions. It was fun! She was nice. I had to get fingerprinted and my picture taken. Ohhh Japan. There were signs about the Swine Flu/H1N1 whatever you wanna call it everywhere. And tons of people wearing masks lol. Anyway. I followed the signs for Baggage Delivery. Got my bags sent to the school so I didn't have to carry them (he didn't know English. That was interesting). And then I went to the pay phone. Called the dorm, told them I would be arriving later than I thought. They said ok. I went to the atm to get a bit of extra cash. Bought the KEISEI SkyLiner train ticket. It was 6:42, the train left at 6:47. I was RIGHT on time. The next train doesn't get there for an hour. There's assigned seats on the skyliner. I can't read Kanji real well so I just guessed at my seat. Good thing the train was pretty empty and no one kicked me out. Either that or I actually got it right. So I get out at Nippori Station. Follow the crowd to the exit. Head toward the line of taxis. Get in. Give him my map and tell him where I wanna go. In the best Japanese I can muster. He doesn't know English. And he got lost. So instead of charging me by like minute or mile or whatever, he just charged me a flat rate of 710円。Which is about 8 USD, for a 20 min ride.
Ok. So I get to the International House (I-House), get my stuff, get a tour, instructions, and led to my room by the manager guy. I meet my roommate, Anna from Dublin, and sorta get settled in. Anna and I decided to go find a コンビに, or Convenience Store to buy something to eat for dinner. (it was like 8pm by the time I got there) We both bought some Yakisoba. Yum. And omg, the store was so cute! Everything was just so cute!
First Full Day
First off, I couldn't sleep because my brain was still on NY time aka 13hrs behind. Meaning that at 3:00am I couldn't sleep and wasn't tired because my brain was like "Hey! It's not time for bed! It's only 2 in the afternoon!" Silly brain. I finally went to bed at 4am. Woke up at 8:30, so it was more like a nap. But I wasn't tired all day, which is good. It'll hit me though I'm sure. The dorm is near/on the way to a High School or Middle School. So I went onto my balcony and saw all these uniformed kids headed to school. That was fun lol. Today, Anna, a girl named Khallandra (who also likes Arashi, but not quite to the extent of us livejournalers), and I went exploring. We went to LAWSON. Got basically everything on our list (stuff like detergent, hand soap, tissues etc) and then headed out to find our way to the University. It's an easy walk. And it's a beautiful school. I'll have to remember to take pictures tomorrow or whenever I'm there next. I took some pics of the street and views and stuff. And of stuff I bought. lol. So we got back to the dorm, watched some TV (which is AWESOME. And I can't wait for Himitsu tomorrow! INOUE MAO!) Then Anna and I went back out, bought some milk and stuff for lunch (yum sushi). As we were taking pictures of the dorms (for documentation), School must have just let out because all the kids were walking past us. And one boy was like "Haro!" So we said "Hi" and waved at them. They loved it lol. It made me happy ^__^
That's it basically. Uneventful. Sorry. But I don't even have culture shock! Everything's totally different obviously: driving on the wrong side of the road, steering wheels on the wrong side of the cars, the buildings, the schools, the roads, the vending machines, everything. I don't think it's hit me that I'm here yet.
Now if only Sept 20th would come! So I can find out about those Arashi tickets....
I think I'll do a separate post with pictures, so as to not overwhelm you. And so I can explain them without feeling bad that this post is way too long.
PICTURES
If you read all this, thanks!
I DID try to keep it short lol. It just didn't work...
And that's the end. <---I don't remember writing this. How/when did it get there? Weirddddd