DAY #1: THE LAND OF THE SETTING SUN

I’m here! With all my luggage!

The ANA flight LAX to Tokyo left at 1:30 pm on a sunny LA afternoon August 30 and followed the afternoon sun all the way across the Pacific to Japan, landing about 4:30 pm in Tokyo, eleven hours later. But of course, by then it was the next day, Monday August 31.

The flight was uneventful until the very last, when we ran up against “The Typhoon that Trashed Tokyo.” The crosswinds were so bad that the pilot had to abort the landing at the last minute. Abruptly we were flung back in our seats as the plane nosed sharply upwards. He tried once more after circling aimlessly (it seemed) for a while, and again the rains were lashing, winds pounding as we hit the runway very fast and wobbly – then righted, landing safely. We passengers were all so relieved we broke into spontaneous applause in the cabin! But even when the airliner had parked at the gate, the winds kept the huge 777 rocking side to side.

Flight #2 into Osaka was less dramatic, and as the clouds parted, we could finally see city lights below in the darkening sky. On meeting me outside the luggage area (all 9 bags/boxes arrived safely!), Akiko Hirota, the Language Center admin assistant told me Osaka had been spared the typhoon and hadn’t even felt a raindrop. Her boss, Mr. Okazaki was a bit overwhelmed to see my two trolleys full of luggage, ($770 for excess baggage, under the $1000 limit for a new employee shipment) but he gamely tried to fit it all into his midsized sedan. No go. We finally hired a taxi for me, Akiko, and the biggest box!

When she opened the door to my new (quite spacious) apartment in Canaan House, Akiko gently reprimanded me for walking in without taking off my shoes at the door.

Right! Take shoes off. Go inside. Put shoes back on. Go outside. Take shoes off. Go inside. (Darn those laces!) Make mental note to wear lace-less shoes.

The place was bare and functional with a table and chairs, cheap-ish sofa, TV set, bed without bedding, desk, etc. Most importantly, it had working AC! (Nishinomiya is still quite muggy.)

I quickly realized I had no food and had had no meal since a Pacific-view lunch on the plane and would have a very unhappy belly soon after they left. So, Hirota-san and Okazaki-san walked me down the narrow street to the train station, where there are a number of shops and restaurants. The basement supermarket was bright and spotless and had the normal supermarket goodies. I wavered on the cheeses to go with my breakfast bread, however. All were in such tiny packages that cost $3-5 (or they seemed to gravitate to the heaviest creamy cheeses like Camembert). I finally settled on some string cheese (lower-fat) in sealed plastic lunchbox packs. The super-spicy version, it turned out!

Armed with a survival supply of snacks, paper towels, toilet paper, and hand soap, they finally left me in peace. And I got to bed at a respectable 10:30 pm local time, setting the alarm for 6:45 am. (I always try to beat jetlag by immediately starting local waking and sleeping times.)

Konbanwa! (Good night!)