senzeni na [translation]

It's a long flight.

I ask J how he'd like to be named in these entries, and he tells me that "the ol' duder" is the appropriate handle. I point out that it lacks the brevity of my usual initialization, but he is adamant. I then realize he probably won't ever read these entries, so there's no point asking his preference.

Did I mention it's a long flight? I'd worried that J and I might clash after more than ten hours hanging out with each other, but there's just enough to distract us, and then the flight concludes with a drunken lout getting out of his seat before we've reached the gate. He declares loudly that it's time to get up, everybody should get up, why isn't anybody standing, it's time to paaaaar-ty!

I'd feared that my first trip off American soil would bring me face-to-face with the rude American I surely must have inside me, but after this guy's performance, I'm not sure I could ever do worse.

Yep, my first trip off American soil. It's actually a homecoming of sorts, since my parents were living here when I was conceived. Here I am, "back" in Tokyo.

Right off the plane, I start pestering J with stupid comments and questions. "Why are there so few Japanese people? Why so many gaijin? Is this normal?" J's putting up with it for now, but kindly points out to me that it's probably a bad idea to take pictures while waiting in line for the passport check. Finally we cross over and head to the baggage claim, where I have my first moment of culture shock: a woman drops her suitcase near me and bows in apology, which totally throws me off. I'd better get used to the bowing, I think.

We get our bags with no problems, then pick up some rental cellphones to use while we're in Japan. J goes for the more affordable model, but I can't resist splurging on the internet-capable phone. Later we discover that J's has an English mode, while I—the one who doesn't speak any Japanese—am stuck with a Japanese-only phone. Still, it's way cool surfing the web on my cellphone for no extra charge.

We head for the train station—a train! Mass transit! I'm in heaven!—to make our way into Tokyo proper from Narita Airport. It's a little expensive, but for how quickly it'll get us into the city, it's totally worth it. J talks me into buying a soft drink before we board the train—not only do I have to buy a strangely-named drink, but I have to do it myself. J teaches me a new phrase that I instantly muck up and then forget, but I have made my first purchase in Japan! I take a photo once we're on the train, then complain to J about the group in our car who are speaking English. Don't they realize that I crave culture shock?

We zip quickly into Tokyo proper, then hop onto another train to get to the neighborhood where we'll be staying the first few nights. I see a McDonald's and take a quick photo that turns out badly—I'm going to have to learn how to take photos without letting J lose me.

We encounter J's friend G on the street, which makes it much easier to find his house. On the way "home", G helps me buy a bath towel to use while in Tokyo. I'm still reeling from all the spiffy bicycles I'm seeing, and car elevators, and schoolgirls in their uniforms late at night, and water bottles sitting on the street. G says the water bottles are for driving crows off, as well as keeping cats away. That's just too cool.

Only a few hours in the country, and my head's practically spinning off already. This is going to be great.

Weird thing: There's no recycling here, it seems. Vending machines everywhere, but the garbage is merely divided into combustible and non-combustible. Someone comments that Japan doesn't need to recycle aluminum because Australia provides so much cheap aluminum to Japan. (Sorry, I mean aluminium.) My mind boggles.

Last updated by eric Fri Sep 10 06:54 2004 | deed/tokyo trip | link