These Days – Japan Trip Day 0

I was listening to Beatles music this afternoon, searching for good songs to use in my class when I came across one of my most favorite songs, “All My Life”…. “The people and places I’ve known, I’ve loved them all.” I have a pair of big stereo headphones at my desk in the subject teacher’s lounge, and I leaned back in my chair and let the music wash over me, as images of the last couple weeks arise in front of my eyes…. The last couple weeks of adventure, travel, greeting old friends, the many new meetings… there have been more than a few poignant moments which pass by like burst of air carrying away a fallen leaf, threatening to drop out of notice as new day of experiences present themselves.

I catch every leaf memory and preserve them within these pages. Though my ability to quickly acclimatize to a new life seems numb to the new and differentness of life around me, I strive to notice all that occurs around me.

So… these last couple of days and weeks have full of non-stop transporting, traveling, moving, and exploring with little time to properly get my bearings of who’s who and what’s what. My last week at home was insanely busy; actually “busy” does nothing to describe the degree of pressure to accomplish and prepare and double check all which I would need. Every day there was a schedule a mile long, mostly about me worrying about my Japan trip plans. I remember there was so little I knew about what was awaiting me in Korea, there was little I could do to worry about it. So I didn’t worry :)

Japan Day 0 - Aug. 11th

The first leg of my journey with confidence amidst exhaustion; I was pretty sure of where I needed to be, though not entirely certain how I would get there with my 200 lbs of luggage.


On the flight from SF to Tokyo, I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of a young British guy “John” who was going to teach English in Japan. We were both tired of the hours of sitting and waiting, so we stood in front of the airlock, asked the stewardess from some screwdrivers, and had ourselves an impromptu midflight cocktail party. (We tried to get a Japanese stewardess to join us but she only gave a polite smile and declined.) With John’s help, I managed to get my heavy carry-ons off the plane, wade through the trenches of immigration, and reunite with the other 100 lbs of my life-in-bags. We said our goodbyes at baggage claim and I set my jaw to face my biggest challenge: getting from the airport in Narita to my friend Veronica’s house in Yokotsuka, 3 hours from the airport. I managed fairly well… with my hiking pack strapped to my back, a rolling duffel in one hand and a large suitcase topped a duffel in the other, I huffed and puffed and with the help of station agents somehow got myself from train to train. Once I had to change trains and get my bags up a steep flight of stairs, but I simply turned to an open looking guy about my age, explained my plight and he offered to help me. (Not everyone I met was so willing to help… I had to ask 2 or 3 people before I found someone going my way).
Four hours later, I finally made it to the tiny US military base town of Yokotsuka, where DVC friends Veronica and Saori were there to greet me. I was so happy to be able to spend my first night traveling not in some hostel or hotel, nibbling on granola bars. We were all invited to Saori’s family’s house for a delicious dinner of yakiniku. To come back to Japan and feel at home in a Japanese home was more than I could have asked for.
Veronica and me just chilled and hung out with Saori and family; sitting back watching them watch TV, I had to pinch myself and really ask myself again, “Am I really back here in Japan???”
I was also so lucky Saori’s family came with their car to pick us up, as I don’t think I would have been to manage my luggage up the steep hill to Veronica’s house. A bit more heaving and ho-ing and I finally made it with everything in more or less one piece. It was all I could do to un-strap the pack from my back, crawl up the ladder to thin futon in the loft of Veronica’s studio apartment, and collapse from exhaustion. As I let sleep take me, the question rebounded in my head, “Am I really here….?”