RULES:
When reading this diary or documentation of my experience, I need to
lay down a few ground rules. First and foremost, Japan is very
foreign. I would ask that you try and keep an open mind for as much
as you can. It is not good, it is not bad, it is just different.
The second rule, which, is the most painful for me is, my spelling and
grammar is going to seem subpar compared to my old writings. After my
first laptop crapped out on me, I was given this one. This one only
has a trial of Microsoft Office and I refuse to pay $300 that I don't have
to update it. So, all the writing I will do is straight in e-mail
format. I apologize if my lack of proofreading may hinder your
overall experience.
My last rule is to save judgement. This rule may
sound like rule one repeated, which, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Americans are going to find it unsettling how certain things are
viewed as over here, from women, sex, money, drinking, smoking, etc.
Lets go over the rules one more time:
1) It is not good, it is not bad, it is just different.
2) Nick gets a year pass from spelling and grammar in order to keep
pushing e-mails out to everyone.
3) Save judgement.
I hope you enjoy!
The adventure I have been waiting for so long to start has finally begun.
After the drive down from Milwaukee with my mom, dad and Kate; followed by a
quick breakfast in the airport, we say our goodbyes. My mom cries
first, which in turn, caused my sister and father to also start to
cry. I was at the breaking point the night before and the ride down
to start crying, but "Big Nick" quickly stepped in and reassured me
that this is going to be an excellent experience. So, I was able to
keep my composure, minus some jitters and anxiety slowly building to a
boil over the last few months.
I check my bags and begin to go through security. I was able to get
through without much hassle, but had a brief scare with the bag
detector, but it was for the woman behind me. So I walk through and
sit down in the preboarding area and wait another two hours before its
time for me to leave.
During my wait, I am asked to watch the bags of a young Korean male,
while he has a cigarette. Normally I would decline, but this guy
looks like a professional snowboarder and is very warm and friendly.
He comes back, twenty minutes later, with an orange juice for me as a
gift because he was late. I try and decline his gift, but he insists.
We begin to chat a bit and I find out that his name is Jun, he was born and raised in
Seoul, South Korea and is one year from graduation from the University
of Illinois. He tells me lots of stories about Japan and how English
teachers in South Korea get their ticket paid for, living costs
covered and get paid double that of a Japanese foreign teacher. I
told him I was doing this for an adventure and the opportunity, not
the money. Jun smiles big and says, "you're going to love it."
Jun then spends the next thirty minutes telling me about the cost of
living in Japan, the women and their insatiable appetite for foreign
men, common misunderstandings, hot springs (which he said NEVER go to
a co-ed hot spring, that usually means for couples fifty-five and up)
and also about how to make some quality friends during my stay in
Japan. Jun also told me a story of when he came to the United States and was
"mugged" by a beggar and lost all his money and his passport, but a
man walking by gave him $500, explained to the police what had
happened (the man spoke some Korean and Jun at this time did not know
any English) and he said that since then he has an appreciation for
making friends quickly in America.
We get on the plane at around 11:35, then wait for take off another
forty-five minutes. I usually would be super nervous, but in my
economy class ticket I was blessed with a window seat and I planned on
taking full advantage of any view I am allowed to look at. I am
sitting next to a young woman, who I later began to converse with
pretty heavily. Her name is Annah, she was born and raised in Manilla,
and was going back there for two months for some humanitarian work.
Annah is going into her second year of law school at Cincinnati and is
hoping to practice immigration law.
Annah and I quickly learn that we are both huge nerds and have seen
every movie that came out this summer already. She asked me what I
thought about Star Trek and in a knee jerk reaction I said "it was
bomb" and then all the blood in my face went into my toes. She didn't
pick up on it, but she saw the panicked look in my eyes and started
laughing. Then and there I realized I needed to be more mindful of my
speech and not blurt my first reaction out. Saying "bomb" on a plane
is probably not the wisest diction selection and its double as heinous
when the 280 people next to me are from Japan and have a history with
Americans and said subject.
Lift off was awesome. I felt like I was getting a first person view
of my Google earth cursor. I began to move forward and then up.
Watching the small light bulbs turn into ants, the trucks turn into
the size of the landing lights and then into ants and then the break
through our first cloud. It was a profound observation in my head and
I am sure words can not accurately explain what I witnessed, but there
was a moment where we were under one of the only clouds in the sky. I
went from under the shade of that cloud, to inside the cloud, to above
the cloud casting shade, to seeing that cloud's extended family spread
across the horizon in a breath-taking view. It was official, I am
leaving home.
Or so I thought. My flight route was very unique. The plane went
from Milwaukee, up 41 and over Appleton, which, was awesome to see
zoomed out at such a grand scale, to the northeastern tip of
Minnesota. Once we passed Minnesota we went into Canada, hit up Alaska, which
looked gorgeous, through the Bering Sea (which bummed me out, I was
hoping in the event of a plane crash, I would be on season six of LOST
on a nice tropical island, instead I would have been fished up by one
of the crates in Deadliest Catch). After crossing the dateline and
seeing some of Russia we were finally aimed directly at Japan. After
the pilot took us off his cruise control, which is way better than my
old 1996 Plymouth Voyager's (he had his at 568 mph cruising at
11,900M/39,000ft) and his heating system was keeping us at a nice 72F
with the air temp outside at -50C.
I did not sleep on the plane ride over. I didn't even listen to my iPod or
read a book that much. I was either looking out the window or chatting up Annah
and I found that the conversations killed lots of the time. I also
decided that the world has got a lot of people in it and some of them
are pretty cool.
Right as we were preparing to land I heard my first child whimper turn
into a cry. Then it dawned on me. I just spent thirteen hours on a
plane, with at least ten children under the age of five within a few
rows of me, and the entire plane ride was quiet. So I smiled at the
crying kid and he stopped. He had this look of puzzlement on his face
with his mouth pursed into an "O" the size of a Cheerio. Later, when
we stood up and grabbed our carry-ons that Cheerio sized look of
amazement turned into a small plum when he saw how tall I was. At
that moment, I thought, what if Doug was with me? This kid's jaw
would have been probably stuck on the floor. So I smiled and said
goodbye to Anna and got ready for the next flight.
Tokyo's airport didn't "wow" me with its size but its efficiency and
customer service were worthy of praise. The luggage team pulling to
the side of the plane were all smiling at us in the windows. The
people that guided the plane with those little hand cones all bowed
when we finally docked, then the outstanding stewardesses all thanked
us (they were amazing the entire flight as well, if you ever come
here...FLY ON A JAPANESE AIRLINE, its night and day compared to even
good American airlines, pun intended).
The second flight was very brief in comparison. We backed out, got a
round of bows from the ground crew, got up to the runway, let one
plane land and then boom, we were off. Again, the economy class ticket
fairy blessed me with a window seat with nobody else in my row. By
this time it was 2am central but I couldn't sleep on a hour flight
with all of Japan under me.
We land in Nagoya's Chubu Airport and it
was great sight. You couldn't see where the pilot was attempting to
land, all you got to see was the ocean getting closer with the ships
turning from sparkles in the endless blue to practically sheering us
with their masts. When we hit the runway there was a terrace
that was landscaped to say CHUBU AIRPORT in a very precise lawn
cutting and stone placement. Nagoya's airport was right on the water
and seemed like the mall of America more than an international
airport.
We met the AEON woman who was to be our guide until the others have
landed. From Chicago, it was just Rob and myself. We quickly met up
with a young woman named Emily who hailed from San Diego, Richard from
Atlanta, Mike from Seattle, Taishi also from the Seattle area and
Bronson who was from Canada. One other person was there before us
all, his name is David and he is from Manchester, England. With all
the people named above and myself, we were the new Real World: Nagoya.
We then took a "short" train ride from the airport towards the train
station. I say "short" because that's what the guide had told us. I
was running on 28 hours without sleep and had to use the water closet
a hour before that. We all piled on the train and I tried to focus on
anything but liquids and sleep. On the train, we saw some interesting
Japanese people. (Doug get ready) The schoolgirl is not a lie. Emily
and I looked at each other when a university student walked on looking
like Sailor Moon, the Christina Aguilera "nasty" version. Emily and I
smiled and she told me about her fiance that she left back home. Her
fiance was concerned about her falling for a foreign teacher but she
said she was more inclined to fall for the Japanese women. She
expected shock from me, but all she got was "we both have good taste
then". We laughed and I told her about my situation back home and she
said this wasn't as much a test, but a year of growth. I liked her
outlook and could tell Emily would be the closest friend I would make
out of the Real World cast.
We finally find our hotel after 29 hours without sleep. It is in a
nice part of Nagoya, however we still got the honor to see "women of
the night". Now, I am laughing when I type this not because of the
women, but their pimp, and I shit you not ladies and gentleman, wore a
baby seal furry hat. Something you would see a cute little kid in the
States wearing is on a grown man next to these attractive and very
flirtatious women. All the guys looked at their feet as they walked
by, but I couldn't stop smiling and said konichiwa. They both started
laughing, but we marched on.
I finally post up in my hotel room which is very small but very nice.
The internet is not the fastest, but it works. They specifically say
that the systems may go down for maintenance during certain periods of
the day and Skype is not allowed because it kills the bandwidth for
all the other occupants in the hotel.
My head finally hits the pillow after 32 hours without a wink of sleep.
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