4 A.M. - Tokyo!
Timothy Dobbins
the time difference has caught me a bit, although I did sleep soundly
last night when I finally got to be around 11 p.m!
What a whirlwind so far! Everything has gone smoothly! Our orientation
night in San Francisco was superb, and I was able to meet not only my
Hitatchiota group, but also some great people from other prefecture
groups that I plan on spending a lot of time with in Tokyo, before we
split up.
Monday morning saw us all off to the airport, lugging baggage that
some were in a sorry state of shock about. The reason for this is that
the airlines changed the baggage weight limit from 70 lbs. for
international flight to...50 lbs!! Luckily, I was able to just remove
a pair of shoes to solve this problem. but quite a few people were
forced to pack another whole bag to get under the new limit. It seems
to have changed in tha last few weeks before our trip, so the JFMF
staff was unaware!
The flight to Narita International Airport went off without a hitch,
and a few of us were able to sit together on the plane, making it a
much more enjoyable flight. Unfortunately, I was not able to sleep
much at all so by the time I finally got to bed last night, I think I
had been up for a consecutive 24 hours. I don't feel it much...yet!
The flight was made even more enjoyable due to the fact that I was
sitting (on one side) next to a gentleman from Japan who spoke very
good English! We talked quite a bit during the flight, and he was able
to give me some great information on sights in Tokyo, and help me with
my very poor Japansese in the process!
After we touched down in Japan, we proceeded to gather our baggage and
head through customs/immigration. One thing that immediately stuck me
about the program was the minute we set down and got down to baggage
claim, there were JFMF staff EVERYWHERE, making sure that we retrieved
our luggage and ushering us towards the next destination. Walking out
of baggage claim with suitcases in tote, we were guided along (about
every 20 feet it seemed!) by a staff member with a JFMF sign! This was
absolutely wonderful, as I never felt I needed to ask "what now?".
We boarded buses that would take us to the hotel, with our larger
suitcases going on a separate luggage truck that would follow/meet us
at the hotel. We were warned that it might be up to a few hours before
we could see our main luggage, but it turned out that the luggage
truck beat us to the hotel!! My luggage was delivered to me in my room
20 minutes after I checked in! Wonderful!
On board the bus we were given about 27,000 yen to cover our dinner/
lunch expenses over the next 2 1/2 weeks as necessary! The JFMF
program and the Japanese government have proven again to be so
generous! We were also told how check in a the hotel would work, and a
brief orientation on the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, where the Keio Plaza
hotel (our hotel) was located.
Upon arriving at the hotel, we were ushered in to a separate check in
desk where a package was waiting for each of us containing some
information (and a picture of my host family for the home stay!!) and
our room key!! I was able to get right up to my room and take a
shower, which felt absolutely wonderful! I unpacked, figured out the
tea maker in my room (free of charge and a wonderful treat after a 10
hour flight), and still had an hour or so before we had to be
downstairs.
The first night in Tokyo was spectactular. Myself and three other
teachers (randomly grouped) met with a wonderul gentleman who was a
Fulbright scholar years ago, and had spent time in the States. Handa-
san turned out to be a wonderful host, and took us out to dinner for
the evening, answering questions about any and everything all night
long.
Handa-san took us to a restaurant very close to the hotel - on the
50th floor of another office building! The restaurant was called DNA -
Living and Dining Bar. The 5 of us were ushered into a private dining
room - with Karaoke!! The food was uniquely Japanese (along with the
saki), and we spend another hour singing and laughing with Handa-san
after dinner! It was the first time I had tried a few dishes, such as
Octopus (raw) and salmon roe. I can't say that I would every order it
again, but it went down just fine and there were other courses (we had
a set menu with 6 courses) that were delicious! Thank you Handa-san!
Stay tuned for more updates!