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Getting There
While the first two trips to Japan I went coach, then the third I went first class, I decided to try out business class this time around. As it turns out, business class is first class without the giant chairs (which I still can't quite stretch out in).
During the 12 hour plane ride we were given customs forms. I've done this three times before, so I didn't expect anything different, but the form had been changed for the goofier. Otherwise the flight wasn't too exciting, though I did attain a new fondness for Bailey's Irish Cream in my boredom.
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| Apparently all of the flights I will ever get on in Orlando will come from this same gate. Go figure.
| I've an odd fascination with clouds. This was my favorite on the way to Dallas.
| "Yes, I totally got a sword through security."
I think if you can say yes to this question, they should just let you keep the sword. You've earned it.
| This is the plane I rather comfortably sat on for 12 hours. Well, more "in" than "on," I guess.
| In Japanese it says "welcome back." Also, that's my finger up in the top left corner. :P
| Customs was a riot, since only half of anyone filled out the back of the form beforehand. Not that it was hard. Just annoying.
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Getting Settled
After 15 combined hours of flying and another two or three just sitting at gates waiting, you kinda want a shower, and that was the first thing on my mind when Aya finally found me to pick me up at the station. In future trips I should be able to find my way on my own, however. I seem to be able to remember my way around places pretty easily in Japan, probably because there are so many things I can use to remember as landmarks.
For the first time I wasn't going to stay in a hotel in Japan, but rather at a friend's place. I met her with a group of Japanese exchange students who came to UCF to try and learn English, with marginal success.
For food, Aya seemed unsure of my capacity for trying random things, which, considering my childhood of eating nothing but pasta and peanut butter sandwiches, is surprisingly large. The only thing I stray away from is strange egg concauctions (I've had bad luck with strange eggs in the past). During my time there we went to a ramen shop (my first real bowl of ramen!), a few italian places (not at my request, strangely enough), and a "beef bowl" place.
Basically, all of the places shounen anime has told me not to take a girl out to eat.
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| I was amused to see an Episode 3 advertisement on the train to Funabashi. I also met a rather nice Okinawan girl on the train.
| A random shot of Aya. Doesn't really do her justice, but I was still getting used to using my new camera.
| The restaraunt where I had my first actual bowl of ramen (the stuff we have in the U.S. just isn't the same).
| Aya's "living room." There were two other rooms, both the same size.
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Getting Business Out of the Way
The only real business I had in Japan was to pre-order the uber-crazy-goofy-happiness-ultra-"congratulations, you're Japanese" version of Advent Children. I decided the best way to do this would be to have Aya pick it up for me, and leave her enough money to mail it to me in the U.S. This might not be an issue later, though, as I might go back to Japan for a day and a half or so for the Tokyo Game Show 2005. After we found a local shop that would preorder it for us, we wandered around a bit, mainly in the shopping area around Tokyo Disney, which, strangely enough, is in Chiba.
Something has been bugging me about Tokyo. I've been to Japan four times, and I still don't really know where it is. Tokyo isn't a city so much as it is an entire, freaking huge region of Japan. Its name consumes what seems to be two prefectures and countless smaller cities. If anyone ever tells you "yeah, I'm in Tokyo," they haven't told you where they are at all.
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| In an electronics store I found a rather large Japanese Microsoft keyboard. I took this picture for reference's sake.
| Mannequins have no faces in America, at least usually. Mannequins with anime faces are some of the creepiest things I've ever seen.
| An empty stage-like thing in the center of "Iksperia," the rather strange name for the Tokyo Disney shopping area.
| Some kind of strange statue that Urayasu city seems to be proud of.
| A shot of the street Aya lives on.
| Looking the other way. Urayasu has more trees in it that I'm used to seeing in Japan.
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Getting... a Car Wash?
Aya randomly decided she wanted to get her car washed. I later determined that this had something to do with her needing to get her bi-yearly, required by everyone who owns a car, crazy expensive vehicle inspection. You wouldn't think I would enjoy this little experience, but I thought it was fun.
Then again, washing a car with a cute Japanese girl will naturally be more interesting than doing it alone. :P
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| Aya contemplating just how much soap she would be assaulting her tiny van-car thing with.
| A shot of the car, which I somehow managed to fit comfortably in. It looks small, but it wasn't too bad. Note the inside decor.
| Some random guy getting a machine to do the work for him. Unlike the U.S. where we drive through the machine, the machine just kinda moves back and forth around your car.
| More of Aya's car decorations. In the middle of it all I found a Dragon Quest slime. It's not often you see these in the wild.
| A shot of a random cat. I took this to test my camera's abilities in low lighting (digital cameras are notoriously bad at this). I was asmused that the cat's eye shine came though.
| Aya's parking lot. She always backs in, which always scares the Hell out of me for some reason.
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Wasting Time
While Aya was at work (at 12am to 3am, of all times) I decided to wander around and see some of the Urayasu area, even though it was mostly closed. Everything seems to shut down in Japan around 9pm, except for karaoke parlors, convenience stores, pachinko/slot parlors, and places where you can get a "massage." It is at this point in the trip where I started to take pictures of all the random goofy stuff I saw.
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| European faces are everywhere in advertising, but I always find it amusing when I see it. This karaoke parlor wants you to know that "singing people always smile!" Somehow this sounds kinda depressing to me.
| A random bowling alley. The strange thing about seeing the word "western" in Japan is that you never know if it means "American" or if they're only talking about cowboys.
| This seems to be some kind of tourism services recruitment poster. I saw this thing all over the place.
| The Western Lanes turn out to be a bowling alley that also has pachinko. Note that I hate pachinko.
| Bruce Willis would like to congratulate you on your new legacy, but he looks really angry about it. Subaru needs to rework their advertising.
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| A shot of the street at night. On a side note, while I've never been inside the place, I feel compelled to be coo coo for Coco's.
| Kuma!!! The Coca-cola bear has never looked so not-cuddly.
| A Jomo's gas station. Much like everyone outside of the U.S., the Japanese pay a lot more than us for fuel.
| "Omae" is apparently a more insulting way to say "you" than I had been previously aware.
| A rather dark shot of a fire station, proving my camera's poor ability (like most digital cameras) to capture low-lit scenes.
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| A blurry picture, but the first proof I've seen in Japan in all four of my trips that honest to God milk exists in Japan. Yes, the kind from cows.
| The mailboxes at Aya's apartment. Pooh wasn't there this morning.
| Some new little figures I bought. Also, an indirect picture of me.
| Aya only has one chair in her apartment, and this... thing. I'm not sure how it provides any kind of back support, but it seems to work for her.
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A Philosophical Intermission
Over the first few days of my stay with Aya we discussed a great deal about cultural philosophy differences, during the moments when I wasn't teaching her funtastic English phrases while she kept trying to get me to speak more Japanese. As I had already read on the Internet (mainly at Outpost 9), Japanese men seem to think that gaijin (or foreign) men have some kind of inherent ability to pick up women. Because of this assumption, many Japanese men will see me as competition. After hearing about how Japanese men commony treat women, I can see how American guys can be paradoxal to Japanese men. Not only are we usually much larger than them, but our society attempts to still instill the old European ideals of chivalry, regardless of how some girls like to say "chivalry is dead." (Side note: Chivalry isn't dead, it's just mostly ignored. If it's dying, you're killing it, ladies. A "thank you" from time to time wouldn't hurt. :P)
Japanese guys are also rather prone to what's called a "lolita complex," and Aya (and I hardly disagree) dislikes most manga/anime for promoting such behavior. On yet another side note, I've discovered that I like anime less and less over time. Sure, there are the rare, few decent ones that stand out from the others, but the greater majority of it is just the same crap over and over again. Piles of 12-year-old Japanese girl characters with breasts larger than any real Japanese girl will ever have. Series after series about some hapless guy who just happens to get constantly surrounded with such girls, but always seems helpless against them (in reality Japanese guys like being the big dogs, so I can't see why weak male characters getting beat around by lots of angry women is popular. Maybe they secretly want women to get backbones). It's all getting pretty nauseating.
On one day Aya's friend Kyoko came over. She was surprisingly Americanized, probably because she spent 5 months back in my old home state, Tennessee. She has a boyfriend there, and while I tend to frown upon long distance relationships, I can understand why she would do so to keep an American boyfriend if the guys in Japan are as bad as I heard from them.
In any case, this "Gaijin Power" is mostly myth. Some Japanese girls do want to pick up some guys just because they're foreign (more on this later), but the greater majority of Japanese girls seem to work on the same system American girls work off of. The harder a guy is to get (i.e. married, unemotional, closed in, or anything else that might indicate that he is "hurting inside," but shows no interest in remedying such a likely false condition) the more interested the girl is in him. This explains why Japanese men, who Aya made out to be rather massively prone to cheating on their girlfriends within 3 months, and who I've read from other sources are almost zombie-like once they enter the business world, haven't been slammed by a torrent of social reform demands from Japanese women. It's like the enjoy the total lack of satisfaction such things bring about. This isn't to say that every guy is like this in Japan, however. I'm sure there are nice guys among them, all wondering when they'll finally get the girl. Little do they know "the girl" is probably off with some guy who's already married (and not to her) and is close to twice her age. She probably has another boyfriend, too, just for kicks.
Keep hoping, fellow nice guys. Keep hoping. :P
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A Note About the Weather
Staying with Aya made me see first hand something I had heard about in Japanese culture. People are crazy frugal. It's summer, so she left the hot water heater off. Also, air conditioning costs a lot, so she didn't use it, and if she did, she liked to keep the door closed to her room (I was rather depressed about this part). Thus, for five days, I had no hot water and no airconditioning. I was sweating constantly. I took seven shirts for the five day trip, and used them all, washed them all, then used them all again. There's nothing happy about needing to change shirts three times per day.
The showers were the worst part. You might think that a nice, cold shower would be nice when the average indoor temperature is blasted 90 degrees, but you'd be wrong. The contrast was simply too much. Think of it like when you put an ice cube in a glass of warm water. The ice cube cracks, or even shatters. In this case, the temperatures are reversed and I'm a freaking ice cube made of fire, and the crazy cold showers were making me break apart from the inside. I was sweating so much I actually forgot what the other thing was. You know, that thing that isn't sweating? The entire time I only really enjoyed one shower (more on that later).
In any case, if I'm to live in Japan in the future, I'll have to get used to this blazing heat beforehand.
It's hard to enjoy yourself in such conditions.
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Return to Electric City
Aya had to get her car examined on Saturday, so I was on my own. I figured this would be a good time to go shopping, as I had a few things some friends wanted me to pick up for them. I found out that the Advent Children action figures were already released, so I grabbed the Sephiroth figure and a few other things. Also, I took a pile of pictures.
Also, I was given a challenge from my old roommate, Dan. It went something (exactly) like this:
"I demand 1 photo of a duck, 1 photo of peanut butter, and 1 photo of a black man. Are you a bad enough dude to do so?"
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| Am I a bad enough dude?
| Yes,
| yes I am.
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Sure, it's not a *real* duck, but it's a duck nonetheless. :P
I enjoy the fact that all three came out blurry for some reason.
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| From atop a bridge in Urayasu.
| Looking the other way.
| Inside the station, Bert and Ernie remind kids to hold their backpacks in front of them. Maybe crime isn't as rare as they want us to think.
| Marunouchi, or at least I think that's where this is.
| I take this thing's picture every time I come here, and I'm not at all sure why.
| A bunch of parents and their kids lined up to take a picture... in front of another picture. This has something to do with Pokemon, which Nintendo just won't let die.
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| Inside one of the many tunnels within the train station.
| What do you get when you beat a dead horse and give him a new hat? A dead horse with a new hat.
| I got some pastry thingies in the station on my way to Akihabara. This one had a penguin thing on it for no apparent reason.
| Finally in Akihabara, posters for Advent Children were everywhere. This was inside Aso Bit City, a store which used to be much, much larger.
| In the U.S. we have Final Fantasy XI, but we only have one published strategy guide. Apparently there's a magazine and huge, specific guides coming out in Japan all the time. Thanks, S-E.
| I shouldn't have to tell you why I thought this was funny.
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| A shot of the Tifa figure for Advent Children.
| Vincent.
| They're still paying $65 in Japan for FFXI, apparently. Games seem to just randomly go down in price here, but they keep it as high as they can as long as they think they can.
| You can't tell because of the blur, but they're paying $60 for Neverwinter Nights. This game sucks, and there's no reason it wouldn't such just as bad in Japanese.
| The Half-Life 2 collecter's box is actually reasonably priced.
| These things creep me out. I'll probably buy one someday.
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| Outside in Akihabara.
| The other direction.
| A computer store on a street corner. I still love how they sell computer parts and stuff right outside.
| I don't remember anyone caring this much about National Treasure in America. This isn't even for a theatrical release. They're advertising the DVD.
| I've never heard of Mikuni Shimokawa, but there were an awful lot of people crowding around her. Based on the text, she's promoting her 12th single. That's almost an entire album!
| An Oceans 12 poster hidden behind a bunch of things. Looks like the Japanese don't care much about this movie, either.
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| Another Advent Children displaying preorder slips.
| This store is charging too bloody much for Final Fantasy VIII. The International version of X isn't exactly priced to move, either.
| Another display of all the Advent Children box set goodies.
| Cloud, his new bike, and my reflection.
| Another shot of Akihabara.
| A bag of tonberry.
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| This little Japanese man will never be huge like Batman, or so this statue suggests.
| A rather angry (surprise surprise) looking Guts figure. Also, another indirect picture of me.
| This kinda threw me off more than the Batman statue.
| "Because 99% just wouldn't be personal enough."
| This is the 1st floor of where Aso Bit City used to be. Now it's just a pachinko parlor. /sigh
| A UFO catcher filled with the little cat dude from Dokodemo Issho.
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A poster for the
Tokyo Game Show 2005.
| Yet another Advent Children display,
this time with a video running.
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The Beginning of the Awkward
Having finished my shopping, it was getting time to head back. Aya wanted me to call her around 4 or 5, so I made my way back to Urayasu, not expecting the fun that awaited me there.
I took pictures of stuff, as normal, but while I was taking a picture of a strange doughnut poster,
from behind me came a voice saying "hello?"
The Hell?
This surprised me, but I knew this kind of thing happened occasionally. Japanese people sometime like to practice their English on unsuspecting foreigners, so I figured this was no different than any other time it had happened to me. I said "More on that later" twice so far, and this is why. Here, for your entertainment, is a rough version of the exchange:
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Random Woman: "Hello?"
Kashi: Huh? Oh, okay, I'll play along. "Hello!"
*random babbling about my being American and stuff of little importance*
Kashi: "Okay, well, nice talking to you, but I've got to head back to my friend's place and call them."
Random Woman: "Hey, let me buy you a drink first."
Kashi: "No, really, that's okay. I need to get going." *looks at his watch in an attempt to further display my lack of time, though he's still early.*
Random Woman: "No, I insist. It won't take long."
Kashi: Hoo boy, I guess I've got time. I don't want to be a jerk (note that this is my first mistake) and I guess I've got time. "Sure, okay, but I've got to make it quick."
Random Woman: *Points at the nearest bar-thing.* "Let's go over there."
*Our hero and Random Woman walk over. Random Woman orders some sort of wine, while Kashi orders some sort of mango thing.*
*Unbeknownst to our hero, the wine was for both people, and during the conversation Random Woman keeps the supply coming Kashi's way.*
As far as I can figure, she actually thought she could get me tipsy off of two glasses of red wine. Just to make it clear, I'm 6'5" (that's nearly two meters) and 230 pounds. Anyone that size can have never had a drink in their life and still be able to drink the average Japanese person under the table.
*more chitchat about where we're each from*
*during this chitchat, pictures are taken, and I give her my fake business card*
Suddenly: What's this?! Random Woman is evolving! Random Woman became Crazy Lady!
Crazy Lady: "So how long are you staying in Japan?"
Kashi: "Only a few days. I have to leave Monday."
Crazy Lady: "Monday? You should change your plans and stay longer. You can stay with me."
Kashi: Uhh.. hoo boy. No. I'm just not letting that happen. "No, I really can't. I have things in America I need to do. I have a previous engagement I have to tend to."
It should be noted here that Crazy Lady's english was exceptionally good, and she showed all of the signs of knowing exactly what I was saying, but she never let up.
Kashi: Okay, now I'm getting kinda late. I'd better get out of this quick. "Yeah, I'm kinda late, now. I've gotta jet. Nice talking to you, though." *pays for drinks, but Crazy Lady pays for part of the shared drink. Kashi figures he doesn't want to owe Crazy Lady anything.*
*Kashi sets off, using his lankey power walk to propel him forward while trying not to look like he's trying to get the Hell out of Dodge.*
*Crazy Lady starts jogging next to him. The same exchange about "stay with me in Japan" and "no, I really can't" repeat several times.*
*Eventually our hero and Crazy Lady reach Aya's apartment.*
Kashi: "Okay, I've really got to go and take a shower. This is where we part ways. Nice meeting you, but I've got to go."
*Crazy Lady hugs Kashi. At least four times Crazy Lady tries to either jump up to kiss Kashi, or tries to pull Kashi down to her level to do the same. Suddenly, Kashi's neck becomes fasting and more flexible than ever before, granting him the power to swiftly dodge each incoming kiss.*
Kashi: Oh God why is this happening? Abort, get the Hell out of there! Run like Hell!
*Running like crazy around Aya's building so as to hide his final destination, Kashi gets to Aya's apartment, with Aya already inside, apologizes for not calling earlier, and takes the only cold shower he enjoyed on the entire trip.*
This is what I shall now refer to as a "Gaijin Stalker." If you or someone you know is a Gaijin Stalker, do try and realize that guys don't go for that sort of thing. Just be nice, chat a bit, and let us be on our way. If you didn't scare us, we might reply to your emails. Unfortunately, she has my email, may likely see this report, and knows roughly where my friend stays. Thus, if I get killed during one of my next trips to Japan, we'll know why.
It is a dangerous life I lead.
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| Waiting for the train back to Urayasu.
| This product angers me. It's called a Croissant, but there are no croissants displayed.
| Obligatory McDonald's picture.
| A building with a Nova office. Nova is a private school that teaches people English.
| A random street in downtown Urayasu.
| I was amused to see a restaraunt named "Mister Doughnut" in Japan.
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| I still can't wrap my head around this. The dog is cute, and the doughnuts are "SO NICE!!," but why is there some sweatly blonde girl eating a doughnut on the bottom of the poster? I never thought of doughnuts as a summer-specific food. :P
| Random Woman before she evolved into Crazy Lady.
| A man trying to catch his dog crashed our little party, though I kinda enjoyed the distraction.
| My camera flashed Sephiroth's face right off in this pic.
| Aya talking to someone on the phone, but who? Who indeed...
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The Awkward Continues
That night, and the night after, Aya's boyfriend decided to come over. He stayed the night the second time. Clearly my presence was ruffling his feathers, and Aya told me he was getting jealous. Part of me was somewhat amused by this, since it helped to somewhat verify that he believes in that "Gaijin Power" stuff. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the longest period of awkward moments during my stay.
Silence, then giggling, then conversation, repeat. This is what I heard coming out of the room next to me. The only thing between them and me was a sliding door that must have been whole milimeters thick. While the giggling and the "iya"ing were bad enough, the silence was the worst part. I don't know if they were, you know, doing anything during that time, but the silence was horrible. This was the kind of silence that feels like a black hole of sound. The kind that makes you do whatever you can not to cough or sneeze or make the slightest noise because you think if you do, the entire country will hear you. Fortunately, I hadn't been keeping up with the editorials at Outpost 9, so I had that to keep me company. If I ever get to meet that man, I'll buy him a drink, but have the courtesy to not try and get him to sleep with me (see above section for details). Also, my friend Jessica listened to my troubles over AIM, so I have to thank her, too.
The next day, to my surprise, I found that ATMs in Japan don't like to take my debit card. This was out of the ordinary, as I was certain I had used it in ATMs in the past. I found out that the ATMs in Urayasu won't take International Visa cards, and Aya seemed convinced that there was no helping it, and that I'd have to get her some money to pay for stuff the next time I was in Japan. I'm not the sort of guy who gives up easily, however, so I decided to try anyway.
Other happier events of the day included Makoto, and then later Misato coming by to say "hi." They were in Aya's group of exchange students who came to UCF, and apparently they're a couple now, so congratulations to them. :3
I also noted several things in the conversations I had on Sunday. First of all, Aya seems unaware, or unwilling to be aware that she looks just fine without makeup, which certainly can't be said for all girls. I honestly didn't notice much difference between her with makeup and her without makeup. Makeup seems to be a requirement in the existance of Japanese girls, though that's not too far off from life in the U.S. The major difference are the girls here that are referred to as "ganguro." If you stay in Japan long enough you'll start to get really tired of seeing really tan, blonde-haired Japanese girls caked in makeup.
Something really needs to be done about it.
Makoto's reasoning for liking pachinko was filled with the standard false hope of "I can make money." I say it's still a blasted slot machine. On the bright side, he backed me up about thinking Aya was crazy for having the relationship issues she's been having in the last many months. Girls are silly.
Misato, Aya, and I all went out to some Italian restaraunt. On the way there I apparently managed to act goofy enough (and I wasn't even trying!) for them to think I had Type O blood. Apparently the Japanese think that blood type has a lot to do with your personality. I told them I was Type A and they said Type A people were supposed to be practical. "I'm not practical?"
I found that pizza does not have tomato sauce here, only tomatoes. It's a rather stange method of making a pizza, but there was enough cheese to distract from the lack of sauce. Also, this place had melon soda. I've started to dislike drinking most kinds of soda, but I still dearly love this stuff. I also found out that most restaraunts in Japan apparently don't accept credit cards. -_-
After one more night of the silence, giggle, conversation repetition, I managed to fall asleep, regardless of me feeling it was 85 degrees in my room. The next day I would have to find some cash, come back, get my things together, and make my flight home.
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| Makoto and Aya. Aya's hiding her face because she doesn't want to be seen by a camera if she has no makeup on.
| As you can see, the fiasco of the night before has me looking a little fatigued. Also, I forgot to shave.
| Clearly Aya's anti-camera-fu is stronger than my camera-fu.
| Cheese sticks in a 7-Eleven.
| An eclair, too!
| Aya's street in the daytime.
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| This symbol means "alcohol." This symbol is everywhere in Japan, and the more they want you to care, the larger it is. I've seen stores where this symbol was larger than their logo.
| A store selling western clothing exclusively.
| In my search for an ATM, I ended up behind the train station. To my surprise, there was a huge parking lot filled with bicycles. It scared me.
| More scary bikes. They go on for at least two hundred yards.
| The first time I saw the moon on this trip was the last night I was there.
| Some telephone booths.
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| No one should ever eat this. This makes me want to find the chef, hit him with a stick, and say "no."
| Misato. Picture taken from the back of Aya's car. I was using a seatbelt, which they found amusing for some reason.
| Aya in the little park outside of where she works. We were trying to find an ATM that would take my card.
| The inside of Aya's living room again, only this time with a beautiful shot of my foot.
| Aya's only chair.
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Tying up Loose Ends
I still needed to get Aya money for Advent Children, so I had to get up early. Aya had to work at 9 am, so I wasn't going to see her after she left, since she wouldn't be back until 4pm and my flight was at 5:25pm.
I made the easy trek to Tokyo and asked for help from an old policeman. He gave me directions as best I could, which were good enough for me to find my way to an international ATM. Afterward I went back and gave him a thumbs up, as I have a habit of going back and thanking people who've helped me out finding my way.
After I found the ATM, got the money, and dropped it off at Aya's place, I packed my things, took another shower, and decided to go say goodbye to Aya at work. I wasn't about to let the last time she saw me be me stumbling into the bathroom, unshaven and ungroomed. Last impressions are nearly as important as first impressions, so I made my way to where she worked, which was some distance away, and said goodbye in person. She seemed rather surprised I was able to find my way there at all (thanks for the vote of confidence) and seemed unsure of what to do when I gave her a hug goodbye (apparently they don't do a lot of hugging in Japan). With that, I took my leave and made my way to the airport.
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| I'm guessing this bus was spewing out political shouting, but I couldn't read enough of the kanji on the thing to tell.
| Seems that the transportation companies are getting a little more paranoid than they used to be.
| I'm not sure what movie this is, but I saw the poster around a lot.
| I was mostly amused by this guy, who looks like a young, asian Christopher Walken.
| Dutch Land. Yeah, that's what it says.
| I have no idea what huge, burly, Fist of the North Star style guys have to do with slot machines.
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| The arcade where Aya works.
| Some kind of multi-player soccer game. You'd think they could just do this outside.
| Even more pachinko.
| Leaving the shopping district in Urayasu.
| Still leaving.
| A random shot of an interstate on the way back.
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The other way. "Welcome to Chiba"
seems appropriate since I'm on my way out.
| The last thing of note in Urayasu.
This street actuall has a freaking name.
This is one of three street signs I've ever seen in Japan.
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The Voyage Home
Naturally, I was late to my flight, but being standby, I wasn't too worried. There are flights to the U.S. until 6:30 on most days, and I still managed to get on one of them. Once I got to Chicago I immediately noticed how much more rude American employees are, but it's not because they don't like people. Our culture simply makes it so being rude is normal. There was one really cool guy at the gate, though, who let me know where I could steal some electrons, which you usually aren't supposed to do. The flight to Orlando was rather dull. Part of me wanted to go back to Japan already, but most of me was more interested in finally getting a hot shower and a good night's sleep in some air conditioning.
In the end, I had a good time overall. The chats Aya and I had were very educational, and trying to teach someone some english is always fun. I'll probably head back again a few more times before the year is out. Until then, 次のはんざいで見てね。
("See you next crime!")
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| The ticket counter lobby in Narita Airport.
| I've never seen a super nintendo game available on an airplane, but the TV controlers are always ready for them.
| Chicago's international welcome sign.
| Customs in America is about as dull as customs in Japan.
| You rarely see the word "summoned" used outside of video games.
| Chicago has one of the least organized lobbies I've ever seen.
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| The electrons I happily stole.
| Some clouds on the way to Orlando. Being above the clouds always looks cool.
| A little cell phone accessory that Aya gave me. I'm sure to get some strange looks in the U.S., but I think it's cute. Girls dig a guy who can respect cute things, don't they? /cry
| Sunset.
| A blurry picture of Dan, the only man who was a bad enough dude to both take me to and pick me up from the airport.
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