I'm going to try to give a detailed picture of our trip to Japan, though the posts may come slowly, as they are long. Well, the first one is long, anyway. After that I was too busy to take detailed notes, so they may shrink with time. No promises, however.
A friend (very good friend!) picked us up at 4:25 a.m. and drove us to the airport. All went smoothly—although there was a surprising amount of traffic for that hour—and we had checked our three bags and made it through security and to the gate by about 5:25, just an hour after departure. This gave us more than an hour's wait before boarding, but I'd much rather be a lot early than a little late. While waiting, we ate breakfast at Burger King/Cinnabon. Later I listened to some HIPPO language lessons, trying to distract myself from the ubiquitous television broadcasts.Our Continental Airlines flight to Newark was very nice, with drinks offered not once but twice, a chocolate chip muffin, and free headsets. Not that we used the headsets; they were for "entertainment"—TV sitcoms. But they may be nice to have for future flights, and on most flights they cost $5, the stewardess said. The weather was sunny and clear, and from my seat on the plane's right side I saw the seacoast for much of the flight.
In Newark we had a long walk from one gate to the other, but did not have to go outside the secure area. Porter bought a fruit smoothie of some sort, and I spent our waiting time eavesdropping on some of the other passengers, more than half of whom were Japanese. Most of the speech, of course, all blurred together for me, but the words I know stood out clearly, such as arigato gozaimasu (thank you), demo (but), ju-ji ni (at ten o'clock), and kudasai (please). Pre-flight instructions were usually given in Japanese, then English. Of them I only recognized pasupo-to (sound it out) and kudasai.
The plane seats were arranged in rows of three sets of three with two aisles, much less roomy than on our trip to New Zealand nearly 10 years ago. We had a window and an aisle seat, but the person who had the middle seat asked if she could have the aisle, so Porter switched with her. At least that's what I though she said; Porter thought she was asking for my window seat; since there was a language barrier, I can't be sure. In any case, next time we won't be so generous. Or rather, next time we'll take two aisle seats in the first place. Window seats are wonderful on short flights, but this one was even smaller than the already-cramped other seats because of the curve of the plane, and being able to move around easily is of prime importance on a very long flight.
Our seatmate was from Tokyo and had been visiting friends in New York City. No doubt a product of the same educational system in which Janet is teaching, she studied English in junior high school, high school, and college. Though she apologized for her English, we communicated very well most of the time. Still, I would have expected much more fluency from so many years of study. They learn grammar and vocabulary, but there is little emphasis on pronunciation and actual communication.
I was glad not to have eaten in Newark, as there was more food on the plane than we needed for being so sedentary. First a dinner of salmon, rice, carrots, cauliflower, and beans, with a salad of lettuce and smoked salmon, a roll and butter, and a brownie. Later they came by with a cheeseburger and ice cream, and finally eggs, potatoes, sausage, fruit, roll, and a cookie! (There was a choice for two of the three, and Porter had chicken for this one.) Meals were served with both Western utensils and chopsticks. The whole flight was bilingual and bicultural.
What I wanted most of all was liquid, and drank tea or water whenever I could. Apparently that was a common need, as whenever I pressed the call button, a stewardess appeared with water without having to be asked.
Despite what the stewardess had said on our previous flight, headsets were free this time, too. We didn't even have to use the coupons we had been given when we printed our boarding passes. Each seat had its own video screen and choice of movies to watch and audio channels to listen to. I spent a little time on the classical music channel, but mostly used my own CD player to listen to my Pimsleur Japanese lessons. I had not planned to watch a movie, but our seatmate pointed out one called Touch which she said was about a Japanese high school. It was a good movie, too. Even with the English subtitles, I know I missed some subtleties—the songs made no sense at all—and I caught almost no words of the Japanese. One interesting glimpse into another culture: there is a place in the movie where a small boy and his mother pray at what I take to be a family shrine, and it seems, in context, a most natural and reasonable thing to do, rather than strange and foreign.
It's hard to say this about an all-day trip, but there wasn't enough time to do all I wanted: write in my diary, listen to Pimsleur, watch the movie, practice katakana, read…plus all the eating! I didn't even touch my World of Puzzles magazine. I managed to sleep a little, but usually in 15-20 minute stretches as there was always something to wake me up.
We did get a nice view of Alaska, but mostly had to keep our window shades closed because the sun was so bright. And hot! My window shade became almost too hot to touch despite an outside temperature 50-70 degrees below zero.
We landed at Tokyo's Narita airport a little before three, said "sayonara" to our seatmate, and walked into Japan! There was a long walk and a train ride to the main terminal, where we presented our passports and entrance papers, received our stamps, and retrieved our luggage. Praise God, all came through just fine. There was a drug-sniffing dog being led around the baggage claim area, but when we went through customs they didn't even open our bags. As we walked out the door, there was Janet waiting for us!
It was so good to see her! She looks great, and confidently and competently guided us to where we waited for the bus to her town of Ryuo. I had not realized how far Narita airport is from Tokyo—and in the opposite direction from Ryuo. The bus ride was four hours long. But there was plenty to look at, and to talk about. Janet kept me busy trying to figure out katakana words on signs. That was fun, but what I really needed was sleep, and felt much better after a short nap on the bus.
Janet's friends and fellow teachers, Yuko and Naito Sensei, met us at the bus stop and drove us to Janet's apartment. We needed two cars—rather small—to handle both us and our luggage. We could easily have brought fewer bags, but brought more to be able to take some of Janet's stuff back to the U.S. for her.
Janet had intended to take us to a kaiten-zushi place for dinner (explanation to follow), but it was after eight by the time we arrived, and we were exhausted, so we had snacks in her apartment.
The first thing I noticed about her second-floor apartment was the smell of kerosene in the entryway. (That's where the kerosene jugs are stored.) Her main source of heat is a small kerosene heater in the living room. (This is typical for Japan, as far as I can tell.) Her bedroom has a small electric heater, which I think she just brought out for us, and there is also a kotatsu table in the living room…but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Of course in Japan you take off your shoes in the entryway, and Janet had slippers waiting for us. Turning to the right after entering takes you to the toilet, which is separate from the bathroom. It's a "normal," Western-style toilet with one fabulous feature: the tank lid is a faucet/sink arrangement. Flushing the toilet causes water to pour out of the faucet for handwashing purposes; the water drains into the toilet tank and is used for the next flush. What an economical, ecological idea!
Directly ahead and to the left from the entry is the kitchen with table and chairs, small refrigerator, microwave, toaster over, two-burner pilotless stove, a small cabinet with dishes, and shelves with lots of packages with labels in Japanese. There's a window over the sink, but the glass is textured so you can't actually see out without opening it.
Next comes the bathroom area, with a sink outside the door, and a very cool bath/shower system. The shower is outside of the tub, and the shower head, on a flexible tube, can be positioned at a high or medium level, or hand-held. The tub itself (used after showering) is short but delightfully deep.
Off of the kitchen are two additional rooms. The bedroom is a "six tatami mat room" (measure of size) and the tatami mat feels so good on bare or stocking feet! Janet had two futons laid out that took up most of the floor, though traditionally they are folded up and put away each day to provide more space. She doesn't need the extra space because she lives alone and also has a living room, to which I will return in a moment.
The living room opens out onto a balcony, on which is a small washing machine. Apparently clothes dryers are scarce in Japan, and balconies are necessary for drying clothes. Not to mention for airing futons, which must be done regularly. The futons are draped over the railing, and held in place with big plastic clips. There's also a very clever device with many clothespins in a small space, which hangs from a bar on the balcony or can be brought inside when the weather is not felicitous for drying. This is the balcony from which there is often a wonderful view of Mt. Fuji, but of course we could not see it in the dark.
Janet, like many Japanese people, lives on the floor. In the living room (wooden floor with rug, not tatami) the focal point is the kotatsu table and surrounding cushions. This low table features a heating element on its underside, and a quilt that hangs over the sides to keep the warmth in. Sitting at the table with your feet underneath is a delightful luxury in cold weather, though of course it would be nicer if I were as flexible as the Japanese are. Janet had the table beautifully arranged with Japanese snacks; I particularly liked the mochi, and Porter the spicy rice crackers. We all liked the chocolate! We relaxed, ate, and talked for a while before collapsing onto our futons.
