Late last night, I arrived in Tokyo. It was a long, exhausting journey. At times, I panicked. There were even a few tears. But mostly, I slept or watched a movie. Now that I have slept one night here and had a good meal, I feel great! I am so glad to be here.
When I bought my ticket to Japan, I decided to take a flight that stops in Hawaii. From Hawaii, I would get onto a connecting flight to Japan. The trip takes a lot longer than flying straight to Japan, but I wanted to see Hawaii, even if I only got to see it's airport. And oh my, the view of Hawaii from above was amazing! The water was so clear, I wanted to jump out of that plane and swim in it. And when I rode the Wiki Wiki airport shuttle, I saw the gorgeous mountains nearby. Yeah, it was just the aiport. But Hawaii was so gorgeous!
After I got off the plane in Honolulu, I ran into a bit of trouble. I ended up at the gate for my connecting flight to Tokyo and realized... I didn't even have a ticket to board the plane! I panicked quite a bit, but it ended up being all right. Two hours later, I was back at that gate with my boarding pass and also two boxes of chocolate macadamia nuts, a gift for my family in Japan. There was another problem, though: I was tired, thirsty, and extremely hungry. All I had eaten that day was some cereal before heading to SFO and a bag of Chex Mix on the five hour plane ride to Honolulu. I figured I would eat on the eight hour plane ride to Japan, since dinner was going to be served.
And when dinner was served on the plane, though it was just airplane food, I was so excited! Food at last! But then I realized... oh no, I was beginning to feel sick. Still, I was hungry and determined to eat. I tried a few bites of the curry katsu rice, but my stomach protested so instead I nibbled on a bread roll. The bread made me feel better, but I ate so slowly that when the flight attendant came to collect everyone's empty trays, I was not even close to half done. My efforts at eating were a waste anyways, because everything ended up in a barf bag. After that, I decided I wasn't hungry anymore and stuck with carbonated beverages. I finally had a good meal at home after my aunt picked me up form the airport. We rode the Keio bus from Haneda Airport to the Keio Chofu train station, and took a taxi from there to the house. It was midnight when we got home, but I was so hungry that I could not go to bed without eating.
My flight from Honolulu to Japan made me feel like I was already in Japan, because almost everyone on the flight was Japanese. I ended up taking to the flight attendants in Japanese too because at times they had difficulty understanding my English. I am so used to speaking English all the time. Even at home when I talk to my mother in Japanese, I liberally sprinkle in English words and sentences. But since arriving in Tokyo I haven't uttered a full sentence in English. This is such a change, and I'm sure my Japanese will improve for the better because of it.
My course at Tokyo University begins in less than a week, but until next Monday I will be relaxing in Tokyo at my family's house. It's so good to be here at last, and I am so happy to see my family!
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