We arrived at Narita International Airport after nearly 20 straight hours of travel. We had a somewhat frightening experience at customs as the agent grilled us with questions:
Agent: Where will you be staying?
Us: With a friend in Akishima.
Agent: What is the address?
Us: We do not have his address.
Agent: Why?
Us: We never received it from him. He is picking us up here at the airport.
Agent: What is his phone number?
Us: We don’t have his number.
Agent: Why?
Us: We don’t have phones that work here.
This continued for a few minutes with additional questions regarding our returning flight (we did not have proof of our outgoing flight within the 90 day limit of a visitor’s visa). We were then asked to submit electronic fingerprints and photos – our first glimpse at this ultra-organized society.
In retrospect, it was very irresponsible for us to arrive without this information, something we had completely forgotten due to the daunting list of tasks leading up to a trip of this caliber.
Thankfully, we were let in without any delays, and after waiting no more than five minutes, we were greeted by our friend and host Chris Casey and his wonderful girlfriend Yoko. While I had stayed in touch with Chris via E-mail and video chat, I had not seen him in over a year. Chris has been our good friend for many years and would have been in the wedding party had he not been abroad at the time. Chris wore a tan suit to work the day of our wedding, matching the color of the men’s’ suits and acting as an honorary usher on the other side of the world.
Our friend and host Chris with his girlfriend Yoko. Chris and Yoko are both English teachers at the private English conversation school Aeon.
It was wonderful to see our friend again and receive travel help from his Japanese girlfriend through the complicated Tokyo train system. Chris lives in Akishima, a suburb on the far west edge of Tokyo. Narita International Airport is located on the far east edge of the city. What is normally a two hour commute turned into a tedious stop-and-go as there was an unspecified accident on our train line. Chris assured us of the situation’s rarity, stating one can usually bet their life on the Tokyo train schedule. This long ride allowed me to indulge in a very popular activity on Japanese trains: sleeping.
We ended our long day of travel at a neat little restaurant close to Chris’s home. The restaurant was set up like a buffet, offering the customer unlimited food for a two hour period. We grabbed a myriad of raw meats and vegetables and brought them back to our fryer-equipped table. We dunked the food in batter, covered it in breading, and were eating within minutes. It was an incredible end to a very long day.
Kathleen and me with Chris’ girlfriend Yoko.
We walked back to Chris’ apartment in the snow, something rarely seen in Tokyo. After a short tour of the apartment, we quickly crashed on a mountain of futons (Japanese futons, very different from their American counterparts), a fitting end to our 30 hour day.
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