Okay, okay, I know I have been home since Friday am and just now (Monday night at 11pm) I am finally getting around to wrapping up the trip and the blog. I was surprised how long it took me to get back on track or rather on Pacific time.
So let's see what I still have to say about the trip... you already know I had a really good time. My last entry was the morning we left. Karen and I caught the bus - Friendly Airport Limousine - at our hotel about 915 am and did the "tour" of all the hotels in the area. It was amazing to see just how close we really were to everything at ground level. We had gotten used to taking the overhead train that looped around more than we realized. We even stopped directly across from the office!
The bus trip was pleasant and amazing to see that short of the Japanese writing on the buildings and the fact we were on the opposite side of the road, we could have been riding down a freeway in the US.
We got to the airport about 1030 and checked in at the Delta counter. I was happy to see my bags had not gone over the limit in weight. Then we headed to Immigration. No problem going through there, they just removed the embarkation card and put the final "stamp" into the passport.
We then went to the Sky Club - we were flying Business Elite after all. When we got there the place was pretty empty but it sure filled up by the time we left. We had breakfast - cheese and egg on a muffin, some fruit and some really good asparagus soup. Also had coffee (one cup with Bailey's -- never pass up free Bailey's, right? Had some fruit and danish and a cappuccino too. When they brought out "lunch" I also had sushi -- had to have one (ok two or was it three) last shots at real Japanese sushi!Left around 215ish to hit the Duty Free shop to see if we could use up the rest of our yen. I did a good job on that, came home with 7 yen (8 cents!). Ok I did borrow 150 yen ($1.60) from Karen so I could spend the last of my other yen.
We figured we had plenty of time since the plane wasn't supposed to board until 3:05 but when we got to the gate they were already boarding. (Hence, no gate photo -- I know, I know you were really looking forward to seeing that one!)
Amazing how quickly we become used to things because we were not really that much in awe of the plane or the food on the way home as we were on the way over. I did get to use the video screen during the entire trip this time around so I took advantage and watched 3 movies. "To Find a Psychic" (a Japanese comedy) - very cute and quirky, "Pirate Radio" - pretty good, "Love Happens" - pretty routine (boring) romantic comedy.
One thing that was pretty amazing about the trip home is that the plane trip from Narita to LAX was a little over 9 hours while the trip to Japan was 11 1/2 hours! Is there that much of a tail wind on the way home or is there a "shortcut" they take on the way to LA? :-)
Landed in LA Friday morning around 9 ish (yep we left Friday at 330 pm and landed Friday at 900 am -- don't you just love time travel!) and I must say I was appalled at the international terminal! It was filthy with trash on the floor, carpet pulled up... gross. If this was my first trip to the US and this was the first part of the US I saw, I would want to turn around and go home!!!! I know Americans think we "rule the world" but geez, can't we take a little bit of pride and put our best foot forward to visitors?
Got through immigration and customs with no problem. They didn't even ask us if we had anything to declare. Glad they didn't have to go through my luggage - for the inspector's sake that is - cause when I packed it I just threw all the dirty clothes in haphazardly.
The limo driver was waiting and the drive home was uneventful. It was about 10ish so there was no traffic to speak of.
I got home about 11 ish and guess what.... NO ONE greeted me! Found Rascal - the black and white one - under the covers on the bed; Yuroichi & Kyouya - the black ones - in their "normal" spot under the bedroom chair. Mashishorii - the white one - was no where to be found but eventually came out and when he did he was on my lap or on my shoulder (when I was sleeping) every minute until late Saturday afternoon.
So I am home and life is getting back to normal. Boring! But before I close this blog for the last time I will just give a few more thoughts on Japan.
As you can tell by all that I have written - at least I hope you have been able to tell that - I really enjoyed Japan. I felt very comfortable and at ease being there and never felt any of the nervousness or anxiety that I usually feel in new situations.
Doing training for folks that don't understand you and having to work with a translator was a new experience and took a little while to get used to but it worked out pretty well. (I think)
It was fun riding the trains and navigating around the parts of Tokyo we visited. Again I will say, "Thank goodness" for the iPhone train app! It was pretty amazing how folks wait for people to get off the train before they get on. (Don't think you would ever see that in the US mass transit systems!) We were never on the trains during the "heavy" rush hour periods when the trains are packed so perhaps the people are a little less polite but I can't say that for certain. Another thing about the trains is that you are NOT supposed to be talking on the phone on the trains because it disturbs those around you and those around you will give you some major "stink eye" looks if you are talking!
I caught up on my anime watching on the computer -- same site I use in the US but somehow it seemed so much better watching it in Japan! I started 3 new series (finished one one night by staying up til 4 am watching it!) I didn't do too much TV watching - it was all in Japanese (even CNN in English has Japanese talking over it with the English in the background!) and I could never figure out the schedule.
The first night I did watch TV I saw a few things that caught my eye: the AFLAC commercial had a duck and a white cat and NO screaming!; the trailer for the movie District 9 has the aliens' faces blocked out!. They still have alcohol commercials on tv and they have a shopping channel. Also saw that they have a LOT of commercials. Found "Full Metal Alchemist" (anime) playing but couldn't remember when or what channel I saw it the first night so never found it again. Couldn't find any other animes playing.
We stopped at the Panasonic Center and got to watch 3D TV.... VERY well done and what they showed was similar to the way they did 3D in Avatar - mostly subtle but occasionally something would come at you. The only drawback of course is you have to wear the silly glasses -- not the paper blue/red ones the newer ones. And NO I am not running out to get a 3D TV.
So bottom line: I Loved Japan and would love to go back and get to see more of the country outside of the metro Tokyo area.
So that is the end of my trip and my blog. I thank all of you who took an interest in reading this and hope you enjoyed reading my silliness.
Sayonara,
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