Tokyo (well....Narita)

Wednesday March 18th, 2009, 1600 hours (Japan time)

The very first thing I noticed about Japan was the cleanliness of the airport terminal floors. As I would soon learn clean floors are essential in Japan. That was fine with me, especially after working in the ER where every possible body fluid ends up on the floor (some walk in the fluid and then wear the same shoes home) and having experienced the 10 square feet outside the entrance to "The Loft" on a Sunday morning.


Before reaching the baggage carousel, I walked by a health screening check that announced "If you have become ill during your flight, please stop here for a health screening check." I thought, "hmmmm.....Am I sick? No explosive diarrhea, no extreme cough indicating that I have contracted Tuberculosis and a-febrile, I guess I can get my bags."


I collected my bags from the carousel and proceeded to the customs check. I handed the man my passport and visa. He asked me, "Biz-a-neess or traa-vel?"


I replied, "I am here as an instructor, is that business?"


"Yessa. Do u speak a Jap-a-nese?"


"No."


"Any..thing to de-clare?"


"No."


"Ok, please-a proceed."


And that was it. As soon as I left customs, I was met by a man holding a sign that read "Jeremiah Kinsman, David M., JET Program." I greated the man and he showed me where I could wait while he connected with David. David arrived shortly. We set up for our bags to be delivered to our host cities and we were taken to a nearby hotel. David, as it turned out, is from Michigan and had been to Japan before. He suggested that we take a train from Narita (where the main international airport for Japan is located) into Tokyo.


After trying to figure out which train company to choose (there were several), which route to take and how much it costs, 30 minutes had past.

Feeling genius and courageous for tackling such a difficult system, we headed down the stairs to board a train. It took us another hour to figure out which train to get on and which direction we should head. We finally boarded our train (which resembled a subway car on the inside). We road the train for two stops (it took 30 minutes) and realized that it would take another hour to get into Tokyo which would not leave us enough time to take the train back to the hotel. We were much further from Tokyo than we realized.

We decided to go into the city of Narita instead. David suggested we eat at Mcdonalds and I agreed wondering what Mcdonalds in Japan was like. Well let me tell you, this was the best DAMN Mcdonalds I have ever eaten. I ordered a sandwich with a beef pattie, cheese and a sunny side up egg on top, all covered with a sweet soy sauce. David, who likes to suck on the old cancer sticks, promoted sitting in the glassed-in smoking section which I agreed to and proceeded to remain in, but only for the music. Jaaazzzz!

After our glorious dining experience, David and I searched for a bar. After approximately 15 minutes of searching we saw a sign with the universal symbol for beer, a sign with a picture of an ice cold beer mug containing beer and foam slightly spilling over the top. We walked the stairs up to the bar and realized that this was a Karoke Bar. There were no other patrons in the bar at the time. The Bartender poured our beers, David ordered two shots of whiskey, we knocked them back and he headed to the microphone to sing his first song. After my shot and large beer I got the courage to belt out my preplanned Jon Fishman version of Purple Rain. According to David and the bartender (I could tell by his clapping) my singing was a huge success. David gave it an 8 out 10 (for my first karoke song ever).

We returned to the train station and and found our way back to the hotel. I had to be up the next morning at 0630 to get to the airport on time for my trip to Oita.

Much peace and Love.

Jeremy