Japan 2015, Day 1: Arrival
- Nagoya, Japan
- Apr 2, 2015
- 8 min read
Whew – what a day! Night. Day. I don’t know. Both? No idea! Traveling to the other side of the world kind of does that to you, I guess. I’m exhausted. I don’t exactly think it’s the shift in time that’s breaking me up right now: I guess it’s got to do more with the fact that I’ve been awake for ages. I left at 11:00 AM Dutch time, and landed at 09:30 AM Japanese time. Meaning: no night for me! I had to go from my Dutch day straight into my Japanese day. And I’m really bad at sleeping on aircraft, so I’ve been awake during the entire flight. And what a flight it was…
The journey
It’s the first time I’m traveling alone, and the first time I’m traveling outside of Europe. I’m terrified I’ll miss my transfer, end up on the wrong plane or whatever else can happen during a flight like this. The transfer has been nightmare material for months. The misery already starts when I’m not even in the air yet – the Lufthansa A320 to Frankfurt International has to taxi all the way to the Polderbaan, the furthest runway on Schiphol. Almost half an hour passes before we finally take off, and I only have an hour to transfer, so I already need a clean pair of knickers while my journey hasn’t even started. Calm as I obviously am, as soon as we’ve landed, I sprint off into the airport. With a sigh of relief, I find that the airport is completely moron proof and the intercontinental area has been clearly marked. I only have to move through passport control, which doesn’t take as long as I’ve been afraid of. This gives me just enough time to quickly smoke a fraction of my stress away before I enter my 12-hour flight. When I sprint out of the smoking room, my flight is already boarding. Heart throbbing in my throat, I go through the gate and onto the aircraft. I settle into my seat and watch the rest of the A340 fill up with people. Before I know it, I’m surrounded by a high school class of Japanese girls. Awesome! I can’t gather the courage to talk to the girl who sits down next to me, but I don’t really have to, since as soon as she settles down, she falls asleep. Holy cow, the envy! She’s so lucky she doesn’t have to live through the agony of an hour delay while we are already on the plane. Be honest, how messed up is that? You’re waiting on a 12-hour flight, and you have to spend another one immobile on the ground, for no apparent reason. We can’t leave the plane, have to remain seated and only get a glass of water as compensation. My, how I hope it’s all worth it!
12 hours, a migraine and a few not-so-bad meals later, I’m on the ground again. Before I go through the hassle of immigration, I need a potty break. But as soon as I get into the stall, I am confronted with the first deal of cultural difference… I mean, how many buttons does one need in that little room? In that moment, I am immensely grateful that I got to learn basic kanji – without knowing 小 [small] and 大 [big], I would never have figured out how to flush the damn thing. On to the next surprise: a warm seat! I’m glad no one’s there with me, because jumping up with my pants on my ankles must not have been one of my more gracious moments. I do my thing and run out of the stall, as far away from this monster as I can. While I’m washing my hands, I hear the Japanese ladies go berserk over something – not my problem, I guess. But they’re all staring and pointing at me! Great, did I push the wrong button or something? No worries – with warm smiles, they make it clear to me that I left my suitcase in the stall. I start bowing awkwardly to thank them, which gets them to giggle. Kind ladies.
Next, I have to go through immigration – fill out some forms, have a picture and my finger prints taken, am questioned for a bit, and then it’s done. For the first time in my life, I’m on Japanese ground. I give my guest father Hajime-san a call to confirm that I have landed. He’ll be waiting for me on Kanayama station, so I get on the first train I can find that goes there. I jump out just as quickly when I hear something about needing a reservation for this train. Since I have no idea which train I can take without a reservation, I ask a member of staff. The guy tries very hard to speak English, is exceptionally kind and directs me to the right train. The train leaves the exact minute it has to. So far, the rumours I heard about the Japanese seem correct! While riding on the train I look around and see that pretty much all of the Japanese people who sit down fall asleep right away. Better still, as soon as they reach their stop, they wake up and walk off the train as if nothing happened. How do does that even work?!
The first day
As promised, Hajime-san and his wife Yoshie-san are waiting for me at Kanayama station. They receive me with big smiles, take my luggage and hurry me to the car. Getting out of the parking garage proves to be a challenge: to get out, my guest parents have to toss some coins into a pole at the gate… and they toss the first one in the wrong opening. The coin’s stuck and the gate won’t budge. It takes 2 (!) of the guards to get the coin out and find the right opening. Giggling in the backseat, I wonder whether the rumours about the Japanese being clever is as true as the other ones.
My guest parents take me to their small home near Gokiso station. I’m so glad to be in the house, ‘cause I can really use a shower! My guest parents seem to have other plans though: after dropping my luggage, they nudge me back into the car. I have no idea why, because my guest father’s English isn’t really clear to me at this point, and I’m not really capable of any Japanese myself. Alrighty, I’ll just stink a bit more then and see where they’ll take me. Turns out they want to take me for lunch! We go to Komeda Coffee - a sort of American style coffee- and lunch house. Hajime-san tells me it’s his favourite, so that sounds promising. I’m not really hungry, though. My kind-hearted guest parents have me order a sort of massive hamburger. I calculate that, according to my biological clock, it’s about 5 AM. I get a small panic attack – where in the world am I supposed to put all that while my body tells me I should be asleep instead of eating? About halfway through, I tell them I really can’t take another bite. “Don’t worry”, they tell me. “We’ll only leave when you’re done.” Great. I worry alright, but with a lot of effort, I manage to eat it all. I don’t want to be rude. Next, they tell me we sat down in the smoking area especially for me. That’s really kind, but the last thing I need right now is a smoke, and being Dutch, smoking inside of a restaurant feels totally awkward and just not done. Still, I’m being told to smoke. Yes, you read it right: they insist I light a cigarette right here, right now. We’re not leaving until I’ve smoked. That’s really sweet, I guess. Again, I don’t want to be rude. A smoke it is.
After this ordeal, we get back into the car. Before we go home, they want to show me something. They tell me it’s a great shame it’s raining right now, though. Tell me about it! The rainy, grey weather makes the city look kind of miserable, and I’m sure that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. Hajime-san drives a few blocks and parks the car. There’s a small river here that’s lined with a massive amount of cherry trees. I realize they want to show me the greatest pride of Japan: sakura! The weather doesn’t do the trees much justice, but it’s very pretty nonetheless. I get out of the car and immediately find myself covered by Yoshie-san’s umbrella. I try to tell her there’s no need – I’m Dutch after all – and that she should cover herself with it. She’s having none of it, though. After a few tries, I stop telling her, but I feel terribly guilty because I really have no trouble with getting a little wet. Why didn’t she just bring an extra umbrella? They nudge me to take some pictures, so I whip out my phone and start taking some. We get back into the car and drive a little further to admire the trees from another spot. My guest parents repeat this process a few times, until we go back to the house.
As soon as we get back, they tell me to go into my small bedroom and unpack my suitcase. I barely brought anything, so there’s not much to unpack. I fight the urge to lie down on the very appealing bed and gather the presents I have for my hosting family instead. I hand over the syrup waffles and tulip-shaped chocolates I brought, which are happily received by my guest parents. They are very excited about the Dutch style: so excited, that Yoshie-san starts digging in her kitchen drawers to show me a European cheese knife which she once got from a Scandinavian guest. This gives me an idea: I remind myself to send a message to my own parents, to send some cheese over. Since I also brought gifts for the rest of the family, I am being brought upstairs, where their daughter lives with her husband and three kids. They’re really kind and welcoming, and very excited about the gifts. I hope my first job as a guest in Japan is well executed!
When I go back downstairs, Hajime-san tells me we have to go out to get some dinner. Originally, Yoshie-san would’ve cooked dinner, but she’s not feeling well and went to bed. Turns out she got sick from walking in the rain. Now I really feel guilty. I wish her well and go out with Hajime-san. We walk around the corner to the nearest 7-Eleven – I’ve heard of those! It’s what the Japanese call a “konbini”: a convenience store. It’s open 24/7 and sells all kinds of food and necessities. We get a ready-to-eat meal and return back home. On the way I see a drug store, and manage to tell Hajime-san that I really need to go in there because I seem to have forgotten my hair brush. It’s a little hard to get a short-haired Japanese man to understand, but yes, that’s a big problem.
After dinner, I try to get ready for bed – but Hajime-san isn’t done with me quite yet! He puts me on a small bike with a rather cute basket in the front and speeds off, gesturing me to follow him. I feel like my body isn’t going to carry me far, but what choice do I have? At least the rain has stopped. He leads me to a big park and tells me this is where we’re going tomorrow to go cherry blossom viewing. I can’t wait, honestly – but I’m sure it looks much better during the day!
We cycle back and I’m finally told to go to bed. Honestly, I’m really grateful that they’re trying to show me so much in one day – but for now, I’m just broken. All I want is some sleep. I don’t even bother showering (they only expect me to do that in the morning anyway) and go straight to bed. Tomorrow I can really start exploring Nagoya. I’m so excited to see what the coming month will bring me. I can’t believe it’s finally really happening! Stay tuned!
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