Take Off.

Let’s start with the flight out of LAX to Tokyo. Yes, as promised by those who’ve flown before me, the lunch spread provided by Japan Airlines was quite impressive. My lunch included tasty eel and rice, a side of salad, a side of meatball, and a cheesecake. Plus complimentary Kirin! And, of course, coffee to wash it all down at the end. Ah… living the good life.

Dinner was something quite similar in size, and something I no longer remember, but I’m sure there was more complimentary beer and some green tea thrown in there. In between, I watched movies and TV, sniffled a little during Tokyo Tower, and killed some time playing knock-off versions of solitaire, Tetris, and Shanghai on my own personal little entertainment screen.

Finally we landed at Narita airport. By then my stomach had already been stuffed for twelve hours to near explosion (stewardesses really know how to sedate a person), but there was no time to hesitate or head to a bathroom. Immediately, we began the chaotic stampede through customs, straight to baggage claim, and finally to the buses whisking our belongings and selves to the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo proper.

The JETs got lots of directions along the way. Whoa, the end of the line! Yeah, get it right, stupid foreigners.

I boarded my bus and sat next to my new friend Jane from LA. During the drive, our vehicle met up with another bus painted all around with images of Thomas the Tank Engine and filled inside with a bunch of little school kids and their teachers. As our bus passed theirs, we JETs waved at these kids, who in turn became visibly thrilled by the whole idea of us doing such a thing and waved back. We ended up driving on the same route for quite a while, our buses taking turns passing one another, and each time our windows met up, the students lept up and waved. About six or seven greetings later, we mature adults were getting a little weary of the game, but it looked like the school kids were ready to up the ante themselves.

We eventually made it to Tokyo before any pants came down.