First Steps

The first time I set foot on Japanese soil, I was excited but exhausted; I ended up working much harder on luggage transport than necessary and making a complete fool of myself before I made it to my place & into bed.

This time, thankfully, was different.

I had the privilege of finding a new friend in my seatmate: Kohei, from a town near Tokyo, who had just finished his own study-abroad adventure.  We talked about Japanese dramas, sports and economic development for a good portion of the flight.  Between talking and enjoying said dramas from the plane's well-stocked movie collection, I only needed a few winks of sleep.

After the plane touched down, I prayed in the airport with seven friends & fellow interns, grateful to God that He finally allowed us to go--with no visa trouble this time!  (We're still waiting for the final member of our team, but confident that she'll join us very soon.)

A familiar staff face welcomed us to Japan and let me play a geography game on his iPad while heading to our apartments.  We took a minivan taxi, barely fitting all nine of us in the tinier seats, and I must compliment the driver on his superb Tetris skills--he managed to fit all of our bags and didn't even charge us extra!

After the ride and unloading, I used my Japanese to work out payment of our fare with the driver; we needed smaller bills in change so all of us could pay evenly.  Between the suddenly obvious time lag, general travel fatigue and long-unused vocabulary of payment I felt really tired.  The high humidity didn't help, but also didn't keep me from crashing asleep a few hours later.

Long, yes, but blessedly hassle-free.  Thank you, taxi driver.  Your efficiency and professionalism was wonderful.

Sneak preview: life in a palace