And So It Begins: A Summer in Japan

I finally got around to putting my written down notes online! I figured I'd split them up into separate entries since they're going to be long at first. Once I get into a routine here, I'll probably only update with weekend trip recaps and other interesting things.

On June 15th, 2010 I woke up at 1:30AM EDT in Saugus, MA, took a shower, and made sure I had everything I needed for my trip to Japan. In about 5 hours I would be boarding a plane to California, and in a little over 24 hours, I would be in Osaka, Japan. I said bye to my mom and at around 3:00AM I left home with my dad and my sister Amanda.

We arrived at Logan Airport at around 3:30AM and got some breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts because everything else opened at 5. I had a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant with a watermelon Coolatta before checking my luggage at around 4:00AM. I met up with everyone else who was going (with the exception of one student who flew in earlier) and I bid farewell to dad and Amanda as I went through security around 4:30AM. Going through security went extremely smoothly for me, as did all of the traveling to Japan.

When we were all checked in, we waited at the gate to be boarded. It was about an hour and a half to two hour wait, but we were able to pass the time by chatting about the trip and video games, of course. The sun began to rise around 5:15AM and it's early rays peered over the horizon and through the windows of the airport, blinding any who dare stare in its way. First class was boarded first, and by 6:30AM we were among those finding our seats on the plane. I sat between Liz and Paul, and Jared H. and Sarah sat across the aisle. Jared I. was somewhere up front because he purchased his tickets separately.

Shortly thereafter, at 6:45AM, the plane took off for a direct flight to San Francisco International Airport, and the tired WPI students quickly fell asleep. I slept off and on during the 6 hour flight. I decided not to use my electronics too much in order to conserve battery life for the next flight; going from SFO to KIX takes about 11 hours. At 8:57AM EDT (we were probably in the Central or Mountain time zone by then) I was awake enough to not be able to sleep any more and I watched, or blankly stared, at the in-flight entertainment. There was a show on called "Doing DaVinci", where a bunch of guys aimed to build some of Leonardo DaVinci's inventions. Most of the rest of the flight is blurry in my memory, mostly because I spent the rest of it either staring at the TV without headphones or dozing in and out of consciousness.

At 12:45PM EDT, or 9:45AM PDT, we landed in California. I decided to keep my watch on Eastern time until we were actually in Japan so my notes got a little screwy. Our layover was pretty quick. We had to walk a while from where we landed to where the next plane was taking off. At 1:32PM EDT/10:32AMPDT we were waiting to board the plane we would be on for the next 12+ hours or so. At 11:00AM-ish PDT we boarded the plane, and at 12:20PM-ish PDT we took off from SFO. This plane was much bigger than the first and I had a little more room because I was in an aisle seat. I did, however, need to get up a bunch because the two girls next to me needed to use the lavatory multiple times. About an hour into our flight, 4:15PM EDT, dinner/lunch was served. I chose the orange chicken, which came with a roll and butter, a salad, and a cookies & cream brownie. At the time, the meal was satisfactory, but looking back it was pretty nasty. I guess I was just tired and hungry and didn't care what I was eating. At 4:50PM EDT we were over the Pacific Ocean. I had been pretty much staring at the on-flight GPS map that told us where we were, how long the flight was going to take, when we would land, etc. and decided I should play some DS games. I started with Picross 3D, which I obtained about a week before I left the States, and later played Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story for a while. At 9:00PM EDT, snacks were served to the passengers of the plane. We were given Sun Chips, mini pretzels, a lemon cookie, and a Kit Kat. I ate the first two and saved the last two (at this time, I still haven't eaten the last two).

At 9:15PM EDT by my watch, we crossed over the International Date Line. The little TV in the back of the seat in front of me is very handy in determining the plane's location over the ocean. At this point, I had been on the plane for 6 hours, more than halfway to Japan. I decided to nap a little bit after playing more Picross 3D so that the jet lag wouldn't be so bad. At 1:42AM EDT I made another entry into my journal about the the last bit of the trip. About an hour before we landed we were served another meal, which was veggie stir fry with strawberry yogurt and raspberry shortbread cookies. I had seltzer water with my meals and snack on the flight to make the overall meal better. The food was still pretty gross and I was realizing it more as we got closer to Japan. It didn't make me physically sick but it still makes me gag a little when I think about it. My journal skips to 4:41PM Japan time because of all the landing business, so I don't know exactly when we landed. I'm guessing we landed around 2:15AM EDT, or 3:15PM Japan time. We got our bags from the baggage claim area and went surprisingly quickly through customs. Prof. Lindeman was waiting for us on the other side and we took some photos at the airport.

We took a shuttle bus, the "Airport Limousine", from Kansai International Airport to a bus stop near our housing arrangements. The bus ride was about an hour and a half, but it was nice to sit and watch the sites of a new land. I was trying to put my hiragana/katakana memorization to use by reading the names on the passing buildings. The view of the clouds over the hills in the background was very beautiful, as was the industrial city scene in the foreground. We were greeted at the bus stop by what I'm guessing were some people from the Osaka University who picked us up and brought us to the "Big House". There, they (along with the realtors) gave us a brief tour and told us everything we needed to know about living in the house, such as how to handle garbage, how to operate the bath and washing machine, and general rules about living here. After they left, we went out with Prof. Lindeman to locate the nearest grocery store and pharmacy, as well as a bento restaurant where some students decided to grab dinner. I decided that I would try to spot all the Pokémon-related items I could find and photograph them when I can. When we were done shopping, Prof. Lindeman took off for his own apartment. After everyone had inspected the house and finished eating, we quickly passed out from exhaustion, anticipating the next 4 months that we would be spending in the Land of the Rising Sun.

(Check out all the photos from 6/16/10 to 6/18/10 here!)