I can't believe the time has come. It was time for my trip. I was really scared as my boyfriend drove me to the airport (恐い!). The one thing I dreaded the most was my luggage. It was my first time having to transfer my bags. I was so afraid that it wouldn't get to the JALways plane in time. I was afraid that I might not make it to the meeting area on time. So much anxiety. This is supposed to be a relaxing trip, why am I stressing so much?
It's about 5:00 a.m. We have reached the Kahului Airport. I have to go, but I don't want to. I'm so scared. I haven't been apart from my boyfriend for not more than a day the whole time we've been together. I started crying. I couldn't help myself. I never had to go on a flight by myself. I always went with someone. Plus, I didn't know what to expect when I got to Oahu.
5:35 a.m. It's time for me to board the plane. There aren't much people on the flight. I sit towards the front of the plane so I can get off quickly to get to the international terminal. I'm still afraid about meeting everyone on Oahu. They had a whole week to bond, and I'm going to have only a plane ride. I'm so worried that I don't even take the complimentary drink.
6:35 a.m. I've landed on Oahu. Now I have to head to the international terminal. The only thing is , where is it? This is the first time I have to do this. Plus, I'm alone. I just follow the signs and hopefully I get there. I ended up going to the wrong way. The gate numbers were increasing, so I turned around. I see the gate, but no one was there. I still had to check-in. I just didn't know where I was supposed to go. I had to ask a security guard and he had to show me the way.
6:45 a.m. I've finally made it to the international check-in. Yay! (よかった!) I spotted someone with a beige shirt, so I assumed that it was Gavin. It felt a little weird for me to just go up to someone I've never met and start talking to them. I was glad that it was him. I would have felt awkward if it wasn't. I finally got to check-in. After that, I was introduced to Travis and Charlie. I felt out of place. I think it was the fact that I wasn't wearing the t-shirt. Plus it seemed that they knew each other pretty well.
7:00 a.m. Made it to the gate. Just one more detail to be resolved, my luggage. Bev and Aja introduced themselves to me and went with Travis and Charlie to get some breakfast. Met Shawn and started talking with her. She introduced me to Judy, Mango and Sharon. Terry, her husband, went to get food. She asked about me and about Maui. The time seemed to go by fast because it was time to go inside.
7:30 a.m. An announcement for me comes over the P.A. They wanted to check my baggage claim ticket. I was so relieved after that. That meant my luggage was on the plane. My stress went away. I could finally relax. The only thing that I'm worried about is the flight. How am I going to handle it?
8:00 a.m. On the plane now, no turning back. The plane is empty. We all have our own rows. This is nice. Charlie makes a comment of how I speak. He said that I don't have a pidgin accent. Is that the assumption about people from Maui? There are a lot of people that do speak pidgin on Maui. My dad is one of them. Sometimes it's irritating. It was eye-opening to know that some people view Maui people in that way.
8:00 a.m. (Hawaii) ~ July 12th 11:00 a.m. (Japan) I'm okay on the flight. It's something very new to me. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep during the flight. Everyone told me that I should at least get some sleep on the flight to avoid major jet lag. It was nice to stretch out across the row. Airplane food wasn't that bad. I couldn't eat much because of my diet. I felt bad, I don't like to waste food.
July 12th 11:10 a.m. I'm in Japan, well the airport. As a group we head toward customs. Before that, we all head for the restroom. There we are all amazed with the dry towel. It's a great invention. Then you think, why don't American restrooms have these? It cuts down on paper waste and is much more sanitary than that hot air dryer.
After going through customs, we met up with Jayson and Yoko. It's a first time for everything today. I met everyone and crossed over international waters. I don't know if it was such a good idea, but I agreed to put to use my 9 years of Japanese school studyies. I was so afraid. I haven't had to use my speaking skills since high school (that's 7 years). No speaking English for the rest of the trip. I don't know about that.
We had around 40 minutes before we headed to the hotel. We had free time to do whatever you wanted. I wanted to call home, but didn't know exactly how. It's very convenient that the instructions were on the pay phone. I got to call my boyfriend and my parents. 100 yen for a minute. I made my calls short.
1:25 p.m. Time for everyone to get on the limo bus to go to the hotel. I didn't expect it to be a long ride. It was almost 2 hours. It was a nice ride though. It's very scenic in the beginning. You can see the fields. In one of the fields, I saw someone tending to them. As you get closer to the city you notice less greenery and more buildings. Yet, there is still no trash anywhere. If it were America, there would be a lot of trash around the freeway.
After 3:00 p.m. Finally we're at the hotel. Time to check-in and get settled. There isn't much time before we have to head out again. I am rooming with Sharon for the trip. We get to the room and my room key doesn't work :(. It's a good thing Sharon's worked or else we would have to go back to the lobby to get it fixed. I really wanted to rest, but we had to get ready to meet up with the Meiji Gakuen students. Sharon and I had a little extra time before we had to meet, so we went around the hotel to see what there was.
5:00 p.m. Time to head to Ginza. We all head to the Shinagawa station to go onto the Yamanote line. It was so scary. All those people walking in and out of the station. I didn't want to get lost in that crowd. The train system is very organized in Japan. People know where to get on and off (すごい!). My first experience on the train was interesting. I wondered how these people could balance without holding onto anything. There are so many advertisements around the train.
We took a short tour around Ginza before reaching the restaurant. Ginza has very beautiful architecture. Plus, there are many high priced stores. There was so much to take in. I was in awe of everything. All the buildings and the people, made my life up to that point seem very sheltered.
We reach the restaurant. I'm scared because I'm supposed to be using my Japanese. I'm not very confident at the moment. At first I was sitting by Andy and Barbara, but Jayson told me to move by Mango and Judy. As the Meiji Gakuin students start arriving, I was trying to remember all my Japanese. Mango and I talked with Maki and Shunsuke. Mango was so cute. Everything she was trying to say, she couldn't remember how to say it in Japanese. It was fun helping her out. I think she was just nervous. I talked a lot with Shunsuke. They are very open with their lives. Because of this, I felt more comfortable telling things about my life. Later Jayson explains to us that in Japan, it's a one in a million chance of talking to someone. The Japanese people talk as though they may never get to speak with you again. Also, they are very grateful and thank you if you give them a compliment on them or of Japan. You don't see that at home. When a foreigner gives a compliment of America, you don't see us thank them the way the Japanese do. Are our egos that big? After a while, some of the Japanese students went to other tables. Some are shocked and amazed that I'm part Okinawan. I always thought it was taboo to say that I was part Japanese and part Okinawan. It was looked down upon when my grandparents were growing up. My grandparents got together despite this. Maybe it's because they were in America and not in Japan. As I was growing up my grandpa (who was full Okinawan), always reminded my brother and I that we are Japanese-Okinawan and not just Japanese. I guess as the years have past, it's more acceptable for Okinawans and Japanese to marry. I'm not sure. Japanese can be very stubborn when it comes to rules.
I realized from this night that my parents and grandparents have taught me many Confucius teachings. In Confucius Lives Next Door, Matsuda-san recites the opening to Analects "Isn't it a pleasure when you can make practical use of things you have studied?" This night, I have used the fifteen years of Japanese school and independent study of the Japanese language. It was very satisfying to know that my parent's efforts were not put to waste. Some of my classmates went to Japanese school for eight years and didn't retain any of it. Some can't remember all the hiragana characters. Now, I want to start studying Japanese language again. Maybe I can get to the advanced level.
~The Meiji students bidding farewell.
~International party in Ginza
~Ginza at night. きれいな!
6 comments:
You might want to consider that the Japanese in Hawaii held onto their values when they came over in the early 20th century, and were mainly peasants, and that`s why Hawaii Japanese may have more conservative values (and thus the old taboos about Okinawans). On the other hand, the Japanese in Japan today are mainly urbanized, and those in Tokyo underwent considerable change in the postwar.
As for being Okinawan, in Japan today, young people find being Okinawan is cool and exotic, due to all the music stars and actors and actresses from Okinawa. It`s not to say that there is no discrimination, but Okinawans are very prominent in the entertainment world.
So I can thank Amuro Namie, SPEED, Da Pump and Zone for making Okinawans hip. Well mostly it's because of Amuro Namie, she started the whole J-pop idols from Okinawa trend.
Hey Stace, now I know whos the few early birds of the group. WwOww, you are one of them you already packed since the weekend. LOL Knowing that there are peers like you out there makes me seem more like the last-minute- procrastinator that I am.
You are a literally -a genius! I should have thought to put a smaller suitcase in a bigger one too. I mean, Buddha knows how much crap I brought back from the trip .
OH and about the thing with your stress, for it to be your first time on a mainland or international flight, I would be just as stressed if not more, because I like you would not know what to expect. You were just being extra careful , so don't look down on yourself for that.
A good thing about being at a new and different place is always ask questions. People at airports can be pretty helpful, unless they are in a hurry. And in a hurry, the security guard wasn't.
Erm, Stacey just so you know I only had like JUdy-chan and Ron-chan who I knew and was friends with. THe reason that Charlie, Travis, Bev, and Aja were so close is that prior to this course or even before that they were all good friends or have been acquainted with each other before. So, it was not because of the bonding we done at UH West Oahu or even the karaoke get-together. LOL , I don't know if everything we did back in Oahu was bonding except for the karaoke and even then it was a bit odd. But I can bet with your affable and attractive nature, that if you attended the orientations as well you would have became fast-friends with them as soon as you've just met. So , your meeting up with them was a little late, but that never stopped the great bond you had growing with them, even to this day. I could not say the same for me, I'm shy, introverted and very eccentric. I could only really get along with Judy-chan. I wished I was more like you in that sense where you can make friends and keep them. ROFL , you are probably doing more catching up with them, then I am now.
Comment on the Narita Airport restroom- what was the device called again..but dang it was pretty cool.. It looks like an a/c equipment but works like a hand dryer. Yes, I agree with you , it was 10X more sanitary.
Stacey you need not worry about the Japanese skills, in fact all Jayson taught us were the basic survival Japanese like " asking where the toilet is, or something like that. In fact, I thought you were pretty well-rounded with it for not using your skills for years and years.
Yeah, the Tokyo subway system is pretty scary (kowaii), wasn't it I was more scared at getting groped then getting lost in the crowd, but for precaution sake, I held on to Judy-chan's hand as we meandered through the crazy chaos.. I think when I was in the train for the first time, I was shaking like someone with hypothermia and grimaced the whole time thinking that some pervert is on the train.
Wasn't GINZA awesome, though I felt highly-out of place. It was just one of the places that I will go and truly feel like the poor-tourist I am ( second in rank to Roppongi). All those high-scale stores just made me nervous. But the intricate architecture and all the neon lights really made it like a wondrous trip to some forgotten European city-feel.
While at dinner, I can't help to feel so very grateful to you for helping me out with my Japanese when I was trying to converse with Maki. I am nce again so sorry for barging in on your convos with Shunsuke as well, whenever I needed help with Maki. And no I am not cute! ::blushes::.. you really think so? I was the bakemono of the hour. YOu were so lucky to talk to Shunsuke, I wanted to ask him more about his band, I felt like I was cheated out of a good conversation with other people (from what Aja said in her blog, the other students have similar interests in music, and I wonder if that might be j-rock, if so ::sighs sadly:: I never had a chance to talk to them , when all I talked to was Maki, we did not even have similar tastes or interests, our convo just did not spark the way I wished it had. I hate socializing! ::cries its just too stressful, if it was some business-purpose then that be a different thing, but socializing just for the purpose of socializing is hard for me, especially in Japanese, a language I barely recall the basis for) How can I forgot how to say "mother and father" in Japanese, I must be a failure!
The topics that Maki dwelled in with me were just too personal on my taste, sure the Japanese are comfortable at being as open to strangers (me) as possible, but on my part some skeletons are meant to stay in the closet.
Overall, the GInza party was awesome in a sense, that it was only you and Judy-chan that made it bearable for me.. I just have not been bombarded with soo many "Japanese socializing" which I need to get over if I was every to do business in Japan in the future.
LOL, because of my time trying to chat with Maki I barely had food in my mouth, just drinks which is not a good combo at all.
Oh and the thing with the Okinawans. My friend's ex was full-Okinawan and he to feels the discrimination too. But he also says its also very rare now, lets' say if racial grudges were held, its by the older Japanese generation. Besides being Okinawan, is cool now a lot of music idols come from there, namely Namie Amuro, who is quite the bishoujo.
BY the way Nmaie AMuro is an awesome singer, I love her songs!
WEll, MI-Chan, I hope you don't mind me referring to that nick in the following-comments for the other days I hoped your first day in Tokyo was very eye-opening and magnifique for you. I wish I enjoyed it as much as you did.
-Mango-CHAN XP
oh yeah..about your comment that Americans have big egos when foreigners makes compliments. In some sense that is true , but in my shoes I would have asked exactly why they liked our country and I probably argue my case why I liked or disliked it and that our government is corrupted just like theirs! NOt! j/k ROFL, but yah you get the idea..
I don't know if me, being an AMerican-born -Asian had something to do with my outlook different from the norm of America. I guess it does not matter how far we Asians are away from our homecountry, our morals and values and mannerism seem to be retained in our genes.. -now, that is an interesting idea.
-Mango -CHAN
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Hi Stacy:
I am proud of you. For a first time nervous traveller you really took the time to see, feel, express and experience Japan to the fullist. I wish more Canadian and American families bi-lingual. That is one thing I always loved about Hawaii's culture and mixed generation diversity. Great pics and text to match. I'll keep reading
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