My Arrival

Walking out of airplane I immediately hit a wall of humidity. I was amazed at first of how thick and sticky the air is here, I am slowly getting used to it but I still feel like a drumstick from KFC just dirty. Despite the humidity I felt alive; entering a new country I was ready to start my adventure. Walking into the airport I noticed right away how clean everything was, every last square inch was buffed to perfection. Vending machines, phone booths, you name it, it looked as if they were just loaded off a truck, brand spanking new.

I quickly gathered my things and got through customs, although there were thousands of people around me, there was a sense of organization and routine amongst my new Japanese friends. Everything within the airport was marked to perfection even the most navigationally challenged individual would feel like a budding Christopher Columbus.

I made it to my bus and climbed aboard, Tokyo bound! Just as I was sitting down on the bus I noticed an iphone on my seat, how wonderful and such a nice welcoming to Japan, a free iphone for each new arrival! Ya right, someone had obviously left it behind. I went to return it, meandering up to the front I tucked my head low and avoided any forehead collisions with the ceiling racks. When I handed it in to the bus driver, he had no idea what I was trying to say and looked very confused when I tried to hand him the phone. He eventually figured it out and was grateful that I had returned it, little did I know at this point that I was keeping up with Japanese culture...

The Japanese have embodied whole heartedly the morality and ideals behind respect, for one another, for themselves and for their families. They do not take things that are not there’s and if they find a lost item they do as much due diligence as possible so that it returns to the rightful owner...for example I found out that...

During the earthquake/tsunami last year many people lost their safes which were full of money. These safes often washed up in others people’s backyards. Those who found safes broke into them to figure out where they came from. The people who opened these safes would find a life’s savings worth of cash within them along with id, passports etc. The people who found these huge sums of cash were quick to return it, every last cent. This is remarkable considering I come from a place where if you find cash it’s yours and the other person who lost it is out of luck.
I look forward to the personal growth and development I will obtain from this culture, rich with morality they build foundations of respect, honour and integrity within each other...

I arrived in my hotel room and immediately went to use the bathroom, I approached the toilet which looked like some sort of rumble chair from a theme park, it had variety of buttons on the side which resembled a gamers remote... After use it took a good 5 minutes to figure out how to flush the device, I then carried about checking out the rest of my hotel room...that took 5 seconds...it was small.

I was able to hook up my laptop to the room’s internet and connect with my cousin and his wife, they were close by and quickly came to my aid with a beer, refreshing and delicious after such a long day. I left the hotel briefly before bed to grab something to eat. I went to the closest restaurant I could recognize...McDonalds, probably the easiest place to order from, I just pointed at the picture and smiled, the teriyaki burger it was!