Welcome! I got off of my plane from Detroit to Kansai International Airport a little before 6:00pm Japan time. It was dark minutes after I arrived because we don’t change our clocks to save daylight here. As I walked with Momoko, mostly following the crowd of all the people on my plane (we were the only people in the airport besides staff!). We took a shuttle to customs, where I had my first run-in with my native tongue. A short old man needed a certificate to verify my visa, and all he did was form a square in the air with his index fingers, as if that one certificate was the only piece of paper that foreigners carried. But I eventually made it through.
I followed everyone farther to the baggage claim, through the final checkpoint in the airport, and over to the other side where all kinds of–well, they were all Japanese but–all kinds of people waiting with signs to pick up their travelers. I thankfully received a few selfless favors from Momoko (the girl I met on the plane) and learned how to get on a bus to my hotel. She spoke very little (very little) English, but I was able to talk to her about almost anything. But as any foreigner with the experience knows, I bet I sounded like way stupider than I am when using Japanese. Anyways, she was able to talk to airport staff, and relay their information to me in simpler Japanese. After I thanked her and she left, I got some Yen (currently 108->$1) and boarded the bus.
Riding on the left side of the road felt surprisingly natural. I passed the most diverse group of billboard advertisements I’ve ever seen, from giant billboards to neon billboards to an ad so big the whole structure of the building it sat upon was extended up: as in, the top 5 stories of the building were just an ad. I also passed a Sega building. It was great to see that company’s name shining among the skyscrapers.
And once I made it to my hotel . . . well, you’ll see the rest.
For now, I plan on showering so hard, and wandering out into a city to which I am an absolute stranger. We’re talking scared-to-find-a-restaurant-cuz-I-don’t-know-how-they-work stranger. But a man’s gotta eat.
Ja mata. Until next time.
OMG I can’t believe you’re actually there! You did it!
Sweet. Glad you’re having fun. Promise you’ll write on here everyday. I know it may not seem like something fantastic happens that often, but I’m still in GA, so even the mundane details will be interesting because of their foreignness. When you find out, lemme know what Wendy’s serves over there.
Amanda ran in my room this morning and was like, “Chris Whitehead’s blog is up!!” I rushed over to her room and we sat down and watched your video and read your blog. It was amazing (すごいです）。
You really need to update ALL the time. We need this Chris!! You don’t even know.
Let me know if you see any type of Vegan dishes or foods while you’re there. I highly doubt it and that’s a concern I have if I ever go there, but I wouldn’t know. I’m not in “JAPAN…JAPAN!!” (c)Chris Whitehead.
[Gweb]
You did it, Chris!!!
You made it! I’m sooo excited for you!
Keep up the blog because I’m definitely going to be living through your experience.
Osaka looks amazing! Live it up!
^__^
HEY! I love this! Watching your video made me really want to get on top of things and do all the things I want to do. I made a wordpress account a while ago cause I was gonna start vlogging and blogging (although, I’d rather vlog since it takes me more time to write) about math ed research stuff that I’ve been trying to do on my own like not for class or anything. But ya I just haven’t found the time to do it.
Jya Matta!
Anyways, back to you… I can’t believe you are in Japan. I remember how you didn’t even want to go to Hawaii freshman year. You turned it down for a while until you later got comfortable with the idea I guess. I also remember you telling me that there were too many Japanese people when we were in Hawaii. HAHA you must be going crazy with the amount of Japanese people there. You will truly learn a lot from being so far away from home, outside your comfort zone, and just from feeling out of place. I know when you get back you will feel more confident in what you can do, and will be a stronger, wiser person. My piece of advice to you is to make sure you take up every opportunity you receive, don’t be too afraid to try something new… take risks, go out of your comfort zone… I promise you will be very happy you did, so you will have no regrets. All experiences (good or bad) are learning experiences, their outcome of you learning something is always good.
Oh, I gotta go blow my nose now… Peter got me sick
Just saw the video. Before you said anything about anime, I was “OMG, that looks like DeathNote x 3D!”
LOL at God of War.
Dude, you made Japan real for me. I had seen videos from Japan on the internet, watched DeathNote, have artifacts in my living room my grandfather brought back from the war, etc. But because no one (that grandfather was gone before I was born) and nothing I had personally been around had invaded Japan, it never seemed like a real place. Really, no foreign country had, as I’ve never left the east coast of the States. They all seemed like imaginings in my head. I knew the difference between fiction and nonfiction when I read, and I imagined things going on around the world when I read the news. But still, none of it seemed tangible. Seeing you in the same frame as Osaka has shattered that barrier for the first time. It’s an insane paradigm shift, so keep the videos coming.
Hey,
this is great thanks for the blog.Miss you. Cried when I saw your face
wow…I didn’t see the video last time when I read this…it’s amazing! I’m so happy for you. I’m looking forward to see more video of yours. By the way, watching this video makes me miss you alot. I almost forgot about that feeling because I’m so tired from working at the restaurant…but the video reminds me of—>Chris is on the other side of the earth!!
Well, i just found this so i just watched the video. THATS AWESOME!!! You being in Japan, that is. Sounds like quite an intro to a great life experience. At the end of the video, when you showed us Japanese T.V. I found myself laughing with the peoples laughs, even though i didn’t understand. PROGRAMMED RESPONSE! It any case, I’m very happy for you, and I’m gonna keep up with this blog now that I know it’s hurr.