Arriving In Japan

I am thankful that my departure for Japan wasn’t the first time that I had been abroad for an extended period, because I definitely would have been freaking out much more about going to live in a country very different from my own. My semester in Scotland with my sister and my semester/summer in France and Germany helped prepare me for life abroad thankfully. I knew though that this experience abroad was going to be much different from the last two. First, I was actually going to be working in that country; I wasn’t just a student/tourist. Second, and probably the most crucial difficulty I knew I was going to face, is the fact that I speak virtually no Japanese. Zilch, nada. Oh, boy. Japan was going to be a whole different beast, and I was definitely nervous about that language gap when I departed the U.S. a week ago. I was also worried because Japan has a very different culture from the U.S. I was, and still am, super nervous about committing some sort of faux pas. Thankfully, I have a wonderful support network from the JET Program. They really know their stuff after doing this for about 33 years. Thank goodness for everything they organized, because I totally would have been lost without them taking care of my arrival in Japan. So here’s the story of my journey to Japan and my first few days there.

First stop: Chicago O’Hare International Airport. A little shoutout must first go to the lady who checked me in for my flight. My two large checked bags were definitely overweight, and that kind soul just asked me to stuff a few things in my carry-on to lighten one of my suitcases, then sent my bags on their merry way to the plane. She’s seriously my hero because I just couldn’t get my bags underweight with a year’s worth of stuff to take with me. A second shoutout goes to my mom for driving to Wisconsin to take me to the airport. I am glad I had someone in my family to send me off. Thanks Mom!

After going through security (before which I definitely shed a few tears) it was time for the flight! The thing I had been dreading for a while because of it’s length. Almost 13 hours on a plane? What the heck was I going to do with myself? It actually turned out to be pretty good! I luckily got seated next to someone on my program who I had made friends with at our pre-departure orientation, so I had a friend for the flight.

The food on the flight was actually pretty good, and probably the largest portion of food I’ve ever gotten on a flight, so props to Japan Airlines. And it was pretty yummy (aside from the veggies that I don’t like). Thankfully I was able to keep myself fairly entertained on the flight. I pretty much spent the flight reading, playing games on my iPad, listening to music, chatting, or watching movies. They had a nice selection of movies, so I ended up watching Captain Marvel and Aquaman (superhero movies are my fav). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any sleep, even though it was an overnight flight, but that’s normal for me. It for sure made for a long trip of being awake for around 30 hours. All in all, though, it was a decent flight.

Once we arrived at Narita Airport, I was even more grateful I came to Japan with a program that had everything organized for us ahead of time. At every stage of the airport they had people there to direct us what to do or where to go. With their guidance, we made it pretty easily through immigration. It was definitely the fastest I’ve ever gone through immigration for a long-term stay. After that they directed us where to go to get our luggage and go through customs. After customs, we were directed outside to the bus, where we dropped off our big luggage to be forwarded to where we would be living, then boarded the bus to head to the hotel. I am glad we didn’t have to stand outside for too long, because what I had heard about the Japanese summer was true. It was hot and it was humid. I would have been dying being outside for a long time.

The bus ride was about an hour and a half to the hotel. Once we arrived they ushered us into a room for a short introduction to orientation, then sent us to get checked into our rooms, which were assigned alphabetically by last name. Before I went to my room I was able to pick up the SIM card for my phone, which I had pre-ordered. I am so glad I did that, because it gave me a working phone right from the start. After getting my SIM, I went to my room on the seventeenth floor. Our hotel was big, but it was super nice. In my room, I was very tempted to just pass out, because it was around 3 a.m. my time (around 5 p.m. in Tokyo). However, I was starving, so I wanted food. I didn’t want to venture out on my own, so I ended up tagging along with some other Americans on my program in search of food.

Our quest for food took us on a twenty minute walk to a delicious ramen place called Ichiran. I was pretty excited to try authentic ramen, and this place was a good place to start. You can customize your ramen by selecting options on a machine, such as selecting the size or extra ingredients. You then are given a sheet of paper where you can select how you want your noodles cooked, how much garlic you want in it, and more. You then go into this little individual “booth” and hand the cook your paper. They then cook it and bring it back to you, then shut the curtain to the kitchen and let you eat. It was pretty sweet and the ramen did not disappoint. Definitely better than the grocery store kind. My first taste of real Japanese food was excellent, and as I write this I am really craving that ramen again.

• 

• 

• 

• 

So I will wrap up this post here before it gets too long. I had a pretty positive experience arriving in Japan, which thankfully made the beginning stage of transitioning to life in Japan much easier. Stay tuned for more posts and thanks for reading!