August 31/September 1st
I arrived at the airport at Dad's insisting 2 hours and 15 minutes early... I was through check in/security in 15 minutes. (ahaha) The flight from LAX to Seattle was non-eventful and waiting in Seattle proved rather uneventful too, save for I had to go to terminal D to get food, as N had nothing for me to eat (the transit takes about 10 minutes between terminals). I bought some gifts in Seattle for people in Japan and hurried onto the plane. My seat was right behind the exit row (which had gratutious amounts of space) and I missed my chance to move up to it and would later regret this.
I was reading "How the Mind Works" with my earplanes in, shortly before take-off, when the Japanese man next to me asked me to open the window all the way so that he could see at take-off. Well, this turned out opening to things more than just a window.
Takahiro (Or TK- as his Japanese name is supposedly too difficult for me to pronounce, KT is a girl's name, and his business partners call him by his last name but that's not "fun enough for me") ended up to be quite the interesting seat partner. He gave me his business card and, following Japanese protocol, I asked a question in regards to it. I was not prepared for the onslaught. He proceeded to talk to me about everything- how he was a producer, a screen writer, walked on the red carpet at the Cannes in 2000, a copyright law student in Albany, a world traveler who bought all his plane tickets with miles, quit a big company 2 years ago and had an immense personal fortune but nothing to spend it on (hint hint?), his "Jewish lawyer friend," the sushi bar in Seattle that he spent $10,000 at, his "strong stomach" for alcohol, how easy English was for him but how difficult Japanese was for me... and that's not even the start of it.
This guy is allegedly taking me to Tsukiji fish market ("Oh! Vegetarian? They have vegetable rolls."), a fancy restaurant ("You would look very beautiful, I think, if your hair was not in your face."), Fancy hotel next to the US embassy ("People do not know about it. Only important people can get in."), Geisha in Tokyo ("You would be wonderful in Kimono."), Okinawa ("there are many beaches and we can go to onsen (public hot springs)")...Eek!
I mean, this guy released a movie the year I was born! Out of the 10 hr trip, TK talked to me (yes. talked to me. There was nothing about it that was a discussion. Just him rambling) for at least 5 hours of it. It would have been more if I hadn't fake slept for 3 of those hours and watched Doctor Who for 1.5. Also, he mirrored my actions... if I faked sleeping, so did he. If I ate my salad, so did he. If I watched TV or the Map, so did he. If I popped my ears, so did he... and even if we weren't talking at the time. Needless to say, it was nice to see Tokyo. But! The scariest this is, he has my email address. I felt rude not giving it to him at the beginning of the conversation when he gave his business card. Oh! And he has emailed me, but I've been too nervous to open it... =/
Apart from that, the rest of the evening went wonderfully! Customs and immigration were easy enough to pass through and I met some really fun people. We had a small party when we got to IES, but I was too tired to stay long. Soooo... :3
Honestly, the oddest thing when I first landed was the fact that there is no DST- so the sun is up by 5:30 am and down by 6:00 pm.
Blahhh yeah getting you to post this was totally worth it. Don't let the strange japanese man tempt you away from the great boy you have here. It would certainly be trading down.
ReplyDeleteRemind me never to take a long flight to anywhere.
Also you seem to have changed your fake name again. I can't ever keep up with you if you'll be changing it all the time.