The Journey…
Eric arrived on July 26th and started training the very next day and has been preparing for the students return ever since. He also was extremely busy slaving away getting our house ready for my arrival…which has been much appreciated. Upon Eric’s arrival in Aomori (our state) he was greeted by the town Mayor as well as many other locals that were very excited to greet him. He was interviewed for the local paper, and we have a copy yet we have no idea what it says. During his first few days he participated in a large festival in the capital city, he jumped up and down and chanted while covering approximately 2 miles of parade grounds. Eric also got to experience a 100 yen sushi restaurant, which is roughly $1.00. At the restaurant the sushi comes around on a conveyor belt and you choose what you want, every roll is 100 yen and it’s all you can eat. Eric told me it was the best sushi he has ever had (even from NYC) and then he was talking about it at work the next day and people mentioned that the sushi there is not so good, so we are anxious to try the good sushi!
After saying many heartbreaking “see you laters” I left Phoenix at 5:30am on Aug 5th and arrived in Aomori (the prefecture or “state” in Japan where we live) at 9pm on the 7th. While that sounds like a very very long journey, with the time difference it was actually 25 hours… which still sounds long, until I tell you that I slept the ENTIRE flight from LA to Tokyo (just shy of 12 hours). One of the flight attendants woke me up for the 2nd meal because she thought I should eat (My mom thinks she had ESP or something). In Tokyo I had a 3-hour layover in which I had to clear customs, get my baggage (all 140 pounds of it) and take a 90 minute bus ride between two airports. . . and we had some bus trouble which delayed me quite a bit. When I arrived in Haneda (the 2nd airport) I was flagged through security and as I was running through the terminal I heard a message from the loudspeaker, “Melissa Taylor- Please Run, Melissa Taylor- Please Run”, I got to my gate to find out they were holding the flight for me, and I thought to myself, ‘only in Japan’. So I finally made it to Aomori where Eric and his boss, Kobayashi, were waiting for me, then we drove an hour and half and arrived at our house on the top of a hill in a little town known as Ajigasawa. YAY! We are finally BOTH in Japan!
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