Konichiwa from Tokyo! Man, talk about hitting the ground running! As we were making our way out of the plane, I looked at Maria and said, "Let's see if we can do without wheelchair assistance and just make a beeline to our next gate." (Easy for me, the pusher, to say, as opposed to the one who wants to be the pushee!)
Right when we got off the plane a sweet little (middle-aged) Japanese service person plopped Maria in a ready wheelchair and proceeded to zip her around the airport, through security, and to our next gate, like she owned the place! My head's still spinning. These people are really nice . . . and a bit too fast! I was so dazed and confused by the time we were going through security that I left a backpack unattended for a couple of minutes (seemed like an eternity). The little lady plowed us through there like we were part of Elvis's entourage (They like Elvis here, you know).
That's not the only thing that was fast in Tokyo airport. Maria also wasted no time in losing a very important article; a record book that had personal financial info in it. She'd left in on the plane that we had just disembarked! Adding to the problem was that we were sling-shotted from that plane to our next gate so fast, and I was so exhausted, flustered, and, yes, mad, that there was no way I was going to go back and find it, meaning I'd have to go back through security again. Not to mention I really had no idea where we'd just come from and how to get there--especially with all the Japanese signage around here.
We finally tracked down another kind service lady, explained the problem, and sent her off to "fetch it" for us. And to our delight, she nabbed that FIRST sweet little Japanese lady to help her. We saw them literally sprint like precious Japanese antelopes in the direction of the previous plane. We then had no doubt that we could sit back and expect the lost article to be back in our hands in milliseconds (or however they manage time in Japan). Sure 'nuff, that's what happened. Maria was so embarrased and so funny, bowing her head up and down like a one of those mechanical ducks, thanking those ladies over and over. Our first real adventure on foreign soil. Enough adventurin' for now!
3 comments:
Kansi international was the same way guys. I totally understand about the fastness of the Japanese. I am so glad that you got your stuff back. Quick story. My cousin lived in Japan for three years. Kansi international is in Osaka. The island itself is man made. Essentially, it sinks a few inches a year and they keep building it. Weird way for it to go down, but it does. So yeah, my cousin -living there for so long - lost his PSP and some other stuff on a train one time from being so tired of teaching English that day. A train operator called him about it that very day. He was able to get his stuff back that evening with no problems at all. He has some ID on it was a helper too. He made a report that he lost it and they found it on the train in the very spot he left it. They are very good about leaving peoples stuff alone and if you lose something, they try their best to find it and massively apologize if they can't get it back to you. Very honorable I thought. Just don't eat the purple bean stuff in Osaka Jo park if you happen to go on day!. Its terrible on the way to the 6 story electronics store in Osaka. Meaning I got a hold of some and it seriously messed me up. So much that I thought a 46 or something - aged nurse looked 30 and I wanted to ask her out in an ER. HA! I was like 25 at the time. Either way, awesome that you got your book back and the your first adventure wasn't to bad.
Ciao......
-Will
Yes, the Japanese are neat. Interesting though how so many of them in the airport were wearing surgical masks. I thought H1N1 was yesterday's news, but apparantly not!
We were only there a couple of hours then embarked for Singapore. We're now with the Davises.
How exciting! Glad you arrived safely. Enjoy!
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