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Well let me just start out by thanking God for giving me the opportunity to travel and experience other culture. Anyone that knows me, knows how much I have always wanted to travel. Let this not be the end, not by a long shot. This will be a long post, so feel free to read nothing I say and just look at the photos. It is all good. I don’t expect you to read my ramblings. Experience driven posts do no justice to the feelings actually felt.
It seems so hard finding out where to begin, so I might as well start at the beginning. The 13 hr flight to Japan wasn’t near as bad as I thought. I watched 4 movies and 3 episodes of The Office. I also played battle ship, mini golf, and hangman. Each seat had it’s own screen, and everything was free. Movies, tv, games, music…etc. It was convenient to say the least. We landed in Tokyo and even though it was around 2am back home, my eyes were wide open soaking in everything. One thing I noticed quickly was that there are a ton of germaphobes here. A lot of the Japanese were wearing masks. Although it makes sense, those masks really don’t do much at all.
We got to our hotel and made it up to our rooms. First, you walk in, put your key in the little slot next to the door, and it turns the room lights on. Then you notice the Japanese art, the bidet(Which actually violated me once. Another story in itself!), robes, sandals, and a fridge full of interesting Japanese food. Each room also had a tea maker and tea. It was all stowed away, very nice and neat. Best part about the room. EVERYTHING was controlled by a little night stand next to your bed. The radio, alarm, every light, dimmers, and even a “do not disturb/service room” button which when pushed lights up a little digital screen on the outside of your door. Amazing! I took a photo of a few of them. I sure wish I had one in my room!
MARI 1
No Orion in my first room. : (
Yes there were insane about Hello Kitty
Well that night I went down to the bar and had myself an ORION. I have been looking forward to drinking some Japanese Orion for a long time. It is the best!
Next day we woke up, had an interesting breakfast, and then drove an hour to another airport where we flew into Okinawa. Btw, the Japanese flight attendant uniforms are amazing. So stylish. That morning we read the same airline we were taking that day and same flight to Okinawa put 40 people in the hospital the day before from bad turbulence. I was a little on edge. Went through Japanese customs and saw our plane. What a monster, holy crap. Inside the plane they had these big monitors. We watched us taxiing, taking off, and landing from some cameras outside the plane. Very cool perspective. Unfortunately, out of the 300+ people on the plane, someone had a heart attack sitting directly across from us. He was conscious the entire time, but you could tell he was in much pain. They hooked up a defibrillator just in case. I have no idea if he made it or not. I pray he did.
3 seats, 7 seats, 3 seats. My word.
We got to Okinawa, got our rental car and off we were to our new hotel. Our car rental place was underneath this restaurant located in a huge tree. It was massive. Well we got to our other hotel the beds were basically sitting on the floor. Tiny room, tiny bathroom, tiny everything. Which leads me to my next observation. EVERYTHING is small here. I laugh everytime we drive, because the cars, vans, trucks, buses, are the smallest things I have ever seen. My arm span is easily wider than the majority of vehicles on the road here. I could seriously sit in the passenger seat and adjust the driver’s side mirror!!! It is so comical! No wonder they can’t drive when they come to the states. Not used to driving a tank! Well, they had an Orion machine next to my room, so I was happy with that. Dinner was interesting. Based off looks, I didn’t want to eat anything, but I did of course and it was awesome. Breakfast, not so much. Fish in my eggs, with something crunchy….sure I will try it for the cultural experience, but no more for me. I have probably spent more on food than anything. I am all about trying to try new things, and experience the local fair. I am in Japan, why would I not try their delicacies? I have eaten things like Japanese steak, japanese king crab, raw tuna(i am talking about legit raw tuna chunks), pig ear, seaweed soup, yakasoba, tofu soup, moss burgers, okinawa doughnuts, okinawa sugar cane icecream, and the best freaking sushi I have ever had. In all honesty, I haven’t had a bad meal since I have been here. Minus the fish scrambled eggs, I would gladly eat any of that stuff again.
Rainbow Roll - Incredible
Spicey Tuna Rolls with wasabi sauce. OMG! Best I have had.
Hello Japanese food. You tasted good. ORiiiiiiiiiiOOOOOOOOON
We had a day off during the week. We had to drive an hour to our new hotel and our final destination for the remainder of the trip. We drove for a little while, checking everything out, and according to our GPS, we were once driving in water. That was a first among many on this trip! Well we found a place to park, which still boggles my mind how small the parking spots and roads are here. We walked around a bit and found an underground market. AMAZING!!!! There were somewhere around 200 shops at least, and we didn’t even go down each alley way. They had some of the coolest little stores. One isle of what seemed to be limitless trinkets, gizmos, gadgets, whohaws, watchumacallums, and dodaws….. Walking around I came across a few Japanese hipsters, but this girl in particular caught my attention. I walked to her and said “photograph/email” while using my hands as sign language. I can only image she was like, wtf does this dude want. Well, she nonetheless let me photograph her really quick. I took 3 photos, but found one I decently liked. I gave her my business card and said “arigatou gizimos!” She actually emailed me later saying she doesn’t speak english, but used a translator to tell me thanks for taking her photograph. So awesome! Everyone was stylish. They wore Nike Dunks, Slick puffy coats, a lot of cool hats, and seems all the women either wore knee high socks, or slick leggings. Amazing.
I wanted that poster so bad!
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3rd and final hotel was insaaaaaaane. Higher than any of the other building. My boss was nice enough to book me a room facing the ocean. I fell asleep outside one night. Love it.
The view from my room couldn’t be better. What a beautiful world we live in. I have been so many places, but in reality only seen about .00001% of the world. I am in love with our creator.
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Pan 2, this is why I woke before sunrise everyday.
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Well it finally came time to leave. We left at 9am and then had the following return trip home.
1 hr drive to car rental.
Short bus ride to airport.
Check in bags
Security
3 hour flight from Naha to Tokyo.
Check out bags
1 hour bus ride to international airport in Tokyo
Check in bags
Security
11 hour flight to Dallas
Check out bags
US Customs
Re-check bags
Security
2 hr layover
1 hour flight from Dallas to Tulsa
Check out bags
1 hour drive home to Muskogee.
Whewwwwwwwwwwwww
Plenty of empty seats. Just what I like.
The has been one of the best experiences of my life. I still can’t get over the mentality of their culture. Everyone bows, which is like shaking someone’s hand. It is honorable. They take honor in everything they do, including their professions. I have never had such good service in regards to anything. Taxi, expensive restaurant, hole in the wall restaurant, fast food, bar, hotel, gas station….etc. Everyone welcomes you when you enter, bids you farewell when you leave, and wears a smile. It makes me feel warm inside. They are also very very clean. I have witnessed them cleaning and nurturing things I never would have thought twice about. For the population per capita being so substantial, I can’t believe how clean the city is. I hardly see any graffiti at all. Their streets are clean, all their cars seriously look brand new. They have vending machines EVERYWHERE. Sometimes in the most desolate places, boom there’s another vending machine. They are all clean, no scratches, no graffiti, no vandalism on them. It is so odd for me. There seems to be absolutely no shame in what they do, and no egotistical propaganda. I wish we ,the US, could be a society revolved around that observation. I would gladly go there again and stay for a much longer time.
I am thankful for such an experience, I pray it is only the beginning.
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Cale Glendening
