Land of the Rising Sun

Putting in my ear buds I listened to my new “America” playlist until it was time to board. I considered getting something to eat, but boarding was supposed to start in about 5 minutes and the flight was only 2 hours, so I decided to pass.

When boarding started, everyone got up and lined up. There were no zones, no groups, nothing fancy like that. Just one announcement that said in Chinese and English, “Flight HO 1337 is now boarding.” Surprisingly, it was oddly fast and efficient. I was on the plane within about 40 seconds of getting up to get inline.

The inside of the plane was very, very purple! Like magenta, everywhere! I stowed my backpack in the overhead compartment and then took my seat in the aisle. We sat for a while before the pilot came on and made an announcement. It was funny because when he made the announcement in Chinese, he sounded Chinese, but when he repeated in English, he sounded British, without any hint of a Chinese accent at all.

“Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,” he said. “This is Captain Jack speaking. Our departure has been delayed by the rapidly deteriorating weather in Shanghai.” Looking out the window, I realized it had started to rain. “We are currently fifth in line to depart, but the control tower is not letting anyone take off right now. I am not sure how long it will be, but please make yourself comfortable and let our crew know if there is anything they can do for you.”

I should have gotten food I thought. But I have to say, I was impressed by the service from the crew. They brought everyone a pillow, and passed out blankets to those who wanted them. They also served green tea and water several times during the ninety minutes we sat at the gate. I was a little worried since I didn’t have any way to let Keiko know I was running late, but I figured she would find out when she got there. Just part of traveling!

The take-off was really bumpy, and most of the flight was turbulent. It’s funny because every time we hit a patch of turbulence, they made an announcement informing us that we had hit turbulence and to remain seated.

Now the most impressive part of the flight was definitely the free in-flight meal. I am too young to have ever had in-flight meals in the US (at least complimentary meals, I have bought those snack boxed a few times.) This meal came on a tray, with a banana, a hot roll, some mixed nuts, and a moon cake, as well as a little plastic cup of water. It wasn’t the most significant meal, but for a two hour flight, I was impressed. You can’t get the same quality service on a flight from LA to Seattle, and that is even longer!

Now they did have a very strict no electronics rule on the plane. This included cell phones, ipods, and cameras. I broke all of those rules and was yelled at by flight attendants…repeatedly. I wanted explain that nothing I was doing (listening to music and taking pictures out the window) would interfere with the plane—especially since my iPod does not have a cell phone or wireless signal—but they did not want to hear it.

I got up at one point to use the lavatory. When I came back, my seat mates had opened the window shade. Outside was blue sky and fluffy white clouds. I hadn’t seen either in over a month! The “blue” sky we get in Shanghai is more like a “less grey” or “not completely white” …but this was just as blue as it is back home.

As we began our descent, the plane turned and dropped below the clouds, when it did, we had a glorious view of an absolutely stunning sunset. It was a completely golden sky with ruby red flashes of light shimmering on the clouds. It felt like I’ve been living in the black and white part of Wizard of Oz and now I was landing in some strange Technicolor world.

Fireworks can’t top that view I thought. What a perfect way to celebrate the 4^th of July.  

When I first got off the plane, my first observation was that there was not as much English as Shanghai. Almost all the signs in Shanghai Pudong Airport—as well as the street signs and subway signs—have English on them across the bottom. Nothing in Osaka had this feature.

I followed the crowd onto a monorail shuttle that took us back to the main terminal. When we got off, we walked down to customs, which was quite a spectacle. Security in Shanghai had been a more multi-step process than in the US, but it wasn’t necessarily “tight.” Security in Japan made TSA look like a birthday party. They took my picture both facing the camera and turned profile. They finger printed me and asked me several times where I was coming from and why I was going to Japan. I gave the answer of “Tourism” for that second question, figuring it sounded better than “The Chinese government wouldn’t approve me for the visa I wanted so I came here to try and find a loop hole.” Once again, they gave me a departure card, but this time they stapled it to my passport, along with my Japan visa sticker and my entry stamp.

In customs they asked me if I had anything to declare and directed me to the green “Nothing to declare area.” There I was asked to fill out a form listing everything I had to declare…I wasn’t quite following the logic of why there was a nothing to declare area if it meant you filled out the same form, but what do I know.

Outside of customs, I saw Keiko waiting for me.

“Hi!” she beamed and gave me a hug. “I’m sorry I was late. We went to an aquarium today and it took me 90 extra minutes to get here. I just got in.”

Well that’s a lucky coincidence. My flight is delayed 90 minutes, she was delayed 90 minutes…the way this travel stuff just “works out” makes me wonder.

“Do you need anything before we go?” she asked. “It is about a 90 minute bus ride to Kobe.”

After my bus ride to Huangshan, I figured a toilet might be nice. We found the men’s room and I ran inside. I have to say, it is perhaps the cleanest restroom I have ever seen. There were no squat toilets (and while I have not yet had to use a squat toilet in China, since both my office and apartment have Western style toilets, t’s nice to know that here in Japan they won’t be an issue.) The urinals were spotless, as well as totally odor less. The floors were also incredibly clean (it seems like every public restroom in China has an odd layer of either water or greasy film on the floor.) The sinks also had automatic water, soap, and dryers all built into the sink bowl.

“Japan is a country of vending machines,” Keiko explained. “Why don’t we get something to drink for the road.”

We went over to a large white machine and got some ice tea to take with us.

“I don’t know if you’ve been reading my blog,” I told Keiko relaying my story of my bus ride adventures. I’m starting to think that out of the ten weeks total I will spend in China, that bus ride might turn out to be my best story.

“I have been reading it,” she said. “I really admire you for going to China. I think so many people are afraid of China. So many of our business exchanges at the University go to Europe, I don’t remember sending anyone to China before.”

We talked a lot about China on the bus ride and I picked her brain a little on some of the cultural things I’ve observed and how she thinks they might relate to my Business degree.

“It really isn’t that dirty,” I said. “I mean the air definitely is, but the city itself isn’t grubby. The subways are pretty clean, for sure, and it’s not like there is trash everywhere. No one recycles, at least not with the religious vigor they do in Europe, but I think the people are friendlier to foreigners than they were in Europe.”

The biggest culture question I had for her was in regards to this idea of bribery. I relayed to her the story of Felix being stuck in China because his company wouldn’t make the payment to expedite the customs screening. Obviously this is bribery in the Western sense of the word, but I can see where it may be rooted in Eastern culture. Relationships are key to most interactions here, and gift giving is part of Chinese relationships.

“Where is the line between gift giving within a relationship and bribing?” I asked.

“I think it depends on the nature of the market,” Keiko said. “If the gift deters competition, it is more bribery. I think it also depends on the value of the gift.”

“So which is correct?” I asked. “If you’re going to do business in China, do you do what is culturally correct—make the bribes, etc.—or do stick to American ethics and not do it.” Obviously asking the University’s ethics professor gave me a bit of a biased view, but I’ve always enjoyed having these deep conversations with Keiko.

“I think it depends on the relationship too,” Keiko said. “I like giving gifts. If it is a coworker you know and you think a gift is appropriate, you can give gifts. But most people don’t know the government or the agencies so that is pretty much always just a bribe.”

When we got to Kobe, we went to find food. “I grew up in Kobe,” Keiko told me. “I have been walking this very street since I was 10 years old.”

She explained to me that all of the restaurants in Japan have wax models of their food in big display cases outside. That way, even if you don’t speak Japanese, or don’t read menus, you can see what they have and order by pointing. They are very beautifully crafted and many of them look totally real!

Keiko is a vegetarian but we found a restaurant that had some vegetarian options. All of the food was amazing. My meal came with breaded pork, miso soup, fried tofu, potato salad, radish salad, and green tea. The pork was really tender and totally bone free. The miso soup was fantastic, and while I’m not a real tofu fan, the fried tofu was really good. Familiar vegetables tasted good too and I ate all of the potato salad and radishes. Of course the pork came over rice, which tasted like…rice.

After we finished eating, we went to catch a cab. Keiko waved one down and we climbed in. As we sat down, I noticed something odd. The driver was sitting on the wrong side of the car. In addition, the car was also on the wrong side of the road.

“Are we on the wrong side of the road?” I asked. “The opposite from back home.”

“Yes,” Kieko said.

“Have we been since we left the airport?”

“Yes,” Keiko said. “I don’t think I could ever drive in Japan.”

I laughed. “I assumed we’d been on one way roads this whole time.” That’s awesome!

As we drove through Kobe, Keiko pointed out a few museums, some shops, and the famous Kobe port tower.

“It seems like every city has something tall you can go up,” I told her, listing off the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower, the London eye, the Pearl Tower, the St. Louis arch, etc.

My hotel looked like a cruise ship from a distance. It actually was affiliated with a cruise line and it made the nicest of hotels I’ve stayed in look pretty crummy. From the time we got out of the taxi, everything was fancy. The doorman bowed for both Keiko and I. A greeter took my pack and Keiko’s purse. The lobby had two fountains and several brightly covered rugs, and the view looking straight up at the ceiling (some 12 stores) was spectacular.

At the counter, Keiko helped me check-in. The girl working presented me with a contract to sign and asked for my passport. I reached into my passport keeper and…felt nothing! I pulled the pouch out from around my waist. Sure enough my passport was gone!

Well the whole plan just blew up! I can’t renew my visa if l lost the entire thing! I don't know where I would have left it. Oh! Yes I do. I bet I set it down when I had to fill out that form in customs proving I had nothing to declare (I knew it was a stupid form!!!) I’ll have to renew the passport in Japan, and then fly to the US to reapply for a new Chinese visa, and that's not going to happen…or...oh...wait…

It was in my pocket.

The girl behind the counter escorted me to my room. Keiko came up too to make sure it was okay. The glass elevator, which was in a glass elevator shaft in the middle of the lobby, only made the view more elegant and impressive. We were escorted to the room, where she demonstrated how the card key worked (it worked like every other hotel card key) as well as the light switches (which worked like every other light switch outside of the US) and all of the amenities in the room. She offered to help me unpack, but I told her I could handle that. With that, she bowed to each of us and wished me a nice stay.

The room was very nice. There was a long walkway in from the main door, with the closet and the bathroom off to the right side. In the bathroom was a bathtub and shower. There was also a close line that pulled out of the wall and hung over the tub. In shower there were dispensers for shampoo, conditioner, body soap, and acne soap. By the sink there was a hair dryer, two hair brushes, two toothbrushes, q-tips, make-up pads, razors and shaving cream.

In the bedroom, a queen size bed was pushed into one corner. Two sets of pajamas were folded on the bed. At the foot, facing the wall was a desk. Diagonal from the bed was a cupboard, with a TV on top of it and a mini-bar inside. Next to the TV was a red chair and small coffee table.

But I think the coolest part of the room was the balcony that overlooked the bay with the Kobe Skyline and mountains on the other side.

“Keiko thank you so much! This is so nice,” I said as we stood out on the balcony.

“It is nicer than I expected,” she said. “Japan is very elegant. I don’t want to be rude but,” she told me how much the room was for my three nights in Japan. Compared to the US. I stayed in a motel 6 last spring with a friend, and each of us paid more for the room for one night than Keiko paid for my entire stay in this ritzy joint.

“This really is kind of a low end hotel for Japan, but I hope it will work for you?”

“It is probably one of the nicest places I’ve stayed,” I told her.

With that Keiko left to go back to her sister’s house. “I am not really a morning person,” she said. “How about we meet tomorrow at 10:30?”

“That sounds perfect!” I said. “I haven’t gotten to sleep in for a few weeks, so I can do 10:30.”

“Let me give you some money for breakfast and maybe you can go eat before we meet up.” She handed me 2000 yen (which is $20USD.) The money was the same color and same size. It was printed on beige parchment with various political figures outlined in blue on the front.

I thanked her and she left. When she did, I went back out on the balcony to enjoy the view. I saw a picture on Facebook of the Grand Canyon that was captioned “No Pictures. No Talking. Just Look.” That’s what I did. I just looked at the cityscape in front of me. The air was so clear I could see each and every building. When I looked up, I saw big fluffy clouds in the sky. Beyond the clouds, I saw stars (also for the first time in months.)

As it got to be closer to 11:00, I went inside to take a shower. The mirror was heated so that the condensation left a small circle above the sink for your face. The toilet seat was also heated, and also included a bidet. Putting on my Japanese pajamas (which I didn’t know I needed until I tried them on) I went out on the patio to enjoy the fresh air. I texted my co-workers and sent them plenty of pictures of my view. I wasn’t tired in the slightest…I was excited. It was clean, it was beautiful, it was fancy…it felt fun.

Around midnight, I did go back inside and laid down. Maybe I was a little more tired than I thought. After a few minutes of trying to figure out the Wi-Fi, I gave up and fell fast asleep.