Konnichiwa! Japan Trip Day 1

Well I am in Japan! Yup I am finally physically in Japan. Actually in Kansai, Nara prefecture, Tenri city, to be exact.

The flight was great. (Stuff that I wrote during the flight are added at the bottom of this entry.) The first few hours here have been rather interesting. Met up with Natsumi for a while, but she had to go back to work. Had lunch with Fukuda san (I ate a very yummy bowl of Teriyaki Chicken don) and we had a good time reminiscing about his classes and lessons.

Right now I am at the Fukuda residence. It is a traditional Japanese house out in the countryside. The meeting with Fukuda san's parents were very interesting, to say the least, and a little bit embarrassing. But they are both very nice. The mum especially was quite amused at my command of the Japanese language, but in a good way. She was very happy and excited to meet me and apparently so is alot of other people. From Fukuda san's parents and relatives, to friends, and even right up to his boss's father. To be honest I do feel a little embarrassed at all the excitement that my visit has generated. The reason for the excitement seems largely due to fact that I am by far the first of Fukuda san's students from Singapore to come for a visit that is longer than 1-2 days.

I'm going to try and take a short rest now. But I will definitely take some pictures of the place that I am staying in later and post it up.

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(Here's what I wrote on my flights to Japan, along with some pictures.)

My First Solo Flight (Friday, 07 July 2006)

1st Leg
I am writing this while flying on Malaysian Airlines flight MH 610 to Kuala Lumpur. It is approximate 30 minute flight and we will be arriving in about 10-15 minutes.

Although it is short but this will always be my very first flight all by myself without family or friends with me. I would have preferred my first flight to be a longer one but circumstances was such that I had to take this flight.

I am actually on my way to Osaka Japan. But since I am flying Malaysian Airline I had to transit at KL.

Actually this is not too bad. The flight isn't too full so there is plenty of space and empty seats around. I was originally given a window seat but shifted over to an isle seat because there was someone seating beside me while there was so many other empty seats around. Since he didn't want to move I did.

I think we are making our descent already. My ears are starting to pop again.

The wait at KL International Airport for my connecting flight into Osaka is about 1 hour 45 min.

Need to shut down now.

2nd Leg
This is so exciting!! I am now on my flight to Osaka, Japan. Finally! Surprisingly the waiting time before boarding my connecting flight wasn't very long, which was great.

And I switch seats again. There were empty seats in front of where I was allocated and again there was someone sitting beside me. So I switched seats after we took off. Now I have the entire window seats to myself. It's the first time that I didn't have anyone sitting beside me on a flight. And it's great! The space is great! Having my laptop with me is great. I am off to a great start for my first solo vacation. I'm loving every minute of it! This is definitely an experience that I will remember for life.

I know I should also try to get some rest. Especially now that I have more space than I have ever had on a flight, it should not be too difficult.

How would I describe this experience so far? Exhilarating and liberating!

The flight is approx 6.5 hours and by the time I arrive at Kansai International Airport it will 6.15am Singapore time, which translates to 7.15am Osaka time.

But I think the one thing that I probably need to keep reminding myself through out this journey it not to rush, panic and get flustered. I need to slow down, observe my surroundings more, enjoy the moment for what it is and remember it in its totality.

I should probably take a picture of my seats. Just so that I can have something to remember this experience by.

Ok I think will shut down now and enjoy the in flight movie and my yummy looking snack.

Actually I didn't finish the movie that I set out to watch. But I did finish the snack.