大阪 Osaka

大阪 I arrived in Osaka alone, a bit scared and more than a bit overwhelmed. Two hours before I had touched down in Tokyo at Narita airport. We sat on the tarmac for over thirty minutes as they prepared to send a group of doctors onto the plane. Because of the Swine Flu panic all planes entering Japan were being boarded and the passengers examined. The doctors dressed in scary looking haz-mat suits seemed more than a little intimidating. They asked the passengers if anyone felt ill at all, and if they did to raise their hand. No one raised their hand. The doctors walked the length of the plane scanning the rows looking for tell tale signs of illness. Fortunately no one was obviously ill and we were released from the plane.

I had been told that I would need to go through customs in Tokyo, as I left the plane I got to go through a series of checks. They scanned my forehead for a high temperature, perused my visa, asked me why I was here, etc and then I was off to find my luggage. I couldn't find it right away and I began to panic. A security guard noticed my confusion and although he didn't speak English he gave me a paper with English directions on airport basics. I soon found my luggage and went through the customs line, they didn't bother to look through my belongings. The customs official just asked if I had brought produce and why I was here. When I said that I was in Japan to study Japanese puppetry he laughed and waved me ahead.

I got on my transfer and was on my way to Osaka. On the plane I was seated next to a woman and her daughter. After a while they asked me where I was from. They thought I was from England, when I told them I was from the US they asked where. I tried to explain where Missouri was and they giggled. We talked (in Japanese only) about Paris, Yuzu, why I was in Japan, Puppetry, and a random of assortment of chitchat. Of course in the middle of all of this I spilled an entire cup of juice in my lap....yes I am awesome. We arrived at the airport and they wished me luck and were on their way. Meanwhile... I was in Osaka. After running around I began to relax and followed the signs that I could read to find my luggage, to go through customs and to find the exit to the main lobby. I ran into Taylor near customs and we exited into the lobby together. We found an exchange center and changed our money into our first fistful of yen.
Soon after we ran into Amanda and Denise and began our search to find the correct train to get where we needed to go, somewhere in the heart of Osaka.