I have arrived!

As most of you know, I left for Japan a couple of days ago. I arrived in Osaka last night (which was  early this morning to everyone in the States). We are 14 hours ahead of you in time, in case you are trying to figure that one out :). 

The flight was not nearly as grueling as I had assumed it would be. First of all, I was certainly lucky that in my row of three seats, one person did not come. This gave me some added comfort on my 13 hour flight to Tokyo. The plane was a 747-400 (A double decker Jumbo!!) which was interesting for a change. Also, we were able to fly over the frozen tundra of ALASKA for over a couple of hours. There was no cloud cover at this point, so I took some photos which I will attach. It was absolutely breathtaking.

While on board the long international flight, we were fed two meals, both of which were actually very appetizing to my surprise. The first was four courses which included a caesar salad, some sort of Japanese noodles with a small bottle of noodle sauce, tiramisu for dessert, and a main course of curried chicken and white rice with ginger. It was AMAZING, especially the noodles. The second meal surprised me. It was four courses as well which consisted of a regular salad with italian dressing, a fruit salad, a container of yogurt, a roll,  and a main course of baked ziti. It surprised me that we were given italian food just 2 hours before we landed in Tokyo instead of Japanese, but it was tasty regardless. 

During the flight there were many movies on our personal Televisions that were on a continuous loop so I was able to watch Ghost Town and Vikki Christina Barcelona, both which served their purpose of keeping me entertained between flipping back and forth to sing along with MamaMia!  and catch small snipits of the wonderful Wall E. 

After arriving in Tokyo, I had to go through Immigration, which was surprisingly easy. They took my picture and fingerprints, stamped my passport, and I was on my way. Next, I picked up my baggage at the claim carousel and proceeded to Customs. Here they welcomed me to Japan and I was out the door and on my way to the Domestic Flight counter for JAL where I needed to check in and re-check my baggage for my flight to Osaka Itami airport. 

After I checked in I went through security to get on my domestic flight. This is where I started to realize not only was I in Japan, but they have tools for security I have never seen that make it so much easier to travel. First of all, you can bring liquids through security, unlike in the states. They have a machine they set your plastic or glass bottle on and it somehow scans it and checks to see that the contents are safe for travel. Also, of all of the places you have to remove your shoes in Japan, airport security is not one of them! You also do not have to remove all of your layers (coat, sweater, sweatshirt, belt etc) which is nice for a change. 

It was just inside the domestic terminal gate that I made my first purchase in Japan. A Diet Coke! It was just 170 yen, which is a little under $2 American, so not as different as everyone stresses, which is nice. Arigato Gozaimasu (Thank you very much!). :) 

After getting on a bus, which took me to a small plane (about the size of what I used to take from Newark or Philly to Binghamton), we flew into Osaka. Since I already went through customs I did not have to again and was able to claim my bags and find Todd who was meeting me at the airport to take me to my hotel for the first week of training. It was after leaving the airport that I already saw the first three things that reminded me of home. Starbucks, Dunkin Doughnuts, and McDonalds! Haha. They really are everywhere aren't they? 

Upon arriving at the hotel I was shown where the 24 hour grocery was and a local shrine. My school purchased some food items for me and stocked my fridge with tea, milk, juice, and water along with deli meat and KRAFT SINGLES so I have food for the next couple of days! How sweet! :) 

So far, I have not seen much, but I can tell this is going to be interesting. I will probably post again tonight, which will be morning for you all, after I explore today after a short day of 4 hours of training!