Atsui ne? - Blogabond

So, it is hot as a mother eff. Today was our first day in, after what seemed to be the longest 12 hours of my life. I spent most of the time on the plane trying to come up with a polite way to wake up my Japanese seat-neighbor in order to go to the bathroom. Sucks that she had to sit next to me- if it were anyone that knew me, I'd be sitting in the aisle seat since I seem to have pregnant lady bladder syndrome.

I successfully made it through Made of Honor and Kung Fu Panda, and most of some movie featuring Demi Moore stealing diamonds in London, but had lost interest during the fourth movie.. That football one with Jim Halpert and Renee Zellweger and George Clooney (I know).

For dinner on the plane I had curried chickpeas, lentils, and those little white beans with black spots. Black eyed peas? Anyways, served with jasmine rice which contained raisins and almond slices. Surprisingly delicious. Breakfast, on the other hand, was severely disappointing in that it was hot pineapples served with steamed barley. And then a cup of cold pineapple. And a dry bagel. Which was cold.

Anyways, we got off the plane after 12 hours and were herded onto a monorail which took us to the passport check. Since there were so many foreigners, they sent some, incl. me, to the Japanese citizen check in. I don't know why that was a good idea, considering they weren't trained to speak to english-speakers. So basically he prompted me in Japanese the whole time while he took pictures of my forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, neck, and shoulders as well as my fingerprints.

The sign said "STRICT INSPECTION BEING CARRIED OUT FOR PREVENTION OF TERRORISM."

So, that was fine... my mom brought sausages illegally into Japan and had to check the corresponding box on the customs form that was in the same category as firearms and other weapons. I don't know either. It specifically said "sausage" though..so she checked yes, and the customs guy figured it was a mistake, laughed at her, and waved us through. Sausages secured.

Nicky then found us, we got on a bus to Kobe which was a little less than an hour..the bus had a bathroom on it and was really nice. We got off in Kobe at the train station and climbed aboard to ride another hour to Ono, which is where my brother lives. Mom had her first encounter with a squatting floor toilet, which is similar to peeing in a bowl on the floor.

We reached Ono and then had to walk about 10 minutes, 50 lb suitcases in tow, to Nicky's apartment. I saw the biggest beetle of my life. All of the bugs here are gigantic and I'm making an effort to collect photographic evidence, with emphasis on the word "graphic." I ate some subtly unpleasant fish crackers and then fell asleep immediately around midnight.

written by

RoboRaptor on August 6, 2008 from Osaka, Japan

from the travel blog: Japan: Irashaimase!

tagged Osaka, Bugs and Hot

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