Hello :)

So Japan..

Here are some thoughts:

I brilliantly failed to get ready in time for my plane. I ended up packing all night and basically just made it, leaving my room quite messy and my mum the task of cleaning it in the next few days. Oh well, I would like to plead that my stupid second job running 3 months late (stupid client) was in part the cause.

Anyway so I limped in and ended up making the flight fairly comfortably thanks to my mum. I flew to Sydney and from there had to wait about 4 hours for my flight to Osaka. This experience was interesting to me. At the time of arrival I had been awake for 26 hours, all of which was spent doing some form of preparation or another. Suffice to say I was pooped.

I find airports interesting, no one really wants to be there and they mope around irritably as if looking for some hidden jewel that will take all their boredom away. Ok well maybe this is just me. I did find a half pack of cheezels, but this only worked for a brief amount of time.

At around 29 hours awake I started watching Dr Phil. During this time I discovered an interesting phenomenon… I was watching it and as you might expect regulating my breathing to avoid throwing up (American family values excreted by a dogmatic bald man is not exactly my thing). However all of a sudden a wave of tiredness hit me and my brain kicked down a notch. Suddenly I was engrossed, each word he spoke thundered through me and I shuddered with revelation. I couldn’t pull myself away and I silently absorbed his wisdom, ready to riot should the flow be interrupted.

Luckily my plane arrive and through an act of sheer will power I averted my eyes, punched myself in the face and managed to crawl away, dragging my bags with me. Be warned people. I suspect that if I had stayed any longer I would have died of starvation in state of ecstasy. Or should the program end I would go insane or become the prophet of Dr Phil or something.

On the plane I had my first experience of Japan. Although I have Japanese friends my experiences with them are somewhat unauthentic for 2 reasons (forgive me while a generalise).

1. People who travel tend to be cooler/more interesting than people that don’t.
2. They are on holiday, so they aren't working and are generally relaxed.
   

On the plane there were about 10 stewardesses all female. What I found intriguing is that they assume the role of their jobs to a much greater degree than Australians do. Almost all interaction with passengers is prefaced and er sufaced with polite but inane expressions. There true personalities and feelings and buried deep behind a mask as they interface with us, like robots following a flow chart. Above all they are accommodating and meek.

I was able to get some responses outside this chart on occasion, but they would only do this when it was inadequate for the situation.

Looking through the flight magazines provided gave me more insight into this. There were many airline ads and all of them have the stewardesses smiling, flawless and inviting faces included. It is hard to not feel their jobs are a bit demeaning

I arrived at 8:30 Japan time and hobbled to the airport hotel. This was a bit of a mistake. I asked for their cheapest room and it cost 17,500 yen or about $200 AU, eesh. I started considering sleeping in the airport but by this stage it was a bit late and I needed a good sleep really badly. So I slept, stay tuned for more. I have had more exciting times, but I think this is long enough for one post!