Elderly Man in Fishing Hat Behind the Counter in a Small Town

This post will be entirely on the travel aspect of my trip here to Japan, after Toronto. What can be said about a thirteen hour flight. Well, it was long. Easily longer than any flight in my life. My seat was a center aisle with the seat to my side being vacant - pretty rad. All announcements were in English, French, and Japanese. For literally the first half of the flight I slept. How tired I was ended up working to my advantage. I’d awaken to eat the meals offered and then pass out again. I can’t complain about how fast time moved at first.

Then time stopped moving fast and I still had half a trip left. For ‘lunch,’ we were given a Cup Noodles which I thought was a joke at first but soon learned that it was very very real. Good think I like those but man, unexpected. Alcoholic beverages were free and the man in my row on the other aisle sucked down Jack and Gingers whenever humanly possible. Good man. There was so much space for belongings and with the people who needed it, the trip reminded of a train scene in a kung fu movie - unfortunately missing Jackie Chan.

What better way to pass a huge chunk of time than with one of the Hobbit movies? I saw the first one and this was the third. I don’t felt like all that much was lost skipping the entirety of the middle film - something about a dragon I suppose. Why was Gandalf trapped in a Dark Souls elevator? It held my attention, entertained, and most importantly swallowed a bunch of hours. The rest of the trip involved more sleeping and audio-books.

As predicted in the previous post, it was after this flight landed that I hit my biggest and most stressful snag. For how big the Boeing 777 was, it cleared out fast and landed 15 minutes early. I only had roughly more than an hour to do a lot so I was already in a high gear mentality. The Tokyo airport was extremely accommodating with English on all the signs which made life possible. I had to wait in short line to receive my residency card and to take some paperwork.

Now I had to gather my luggage. Unlike the US, the baggage carts are free and I used the hell out of them. Unfortunately, my HUGE bags were among the last to come out - the whole time I’m watching the clock. After receiving both, customs was a breeze and I’m now in the international part of the airport. I got a bit lost for a moment but then found my way to the place to give my bags over for a domestic flight. The line was moving pretty quickly but then as I was the next person at bat, the two people that were getting helped had problems. I’m not even being dramatic here, they each took 10+ minutes to help. Guess what, I needed to have these bags checked 45 minutes before departure and missed this window due to those folk ahead of me.

The woman apologized and said I’d have to go to the domestic terminal. This is where panic occurred. I had 20 minutes to get to an entirely new terminal with all four bags of my luggage. To top that, I had to take a free bus to get to that other terminal. I stayed cool and just went through the motions. I found the bus, loaded ALL four of my bags onto it and sort of cradled them in my arms as I took a bus ride of unknown length. I remember the woman said “Terminal 2” so I just kept my eyes open for that. Luckily, the announcements on the bus also came in English. The bus ride was longer than I would have liked.

So the bus rolls up, I have less than 10 minutes until boarding, hope is gone. The whole ride I’m thinking what can I do? Someone is going to pick me up at the next airport and I have to contact them somehow AFTER getting a new flight. I could call them? I look at my phone - doesn't work in Japan. I’m in a bad place.

The moment the door opens I grab my larger bags, leaving my carry-on on the bus still so others can get out. As I turn to go back in to grab the bag this elderly man in a fishing hat, who was on my previous flight with his wife in a pink cowboy hat, has my bag and brings it to me. I thank him. Without saying anything else, he starts pushing one of my giant bags towards the door and I grab the rest. He points at a sign that says departures and motions towards the escalator. I sort of just follow him in awe.

He asks where I’m headed - I think. I show him my ticket, he flags down an employee and translates for me so I know where to go. He tells me but then starts pushing my bag again. What can I do, I follow. There is of course a line where I need to go but this elderly man is not having it. He flags down another woman, explains what I assume is the situation, and she takes me to front of the line. I’m sweaty and out of breathe but she smiled at me and told me "You'll make it, you have 5 minutes."

I thank the elderly old man in the fishing hat at least a million times, I believe I got through to him how thankful I was - at least I hope so. If not for him, a complete foreigner stranger, not even on the same flight as me, went through so much trouble just the help me is so unreal. I feel like I cashed in every bit of karma I've ever earned right there and then. If this is a sign of how the Japanese are, I made a wonderful decision. That man is and will always be my hero.

Being extremely touched doesn't get me to the flight though. I had 5 minutes to through security and make the plane. More running. There was no one else in the security line and the people working it were actually nice and didn't seem to hate their lives. It went quick. I followed to signs to my gate but boy was it far. I ran, rested on the moving platforms, then ran more. Dripping in sweat and smelling what I feel was fairly awful, I make it. I board the plane, sit at my window seat, and crank the air to max. I can’t believe I made it.

The flight from Tokyo to Nagoya was only about an hour. I was served a single strawberry candy which was delicious and screens came down that showed images of abandoned mines all across Japan for reasons unknown. Before you take off and when you land, the grounds crews wave all at once and then bow all at once. Pretty amazing. No longer stressed out, I finally go to the bathroom which I was too scared to do before based on time - which was actually the right decision, grab my bags, get greeted by the man meeting me at the airport, send my huge bags off to my future school, and meet the other two trainees who arrived at this time.