A dramatic arrival

A dramatic arrival

Mar 17

Flying away from Funland

I was so happy that one small N, two amazing J’s, and a wonderful P and a generous E (thanks for the ride!) came to the airport to say goodbye to me. It felt much safer to leave with so many warm hugs.

They also witnessed how the silliness started in Finland. I couldn’t check in my luggage due to technical problems and the Finnair crew were bouncing me from desk to another like ping pong. In the end I got my stuff on the plane. But this ordeal was like a warmup for what was going to happen to my luggage in Tokyo.

On the flight I sat on the aisle seat, next to Bigman and a cute grandma. The grandma was a vegetarian and seemed friendly and cool. Bigman was in the middle and they weren’t that big but they took quite some space.

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They should've installed TikTok on these screens.

It was exciting to be in such a big plane! The display at my seat was broken though, so I couldn’t really use it. I mentioned it to the crew but they couldn’t fix it. So for a while I just watched other people watching Frozen and Wonka from their little screens. Just like the film makers intended.

In the end I spent most of the 13 hours roleplaying a sleeping state: I kept my eyes closed and squirmed around trying to find a comfy position. I don’t think I actually slept a second. lol.

Haneda

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Find the flush button! (this one is beginner level, I promise to share some harder ones)

The funny stuff truly began when I arrived to Haneda. There were a looooot of people at the arrival check-in inspection thingy, and even though the line moved quickly, it still took a loooong time. When I finally made it to one of the counters, they asked me to go queue in another line where I would get a residence card. That was much shorter, but it still took me another 15 minutes of waiting.

The funniest part was that once I got through the bureaucracy with my newly made Japanese residence card, my luggage was nowhere to be found. None of the conveyor belts had Finnair luggage. Apparently the process took so long that it had already been taken away.

I asked a random airport employee, who tried to help and pointed me to another employee, who pointed me to a counter, which was full of employees but they weren’t from Finnair so they didn’t know about my luggage, and they told me to go through the customs without my luggage and find a Finnair desk upstairs.

So in the end, me, a small human who hadn’t slept in 30+ hours, went through the customs without my luggage, having no idea if I would ever see it again. I exited through the doors and entered the public part of the airport passing through a crowd of people holding signs with names. I was feeling quite stressed.

Then, I heard footsteps approaching behind me. Somebody ran at me and grabbed me from behind. It was the officer from the customs - they had realised there was something illegal in my suitcase.

Drama

Just kidding lol, it was actually a saviour angel called Shunsuke. My wonderful Japanese friend, who had come to the airport as a surprise. I cannot possibly describe how relieved I was to see him.

I explained the situation to Shun, and he spoke 1 minute in Japanese with an employee who told all the Finnair desks were closed, but then asked for my details and called somebody.

Shun offered to buy me a nice orange juice, probably because he saw me sweating internally, and we waited for 10 minutes sipping juices and chatting, until the kind employee came to talk to us and showed me to my luggage. My trip’s first Japanese went to that employee: ありがとうございました, arigatou gozaimashita.

Shun also helped me find an adapter for my European phone charger and took the trains with me to Shinjuku. There we said bye. Wow, what a friend.

I thanked you a million times already, but thank you again, Shun. You made my first day so much brighter. I would’ve honestly been quite terminame without you.

I took the train alone for another 30 min to get to my home station. First it was quite tight, but it got better as the journey progressed. It was quite cold and dark when I was walking home from the station, almost felt like Finland. After arriving at my building I had random issues like not being able to enter the building, not being able to open my postbox to get my room key etc. but it all worked out in the end.

Home away from home

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My teeny tiny room. I think there's a tree right outside the window. I'll find out tomorrow.

After dropping my stuff, I went to the nearest supermarket to buy some food, since I was -s t a r v i n g- at that point. It’s open 23/7, pretty cool. I also got to practice my Japanese there, since the store clerk asked me something quick in keigo (very polite japanese, which I don’t understand that well). I didn’t get it but replied fluently, thanks to my nearly 4 courses of training, “aaaaaaa?” with a really confused face. They repeated the question, pointing at the receipt. I took it and thanked them. Hihii.

At home I was eating my first meal in Japan and listening to some random people talking in the kitchen. They had a strange vibe. So did the other people that I heard. Is this a strange house? Or am I strange, since I haven’t slept in like 35+ hours?

Let’s find out in the next episode of Japan blog! Now I’m writing this on my bed but should really go to sleep. I’m excited to see Tokyo in daylight tomorrow. Talk to you later, friends!

Oh and I want to finish with some things I liked about today:

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It's just so happy!