First time in Japan: Typhoons, Tremors and Tako

After being bounced around Europe for hours ( Thanks for going on strike AirFrance ) we finally arrived in Japan.

I was like a giddy child when I heard that there was a Typhoon. A typhoon! I’d never seen one of those before. Maybe it would be better to see it from inside a nice warm house and not from a plane trying to land in the middle of it. It turned out to be the tail end of one and we had a perfectly smooth landing in Narita airport.

Myself and my Waifu and my older brother made our way towards customs. Waifu and myself breezed through but a friendly Japanese official asked my brother to open up his suitcase and on finding that it was packed so tight with presents that it probably violated the laws of phyics, sent everything away to be x-rayed.

I walked back to my brother so I could make an inappropriate joke about smuggling and the official suddenly realised that we were all travelling together

Gomen Nasai he said, bowing apologetically for keeping us waiting.

Even when he suspects you of smuggling heroin into the country, he can still be polite.

We stepped outside into what was left of a Typhoon, I was surprised to see lots of staff members whose only job seemed to be to stand outside in terrible weather and wave people towards their destination. During my stay I did notice quite a few people who seemed to be employed to stand around and do very little. Welcoming people in the supermarket, standing guard outside construction sites or holding mini light sabers to draw attention to themselves.

We loaded our luggage into my father-in-law’s toyota and off we went into the Japanese evening.

One of things I love about travelling is the small things that are different. I was cetainly eager to see temples and taste tempura and all the other Japanese things that I had read about. But I was also delighted by the different colours of license plates that I saw and the incredibe variety of beers that were available in the combini we stopped in on our way home to Kasukabe. Traffic lights, trees and roadsigns were brilliantly different.

Strangely I also thought I had seen a Jewish shop in one of the small towns we passed through on the way, but it was probably just the tiredness and the fact that a few big pieces of the katakana shopsign had broken off.

Before we actually reached home we pulled up at a fami-restoran ( family restaurant ) called “Genki Sushi” which was a great idea, if I had come within sight of a bed I would’ve fallen asleep immediately. Better to get fed and then enjoy about 15 hours of slumber.

Genki Sushi was brightly lit and was a kaiten-zushi which meant the food was on a conveyor belt so you can grab what you want as it goes past. You can also just yell at the employees “Sumimasen!” and then ask them for something in particular. As well as sushi, sashimi and veggie dishes there were also desserts trundling past and once my self and my brother ( cleared of all smuggling allegations ) had worked out how the prices compared to Ireland we wasted no time in grabbing what seemed like “one of everything”.

My Waifu knows basically how much Japanese I know, so she gave us a running commentary. If it was something I might know she’d say it in Japanese otherwise she’d let us know what it was in English.
I would then translate any of the Japanese words that I knew for my brother.

Maguro – That’s Tuna
Unagi – Eel
Sake – Salmon
Tamago – Egg
Ikura – Salmon Roe
Tako – Octopus
and Basashi
I wasn’t familiar with that word but my Waifu then offered “Uma?”
Uma sounded familiar
Horse?

My brother and I only paused for a second before giving it a go. When in Rome …
It was a bit stringy but fairly tasty and just one of the many plates that piled up on out table to be counted at the end. The waitress just adds up your bill based on the amount of empty plates on your table ( they’re colour coded for different prices )

Outside I commented that the Genki Sushi character seemed a bit angry or aggressive but my Waifu insists that he looks determined. Is that a cultural difference or do I just expect sushi bar mascots to be willing to defend their restaurants at all costs?

Bellies full, we made the short final journey to the family home. After bringing our bags inside and getting a brief tour we were all ready for some shuteye.

My brother and I were sharing a room and just ready to go to sleep when we felt a strange *shunt* The room rocked back and forth once, just for a second. It was unlike anything we’d felt before and my brother turned and said

What the **** was that?

I started grinning.

I think it was an earthquake!

I had always wanted to experience a tremor or small earthquake, it seemed exciting and exotic and I went to sleep very happy with my first day in Japan.

The next morning when I met my Waifu at the breakfast table I asked her if she had felt the earth move the night before.
( Insert pun here )

Pfff, It was probably a truck going past, I didn’t feel anything

( Insert second pun here )

I was disappointed because I know 2 people who had lived in Japan for over a year and had never experienced or at least never noticed a tremor, I thought I had been really lucky.

When my sister in law arrived a few moments later she asked if we had noticed the earthquake last night. It turns out my Waifu had already been asleep when it happened. My checklist of things to do in Japan was getting shorter by the day.