I am Waiting for You: Narita International Airport

When “The Beauty” Maeda stood up and raised the microphone, that was a happy moment for me. I knew, she would tell us that the Vanilla Air JW 130 would be landing at Narita International Airport soon. How could I wasn’t be happy, Japan, which had always been just a dream and had become something unattainable, finally this moment anchored me at its gate. The passion for Japan was also caused by my own stupidity of torturing myself by wasn’t visiting that country immediately after understanding the rhythms and habits of backpacker world. I was more selfish to exploring Southeast Asia for 3 years, even the first edition to explorind East Asia, I prefered Hong Kong, China and Macau as my first destination. Japan deliberately became the dessert of my adventure in East Asia. Yes, that was right….That country was at my east asia exploration peak with other county, i.e South Korea. Make this story felt special.

The aerobridge attached to plane door marked my first step to Japan. Narita International Airport’s Terminal 3 warmly welcomed me even though I knew the temperature outside had reached 2 Celsius degree….“Hopefully the blood doesn’t flow from my nose”, I firstly mumbled when I was walking down the aerobridge.

Nervous and scared, that was how I felt when I walked down the arrival hall to the immigration counter. “What if they check the amount of money I brought?”, “What if they refuse me to entering the city?”…The amateur worries still haunted me. Understandably, for me, Japan felt like a country with different caste in my eyes.

“Is this your filst time in visiting Japan?”, his face was flat but not too scary when investigate me.

“Yes, Sir”.

“How long will you stay in Japan?”, standard question.

“4 days, Sir”

“Hoooohhh….Just foul days. Very sholt time”, he was still flipping through my passport details, looking at my adventure track record.

“Ale you alone?”, began to put my passport in his right hand and focus on talking to me.

“Upss, address …. Don’t let him ask for money in my pocket”, I palely thought.

“Okay, what will you do in Japan?” started interrogating.

“!@#$%….^&*()?…..,”:}{[]/”, my hands moved here and there while telling at length about all my plans. I wasn’t worried at all because I was a reliable itinerary maker….. Yup, an itinerary that was too economical.

“Good….Good….Good, nice toulist”, I saw his smile even though he immediately hid it. Immigration officers were like that, putting on a fierce look was the first procedure.

“Do you bling your itinelaly?”, his last defense, looked like I would easily break through.

“This is, Sir”, with a bright face, I handed him six itinerary sheets, complete with details of the time, places I would visit, costs to be incurred, and the address of each destination on it. I’ve beaten him.

“Hoooohh….You would go to Osaka too”, nodded but still read page after page.

“Yes, Sir. That’s a nice city to visit”.

“Yes…yes..yes….Good, welcome to Japan”, he reopened my passport and put the arrival stamp on the tiny pink visa waiver.

Yessssss….I entered Japan.

Oopsss….The inspection hadn’t finished yet, apparently.

“Stop, please!”, a middle-aged man in a black jacket with its zipper which was left open so that it was clear that his thick gray sweater. He was blocking my steps now.

“Put your bag….Thele!”, he pointed to a place to put my bag while carrying two hand-held metal detectors in both hands. Without further ado he swept my backpack with that tool with his right hand and then his left hand followed.

“Hand-held metal detectors are layered like that,” I muttered admiring Narita’s tightness.

“Can I inspect you?”, he showed me a sheet of paper with a picture of a standard series of inspections of all limbs by touching.

“Yes, sure!”, I took off the used winter jacket from Pasar Baru.

“Hooohh…you don’t need to take youl jacket off…..Hoooohh…..Do you using t-shilt? Sully? This is Japan, you will fleeze with your t-shilt…..Hahaha”, he kindly chuckled.

I spread my arms and he started checking. Oh, how polite that person was, for checking me he asked for permission. The first social value I got from Japan on my visitation.

But….

I was starting to get confused with all this country’s transportation system. There were many types of trains available to the city. Starting from Narita SKY ACCESS Line, Keisei Main Line or JR Sobu Line train, but I never knew which line I would take to get to Tokyo. Ticketing Vending Machine buttons were not easy for me to understand, not liked I usually do. I was swallowed by this country sophistication.

Never mind…. I sat down first to calm myself down on a brightly colored soft sofa which was placed along the side of arrival hall corridor whose was designed like a running race track. Smart, insists it was a path for people to walk inside airport terminal. While sitting down, sadly I saw the price of food along Narita food court, it was expensive for me.

“Onigiri….yes….Onigiri, it’s the cheapest. I have to look for it at the convenience store”, my hungry stomach suddenly had an idea. I started to walk on the “running track” and quickly found Lawson booth at a corridor corner.

“What a shame!”, I cursed myself when I was asked to circle retreat in a following the queue which I really didn’t notice. A woman in the front line smiled when she saw me back in a circle past the shelves of mini market.

I left Lawson with a win for finding my first cheap meal in Japan. I ventured to sit at a dining table around Narita’s food court to eat it.

“Bus…Yes, buses….Don’t worry about the cheapest train to downtown. Buses were been still the cheapest transportation in all parts of the world”, I kept looking around for bus ticket counter while eating the last piece of my onigiri.

It wasn’t difficult, I saw the table at far left in front of where I was sitting. I immediately approached a young lady at the counter and didn’t hesitate to ask for a ticket to Tokyo.

“Youl bus will depalt on 5 minutes… Hully up”, she lightly said when she received Yen from me. “Damn, so fast”, I thought hiding the tension. I didn’t want to argue whether my ticket will be forfeited when I miss the bus, because the departure time listed on the LCD counter was 11:30 hours.

I quickly focused on finding the bus sign or logo. I found the picture of bus and ran towards it. Unknowingly, I wasn’t wearing a winter jacket and when I arrived at the door to bus shelter, I was shocked. “Crazy!” I screamed, the 2o C air pierced my bones mercilessly. For a moment I couldn’t breathe. I rushed back into the room and many people had strange faces looking at me. “Please, Donny….This isn’t the tropics anymore”, I sighed, since I was still reflecting that the air outside was still the same as Kuala Lumpur air I visited three days ago. I quickly put on my jacket and watched from afar the bus driver who was standing at the back door of bus. He looked at his watch and looked around for someone. I ran towards him. “Come on, Sil….I am waiting fo you”, he briefly said, pointing to the front door. I jumped at the front door and prepared to head to Tokyo. I shouldn’t have panicked, I think he was told by the counter staff that there was still one passenger who was going to board the bus.

Anyway….Welcome Tokyo.