Dan in Japan

So here’s the deal, folks. I’m gonna go ahead and call this the second day, because it’s technically the second time I’ve woken up in the past…days. Time is weird on the plane, especially when there’s a huge delay between flights. I left the house at 3 AM EST, and caught the flight to Toronto from Boston at around 6:15 AM EST. Now, my own concept of time told me that it was around 8 in the morning when I reached Canada, but I’m not sure how time works in that country so I could be terribly wrong. Case-in-point, I asked one of those loveable Canucks if he had the time, and he said “On my mantle, eh.” Sarcasm? Hopefully. Communication breakdown between English speakers? More likely. Regardless.

So I was in Canada from around 8 in the morning to 6 in the evening after a delay with the flight. It was one of those delays where we spent 30 more minutes than necessary on the plane before the pilot came over the intercom to tell us that there was something wrong with their navigation system, and that it would have to be fixed. Luckily, we all thought, he said it could be fixed with us all still on the plane, and we could take off once it was repaired. Well, fifteen minutes turned to a half hour, and that slowly and painfully became an hour, and finally that rolled over into about an hour and a half when the pilot came on and said, and I quote, “We just can’t do it,” so we had to “deplane immediately,” and catch a flight at 6:30 that day. Couple things.

One: I really don’t mind delays at airports. With my track record, I’m surprised all of my flights don’t take forty hours. Now, that being said, I have catalogued a fairly substantial list of reasons why there have been delays in my flights, and the mishap with Air Canada flight 5 non-stop to Tokyo Haneda airport falls into that glorious category of, “We just didn’t check the plane before we got in it.” I think Seinfeld has a bit about forgetting the keys to the plane, and that’s basically what this feels like.  But again! Things like this are to be expected when you travel. Although I still find it hilarious that at no point did anyone on the plane or in the airport ask why the navigation system, i.e. the thing that tells you where you’re going in the fucking SKY, was not like…the third thing checked on the plane before it was working. Keys, gas, GPS. Let’s go, folks.

Second: Delays suck, especially when they force you to stay on the plane. I’ve flown enough and had enough problems to know that if the pilot comes on the speaker and says the words, “We seem to be having trouble with blank,” then blank is going to be stopping the flight. Every time. Every. Time. I’ve never been on a flight where the landing gear was having some trouble, and then after 90 minutes of forced existential contemplation in the most ergonomically impossible chairs did the pilot come back on and say, “Good news, folks. Our people have fixed every problem and we’re good to go without issue.” So I knew the plane wasn’t going to be taking off, but they had us sit there for so long. I appreciate their optimism, I really do, but the statistics don’t lie. There should be a cut-off time, like if you’re waiting for thirty minutes and the problem still isn’t fixed, you should be able to get off the plane and find a comfortable seat in the terminal for the no doubt six hour wait that will follow. But whatever! No trouble, really. I mean I’m either sitting in Toronto or sitting on a thirteen hour flight, and I’m not exactly eager to be trapped in the upper limits of the troposphere.

Third: Guys, he literally said “We just can’t do it.” We just can’t do it? Can’t you flower up the language a little bit before coming over the intercom and spewing unfiltered depression at us like that? “It’s just not gonna happen, folks. I wish things had been different.” That just tickled me, I dunno.

But as I am typing this in Haneda airport, I certainly made it to Japan. I did miss my connecting flight to Osaka last night, but thanks to my mother’s valiant efforts, I was able to stay in a rather nice hotel. My head hit the pillow and I soaked up that five hours like nobody’s business, folks.

One thing Air Canada did really well was make up for the delay in the flight. Having flown Southwest or whatever rinky-dink airline flies out of Ithaca airport, it was absolutely unexpected when I got help finding a new flight and a paid taxi to my hotel by the good folks at Air Canada. Granted, I had to wait in line for an hour and a half to get this done, but still. It was either that or have no flight at all, right?

So I spent a lot of time in the air and at airports, but I was able to find a nice bed at the end of it. And here I sit, enjoying the incredibly fruits of Japanese vending machines while listening to David Bowie and waiting to head over to Osaka. Things are good, man.

Oh, I also saw Mt. Fuji on the drive back to the airport. I had seen it on my trip to Nagoya on the bullet train, but man. It really is one of those things that takes your breath away. The shuttle driver and I were the only ones on the bus, and we started chatting after he saw how awestruck I was. One thing that never gets old being in Japan is the way people react when you use the language competently. I find people are always more willing to tell jokes when they know you’ll understand them.

See ya tomorrow!

POST-SCRIPT: Happy New Year, by the way! Music and photos to follow. Internet’s a little dodgy for uploadin’ right now.

This blog was originally meant to be for a story that I had brewing in my mind for months, but as I lay here listening to soundtrack music midway through packing for my four-month trip to Japan, I find myself thinking, “To hell with the story, you were probably never going to write it anyway.” That’s my problem; I get tons of ideas for stories and then never sit down to formulate them. So I figure this blog will be revamped into a journal of sorts to catalog my adventures in 2015.

In that way, you could call this a written answer to an ill-conceived New Year’s Resolution. You know, “I will write at least a little bit every day of the New Year,” or what have you. Further, you could call this a futile attempt at bettering myself like so many previous ill-conceived New Year’s Resolutions. And yet, I’m filled with a (perhaps also ill-conceived) confidence, because 2014 was a year in which I stuck to many of my resolutions. Not New Year’s ones, mind you, but ones that sprung from my first trip to Japan back in May

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There’s no denying that trip changed my life for the better. It confirmed for me that studying Japanese was and continues to be the right decision for me, and that my dream to one day teach English there isn’t just a fool’s hope. Japan is where I want to be, and through my own efforts I was able to get there. I wrote the research grant, got the money, flew 13 hours with a bunch of Canadians and spent a month travelling alone in a new place. If 15 year old Dan could have seen 21 year old Dan for that month, things would have seemed a hell of a lot brighter for him. I achieved my dream, and in less than six hours, I’ll be going back to Japan to further explore that dream. I’m nervous, I’m scared, and goddammit, I’m excited.

Why so excited? My trip to Japan has absolutely shaped my life in the past six months. I’ve completely changed my diet and established an entirely new lifestyle for myself. I’ve lost 50 pounds and can wear medium-sized shirts for the first time in my life. Problems stemming from my anxiety or depression that would have taken my younger self weeks to change or tackle now take days or even hours, and I have maintained my great friendships such that they are stronger than they have ever been. I am a new man because of my trip to Japan. I am a new man, and what’s more important, I am becoming the man I have always hoped I would become.

So if I can continue with weight loss, come to terms with my mental issues, and lead a fulfilling social life, I feel that I can keep a promise to myself about writing in a blog every day. This was all a bit of a wordy preamble, but it is 1:30 in the morning and I am currently a pretty intense cocktail of emotion. In times like these, I feel like writing, and so I think I’ll continue to do just that.

I mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs that 15 year old Dan would be absolutely shocked and terrified at the thought of leaving the country for four months. I mean there would certainly be a twinge of jealousy, because even 15 year old Dan knew he someday wanted to go to Japan, but in the state he was in he was lucky if he went to school in the morning. I was so chained to my anxiety and depression back then that I could hardly conceive of moving forward in any meaningful direction. It was too frightening to think ahead, because I assumed that everything that could possibly go wrong would due to the great cosmic scales being tipped in the other guy’s favor. I didn’t even know who the other guy was, but I knew he was doin’ better than I was. And I assumed he was, if not fit, certainly able to leave the house without a hooded sweatshirt and still feel comfortable. The times, they have a-changed.

Something to know about me, I put a great deal of stock in quotes from video games, movies, books, etc. In fact in the past few years, I’ve sort of made it my business to construct an entire philosophy from different quotes. One such quote that comes to mind tonight as I’m thinking of how 15 year old Dan would have reacted to this trip is one from the most recent Kingdom Hearts game, “Dream Drop Distance.” It’s kitschy, maybe even lame, but I’ll be damned if quotes like these don’t shape my attitude and make me feel like anything is possible in my own life:

“The trees of the forest, and the petals on the wind. There are hearts around us everywhere we look, and it does not take super human powers to see them. Surely, we remember as children the way our hearts made everything seem so shiny and perfect. Sora has a heart like that: uncorrupted. Willing to see the good before the bad.”

This trip excites me, and it scares me. It feels like a huge step into the reality I hope to see for myself, and while the voice of 15 year old Dan still rattles around my head from time to time, I’m determined to see the good before the bad.

First post, little bit rocky. Let’s hope I can be more coherent for the next one. G’night, and see you tomorrow.

POST-SCRIPT: Gonna add a picture everyday to document not only the trip, but continued weight loss. Indulge me, if’n you would. Also, let’s get whatever song I’m listenin’ to up there as well.