We touched down in Japan on Sunday, August 14 around 3 pm – or 15:00 Japan time. I have to get used to military time now that I’m here. It was very smooth! Except that Avalon isn’t feeling well. I think she ate too much candy because her stomach hurts. She ate a lot of the candy the Altshulers sent along with us, plus her own bonanza from the Balboa Candy store. Kansai Airport was very empty. We went straight through immigration and got our Japanese residence cards. By the time we reached the luggage carousel they had already taken our 9 large and heavy bags off the carousel for us. While we were getting our residence cards, a young man came by with a sign that said United Airlines 35 and asked if that was us. Then he told us our luggage was at number 4. When we got to baggage, there he was guarding over our bags. Amazing. Then we took the cats over to the animal quarantine counter where another young man already had our paperwork laid out on the counter and he was waiting for us. He checked it over and asked me to sign some documents. He checked the cats microchips and *phew* he was able to read them. Then he gave me a form to give to customs and sent us on our way. It was so simple and easy at the airport and all of the advance headaches of getting these cats to Japan was forgotten in the joy of a 20-minute process.
Our luggage is now loaded on about 4 push carts and we’re wandering around. The plan is to take the Kansai Airport Bus to the other local airport, Itami Osaka Airport, about an hour away, in order to meet Andrew the owner of the house where we will live. He is planning to meet us at Itami. A man named Art is also coming to meet us. Art’s family goes to the Osaka International School and he is from Illinois. John wants to check into the idea that maybe we can get a few taxis and head straight to the house in Minoh. So we talk to the taxi drivers but they said we cannot get a large taxi because they are reservation only. It is because not only is it Sunday but also we’re in the middle of the national Obon holiday. Darn! I forgot about Obon. Everyone travels home during this time to visit family and honor ancestors.
Andrew is there to meet us right as scheduled. But we don’t see Art and I bet he didn’t get my message. Andrew tried to call him several times but couldn’t reach him. We ended up taking Andrew’s car plus another taxi to the house. I think we arrived around 9 pm (21:00!).
Note: Art sent me the wrong phone number. His fingers texted me the wrong number and he didn’t notice till it was too late! He said he actually came to the airport to meet us and but we were not able to connect with him. Ah, too bad.
Our first day here is Monday, August 15. Unfortunately it looks like Avalon has a full blown cold. Her throat hurts and she has a fever. And she doesn’t like her bed! Hmmm. She is not a happy camper this morning. Pickles is also angry with us. The cats were amazing travelers. John was worried about pee and poop during the trip but Val was right, they didn’t do a thing. During the whole journey Maneki was curious and wanted out of his carrier, but Pickles just wanted to crawl in a corner and be left alone. He didn’t want to eat much either. I think he was really angry about the leash that we put on them in order to walk through the metal detectors. The TSA man at John Wayne Airport said he had cat allergies so we stayed away from him. But the TSA lady (who discovered we had accidentally packed some no-no’s in our carry on and threw them away) loved cats and she proceeded to tell the kids all about tabby cats.
Now that we are at the house Pickles is hiding and won’t come out. I think he spent last night hiding under the bed. John has been calling his name all morning and waking everyone up.
Now I can see our new neighborhood. Very compact houses. And there appears to be some water nearby. Not sure if that’s irrigation or a canal or what. (It is irrigation… for the little squares of rice paddies all around us!) The 4 bedrooms are very small. We kind of assigned Avalon the smallest bedroom and I think she doesn’t like that. All of the bedrooms have access to a small balcony outside except hers. And her bed is a raised bed that has steps up to it and bed rails. She says it’s like sleeping in a box. We’ll have to spruce that up with some stuffed toys or something.
I got up several times during the night so come morning I was exhausted. Now it’s 9am and I’m up for good. It is 5pm (17:00) on Sunday evening in Newport Beach. Only Avalon and I are in the house. I guess the boys all went for an exploratory walk and presumably to bring something back to eat. Andrew, our landlord and new friend, said he was coming back to the house around 10 or 11 today. His stuff is still everywhere! It’s hard to see the the weeds from the trees (is that a saying?) in this house between our stuff and his stuff everywhere.
The boys are back from their morning walk. It sounded like a hilarious adventure. I’m turning this over to Halyard for the recap.
(Halyard)
So we were walking to this restaurant, right? We get there, and everything is in Japanese. Duh. There’s this automated machine in the corner, which we find out is used to order food, and, being the linguistics stud my dad is, he takes charge of ordering. We hit most of the right buttons, and there’s a big red one with all Japanese on it, and thinking it’s the button to order, my dad presses it. Funny thing about big red buttons, they usually don’t end up doing what you want them to do. He thinks that the fact that everything erases means that the order has been placed and we just have to pay. I’d like to point out that I was the one that figured out that he erased our entire order. So he goes and puts 1,500 yen into the machine and presses this huge green button, thinking that it’ll do what he wants. Green buttons usually have a reliable reputation, but by now we (he) should have learned pressing random buttons doesn’t work. Change flies out of the machine, and we learn by experience that my dad just got 1,500 yen in change out of the machine we (he) still haven’t figured out how to use. There’s a guy standing by the cash register and my dad calls to him for help, using a mix of english and what I think was supposed to be Japanese, but sounded more like something you’d hear in a Dr. Seuss book. The guy (surprisingly) understands what he’s saying, and walks over to help, and lo and behold, there’s a huge button with ENGLISH written on it, right above what my dad was looking at.
(Back to me)
So that was the breakfast adventure. Halyard came back mortified by his view of his Dad’s Japanese ineptitude. Avalon still isn’t feeling well so she’s spending the day in bed. Andrew is taking us around in his car while Avalon stays home with his wife who is still packing up the house. We went to see where the bike shop is, then to OIS – Osaka International School – where the kids will go to school. Then we ate lunch and stopped at a store for some cat supplies.
I am exhausted! But now we are talking with a Japanese insurance man about the options for the car. We had planned to buy the car from Andrew and drive it for a year and then sell it before we leave. But now Andrew says we can pay the extra $2500 for the “shaken” (pronounced SHA-ken) and he will take the car back when the year is over. Shaken is an extended warranty that can be purchased when the regular warranty on a car expires. Andrew says cars have a greatly diminished resale value with no shaken. This also means the insurance can remain in his name and we just get added to his policy. This seems the best option for us and it means we are basically leasing the car from Andrew rather than buying it. The only catch: We have to promise not to get into an accident in the car or his insurance rates will skyrocket!
I want to take a nap but the Biagi’s are arriving soon. I fell asleep on the couch until they arrived. Yay! Friends from Davis Magnet School! Masako Biagi is originally from Osaka and she comes here every summer with her son Christopher. This time her husband Michael came, too. They live in Costa Mesa not far from us. So exciting to have Christopher here to hang out with the boys. Everyone but Avalon, my sleeping princess, and I, went out for dinner and a walk. They also went to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. Christopher is having a sleepover here tonight. Kaiyo is super excited to have a friend over. 🙂
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