Escaping Narita

April 29

NTS (note to self): Airlines give out life savingly useful items such as circulation cutting polyester socks and blankets but not sanity preserving essentials like TOOTHPASTE or TOOTHBRUSH!! Don't forget to pack for return flight!

At customs, the man didn't like the answer 'Pilgrimage' I gave to the question "What is the reason for your visit to Japan?".
He also didn't like my cell phone number and gruffly told me to change the form - over there.
Luckily I had Chiharu's sister, Naomi's, Tokyo cell phone number.
Upon returning and nervously showing him the altered form, he said cheerfully "Oh - that's nice!" taking his hand away from the holster on his belt to wave me through.

Luckily a lovely bear of a Kiwi guy and his Japanese wife, Sue, helped me navigate the remainder of customs. A GPS tracking device would have been the only other way to escape the Narita warren.
Sue then helped me get a bus into Tokyo.

It was amusing to watch her and the ticket girl talk animatedly for 5 minutes, with much pointing at brochures and 'ahsoing' then, with my vague look of '...and?' Sue would say something like 'Oh - that's ￥500'.
Then at the end of it all, when I had my ticket and platform number, the girl said goodbye (to Sue) in perfect English.

While waiting for the bus, I slipped into the bathroom and had a quick clean-up in the Wheelchair/Mothers toilet. Worked wonders for my state of mind, but I realised that the time it took and the strange noises I made - and lets not forget being a Gaijin with a number one haircut when I finally did come out - weren't going to make me a lot of friends that week.

"You are asked not to use portable phones on the bus as they annoy the neighbours".

Within 5 minutes of leaving the bus depot, I noticed that every second car was called Cedric. Whoever Cedric was, I hoped he was paying a tax for all the smog his name was creating.
I hadn't seen this amount of smog since Paris.

For someone who had the attention span of a jandal, I was ecstatic to find Japan stimulation heaven...