Leave it to Scifi Club to bend time and space and make a single day last for over 30 hours! We departed the CCHS Cafeteria, bleary-eyed but enthusiastic, at 5:20 AM on Monday the 9th…and after one bus, followed by a plane, followed by another plane, followed by another bus, followed by another plane, followed by a car ride, followed (we hope) by a night of sleep at last, we are safely under the care of our host families in our sister-city of Nanae, Japan.
In some airport, somewhere, after some unspecified number of hours…
Our Japan Airlines flights were smooth and problem-free, if you don’t count the overbooking on the Boston to Chicago leg that required four noble passengers to give up their seats (with only vouchers and several hundred dollar compensations to comfort them!) in order to get ALMOST all of us on board. Chaperone Mrs. Cicchetti had to sacrifice herself like the brave Samurai she is, but managed to meet with with us at O’hare so we could indeed all reach Japan together. Yoku dekimashita, Cicchetti-sensei!
In Japan at last! Are we surprised to find anime characters on the customs banner?
After all those hours on a plane, we were quite relieved to meet up with our special “saloon bus” that took us across Tokyo from the Narita to Haneda airports. The name on the side of the bus? Space Cruiser…would we travel any other way?
The students observed so many things just from their bus ride, from the “driving on the opposite side of the road” to the predominance of square-shaped automobiles on the highway to the eerily perfect alignment of Japanese roadside spotlights. We passed Tokyo Disney, the space needle (competing with one in Dubai for world’s tallest tower), the friendship bridge, and other classic Tokyo skyline sights. Oh, and did I mention we also happened to arrive in Tokyo at the peak of cherry-blossom time!
First drink of “Calpis” in Japan!
After one last plane flight, we arrived in our sister-city, to a heroes’ welcome – every last host family, along with teachers from the high school and town officials, had come out to welcome us…with mascots, no less!
In grand ceremonial fashion, each student was paired with his or her host family, to thunderous applause…and then off, presumably, to a good meal and a warm bed!
Our first full day in Japan is about to begin!
– Dr. N.
CCHS Scifi Club goes to Japan 2012 