Geo showed up early and drove me to the airport. Got to EWR more than two hours before my flight and since I had done the whole electronic check in on the web the night before, there was no delay in checking my bag. I grabbed some breakfast from one of the many places in the Continental terminal and sat by the window to watch the ground crews ready the huge Boeing 777 for the long trip.
After about an hour or so, boarding began and after I made call to Robyn and my mom, we were off. The flight was fully booked, so I was sitting next to someone. I’m very glad I made the choice of an aisle seat as I needed to get up a few times for bathroom breaks and to walk around and stretch my legs over the course of the long flight. Luckily, there are plenty of entertainment options available to passengers on the 777, so I was never really bored. The last couple of hours dragged by because my ass felt like a lead sheet by this time.
We landed in Narita on time and were greeted with low visibility and rain. After disembarking, all the passengers were funneled through immigration, then baggage claim and finally customs. I changed the majority of my dollars to yen and I was off to find a phone to call Robyn and let her know I had arrived safely. I was glad to find that the MoshiMoshi card that Joe had given me still had a few minutes available and was easy to use from any of the public airport phones. After speaking with a sleepy Robyn, I lugged my stuff downstairs to the transportation area of the airport.
I had printed out Darren Horvath’s directions to get from Narita to Noda-shi, but there was some kind of issue with the local trains from Narita airport to Narita station so I ended up getting on the wrong train at first. One stop up, then one back to where I was and some very confused non-English-speaking transit police with the aid of a very nice English-speaking Japanese woman, pointed me in the direction of the right train. At Narita station, it’s a bit of a walk over the JR station to pick up the train from there to Abiko – especially dragging my suitcase, training bag and backpack.
Oh yeah…did I mention that I overpacked?
Hopped on the JR Noda Line train at Narita and relaxed for the ride through the countryside. It’s quite rural in this part of Japan. Lots of rice fields and large farm houses interspersed with the sights of modern Japan – 7-11s, Lawsons and Sports Authority. It would be interesting to spend some time in those small towns. I wish I had taken some photos from the train. It was easy to imagine that this area had seen little change in the last 100 years or so.
After arriving at Abiko, I transferred to one more train to stop at Kashiwa where I met Eric as I was purchasing the ticket for my last hop up to Noda-shi. I had emailed once or twice with Eric per Lauren’s suggestion as we would be arriving on the same day and about the same time. I guess we foreigners stand out in a crowd as Eric just walked up behind me and said “Are you Don?”. We chatted during the train ride from Kashiwa and walked together from the station to the Azusa ryokan. Luckily, Eric had been in Japan late last year, so he knew the route for our short walk.
As we passed one of the small intersections just before the inn, I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Mark O. We chatted for a couple of minutes and made some loose plans to get together over the next few days. I marvelled at what a truly small world we live in as Eric and I continued on to the hotel and checked in. Once we were shown to our rooms, I did a little unpacking and we decided to head out to get some food and groceries for the stay.
The rain had mostly stopped so the walk to Jusco was pleasant. Memories of my last visit surfaced as we walked the familiar road past the now fenced off wooded area adjacent to the Jusco department store. I noticed that a Sports Authority and a Toys R Us were just down the street as well. We first perused the ready made foods and then made a trip to the food court to get some dinner. I had my favorite – gyuudon (shredded beef and onions over rice) while Eric had the katsu curry that he had missed since his last trip. After that, we each purchased some groceries and headed back to the hotel to get ready for Noguchi sensei’s class at 8pm at the Hombu.
Last time I was in Japan, the Hombu Dojo had not yet been built. I was amazed at just how small the building is. Once inside, one can imagine how crowded Souke’s classes must get! More than anything, I was taken with how comfortable the dojo feels. It’s not an austere building with museum pieces hanging from the walls (although some of the yari mounted above the training area do appear to be museum quality), instead there is a feeling of a well used gymnasium where each item is meant to be used. People freely grab training weapons from the walls and piles in each corner of the room as others volunteer to help light the many candles on the kamiza in front of the training area.
Noguchi sensei’s class was a great, somewhat frustrating re-introduction to training in Japan. We must have done 10 or 15 different movements that night. Some were seemingly unrelated, while others were obviously variations on the same theme. I’m glad that I managed to take some notes after returning to my room that night and before falling into a deep sleep.