Rice paddies! Everywhere!

So I made it to Japan! Yaaaaay! The flight was... interesting. As if to mock the previous, mini plane that we went on, the plane to Japan was enooooormous.

This is the mini-plane, btw. Look, isn't it cute? And we got off on the ground!

Why don't I have a picture of the big plane? ;-;

There were two levels! The business section and the pauper section even boarded from different doors. And then there was our seating. We got right in the middle of the middle of the plane, I think. In front of us was a super touchy-feely couple that kept mackin' on each other throughout the flight. And then, dear god, there was the pair behind us. Two small children, couldn't be more than 4 or 5 years old. They would off and on start screaming and hollering and crying and blabbering while they kicked the backs of our seats. If not for the tantrum-type stomping, one could almost pretend it was a massage chair... almost.

But anyway, that's not what I'm here to talk about! Japan! JAPAN. I'm in JAPAN.

The Japanese airport was kinda fun haha. There were those moving walkways but for the tiniest of distances. We were like "Is that even worth going on?" But we went on it 'cuz it reminded me of a speed boost strip in MarioKart, LOL. Also, the restrooms are so clever! Haha, I went to the bathroom, and inside the stall, there was a little seat on the wall with leg holes so that women could put their baby there while they used the toilet. I never thought of that! If it didn't seem illegal in some way, I would've taken a pic... XD. Speaking of restrooms, the restroom sign pictures (you kno, the stick figure couple) are more... shapely than the ones in the U.S. The woman has a more defined waist, and the man has broader shoulders.

They seem, overall, a more attractive couple than the American ones. Look, they even have a nurse to help take care of their elderly grandparents and their infant child. Just a big, happy family.

I don't think it's completely hit me yet that I'm in Japan since I haven't been struggling in mindless terror regarding communication (encountered mostly English-speakers so far). But anyhow. So after we meandered our way to baggage claim and customs, we then went out to find our guides, Junya and Haruka. They were, very helpfully, right outside the exit we happened to pick and were holding a sign with our names on it. Even though they were also unfamiliar with that area, they helped us wonderfully in finding our way to DK House Warabi, by train and then by walking.

Haruka on left, Junya on right. We'll maybe see Junya again since he's also a student working in the lab with us.

Going by train in Japan is so much different than something like metro in DC area. Also, it was during the train ride that I really got to have my first look at Japan. The things I noticed immediately, in chronological order:

1. Escalators here are wider and longer (as in the step, not the whole staircase. Escalatorcase?). It is actually possible, here, to hold your luggage in front of you and there be plenty of space for another person along the side to walk past you. Also, Japanese people are more courteous in this respect in that pretty much everyone follows that unspoken rule. If you're standing still, everyone stay on the left side so that the people walking down will be able to get through on the right. It seems that the good ol' U.S.A. has not managed to make this mind-blowing breakthrough yet as a whole.
2. Rice fields. EVERYWHERE. Ok, maybe not everywhere, but there certainly were a lot of them when we left Narita Airport. The scenery is, expectedly, way different here. Where you would typically see dirt and some unkempt trees behind a who-knows-how-old metal fence in the U.S., here we saw a lot of fields of water with little rice plants poking up in grid-like accuracy. Also, speaking of trees, the trees here are very different too. As someone who likes to look at plants and trees while traveling, this became very apparent, very quickly.
3. My friend and co-international-researcher, Nile, is very tall. She towered over our two guides (one girl, one guy), myself, and a good chunk of everyone else standing in the train. She is tallll.
4. The roofs of buildings here are way different. Sometimes, it would be a somewhat newer looking house with those traditional types of roofing. You know what I mean? The kinda curved tiles? Yea, those ones.

 Roofs! I wanted to take more pics while on the train, but I was informed that it might be a bit rude doing so.

... Is this a lot to read? Haha... but so much I want to say! I guess I'll write about DK House Warabi later. It's been a bit hectic, but I've been having a great time so far! I hope you all aren't exhausted with this blog-writing thing already, haha... Until tomorrow!




Outside my window, I just heard someone really charge up to hawk a loogie and then spit it out with a big splat on the street. Some things aren't so different, no matter what country you go to, I guess haha!