As I deplaned from my transpacific flight, I heard my name being paged over the public address system at the Narita International Airport which is located on the outskirts of Tokyo. My flight had been delayed for more than two hours coming in from Honolulu so I expected that the travel agents in charge of our tour group would be more than a little anxious.
I was supposed to meet up with a larger group at the airport upon arrival so I was probably holding them up. I hoped that they were still waiting for me and found the announcement to be somewhat assuring. At least they hadn't forgotten about me.
We were supposed to be assembling in the South Wing of the terminal, where a lot of the international flights come through. The travel agency was supposed to have arranged for a lounge or a meeting room for all of us to assemble in before going through customs and immigration as a group.
And sure enough, there was a sign with the name of the travel agency and what looked like several very anxious travel agents who were trying to be on the lookout for all of the delayed arrivals like me. Coming in on different flights, we were all assembling at Narita before going north to Sapporo to take in its annual Snow Festival, as well as doing some general sight seeing.
I approached one of the agents, a very good looking, mid to late twenty's looking Japanese woman, and introduced myself, "Konbanwa (hello), namae wa Sekimura Peter desu (my name is Peter Sekimura)." In many Asian countries, a person's surname is mentioned first.
That threw the travel agent off balance as at first glance I don't look Asian at all. My slightly almond shaped black eyes and black hair are the only features that set me apart from the typical Caucasian male. I'm a third generation product of a Japanese father and a Scandinavian mother. Born and raised in Honolulu, I am a little ignorant of Japan and things Asian. But my father's mother, whom we all called "obaachan" or grandmother in Japanese, had lived with us for most of my life. From the old country, she had taught me a few rudimentary words and phrases that I still remember to this day. And I had visited the country with my parents over the years, so I used what I knew.
The agent turned to face me and I felt a momentary warmth flush quickly through my body. But in an instant it was gone. I was bewildered by what happened. I didn't know what to make of it however was spared from embarrassing myself as the travel agent then smiled and blushed in her embarrassment at being surprised by my non-Japanese appearance. She quickly recovered and scanned her list of passengers before finding my name and checked it off.
"Sekimura-san, ogenki desuka (Mr. Sekimura, how are you)?" she asked.
"Gomenasai, (excuse me) I don't really speak much Japanese." I laughed. Which caused her to laugh as well.
"Sorry, you surprise me. My name Shonan Sayuri. I am travel guide for group."
"Nice to meet you. And, oh yes, I am fine, genki desu."
That caused Sayuri to laugh, "So you understand and speak Japanese?"
"Yes, but I understand very little; sukoshi wakaremasu."
After that quick introduction, I was escorted to the meeting room where another six passengers were waiting. We were invited to use the rest room and help ourselves to beverages and snacks that were available while we waited for the balance of our group to arrive.
Our group numbered eighteen people after another half hour. Four families with children and three singles including myself. There was supposed to be around fifty of us in total. We came from the western part of the US and we tried to introduce ourselves to each other.
We were all provided prior to our flight, with a passenger list along with our itineraries so we had the names of the people who were supposed to be in our group. I tried to meet all of the passengers in order to match faces with names. Almost impossible to remember the first time around.
There were the Walters and the Jordans from Los Angeles. And the Kramers and the two other singles, Steve Winfield and Jimmy Sommer, from Portland. And the Talbots from Seattle. The Talbots had an older daughter with them that was the living definition of 'eye candy' and she knew it.
She must have been in her early to mid twenty's and could have been featured in a Playboy or Penthouse magazine spread. She was gorgeous. Not sleazy. Not cheap looking at all. She just oozed sex appeal!
The two guys from Portland didn't have a chance. In fact, they were in deep 'flirt' when I tried to introduce myself to them. I might have taken up the chase myself but she was a little too young for me. Besides, she had Winfield and Sommer drooling all over her already.
Actually, it turned out to be kind of hilarious to watch Winfield and Sommer. As I introduced myself, Sommer made it quite clear with his body language and facial expressions that any advances in the Talbot girl's direction would not be appreciated. And Winfield wasn't any better.
It was going to be interesting to watch the competition for her affections between Winfield and Sommer. However that was tempered somewhat by the presence of Mr. Talbot; a really imposing looking sort of guy. He could have been Hulk Hogan's brother with his build and demeanor. And, he had his eye on the two guys and his daughter.
After about an hour, it was becoming apparent that no one else would be arriving that day. We later found out that the remaining parties were all coming out of Minneapolis and Chicago, and that both airports had been snowed in. It was probably that same snow storm that had caused my plane to arrive in Honolulu late and its subsequent late departure for Narita. Well, it was early February so being snowed in was just their bad luck. It couldn't have been helped.
Sayuri came in to let us know that the rest of our travel group would be coming later, and that we would be leaving in a few minutes to go through customs. Other travel agents working with her had already identified our bags and were standing by to accompany us through customs and immigration. Now this was service! The last time I had to go through customs and immigration with a tour group was on a trip to Heathrow. And it had been every man for himself.
They must have had some sort of pull with the customs and immigration people as we all went through without so much as a cursory glance at our forms before the inevitable stamps were placed in our passports. That had to have been the quickest that I have ever gotten through customs and immigration. I think it took our entire group of eighteen people less than fifteen minutes to be processed.
Before we knew it, we were outside of the terminal loading onto a large and very comfortable coach bus. And because we were a small group, each of us could have had a window seat if we wanted it.
As they were buttoning up the bus, Sayuri got on and took hold of the PA system microphone.
"Excuse please. We go hotel now. Rest of group delayed because bad weather. We hope they arrive soon, but now we go hotel so you may rest." And with that said, the bus left the terminal and made its way towards Tokyo's city center.
We were staying at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. Located in the Shinjuku district in the heart of Tokyo, this 150 room hotel is a showcase property. Located in the Shinjuku Park Tower, the hotel itself occupied the top seventy five percent of the building. An interesting layout with its lobby located on the 41st floor, rooms started on the 14th floor and run all the way up to the 51st floor; the top floor of the hotel.
The view from the top is outstanding as one can see virtually all of Tokyo and parts of Yokohama, and all the way to Mt. Fuji in the distance. A spectacular hotel complete with several restaurants, gym, swimming pool, lounges, and more. It was billed as a four star hotel and it certainly lived up to its rating.
It must have taken us all of two hours to drive to the hotel from Narita Airport. Quite a long time however the hotel was conveniently located very close to the Shinjuku Train Station; a major hub of the railway system for the area. We would be catching the bullet train, the Shinkansen, for most of the trip up to Sapporo from Shinjuku Station the next morning. Shinjuku was also in the heart of Tokyo's business and government district so there were a lot of shops and restaurants in the immediate area.
Winfield and Sommer were both sitting with the Talbot girl and she was just eating up all of the attention that she was getting. All three looked as if they were about the same age. Their hormones must have been in high gear the entire ride in. She in full-on flirt mode, and they in a horn-dog frame of mind.
I probably would have been doing the same if I were their age, however having passed the big '3-0' more than a couple of years ago, I seemed to have mellowed a bit and no longer let my small head think for my big head; ......that is, I try to not let it ..... well, not too often ..... if you know what I mean.
Sayuri spent most of the drive time from the airport letting us know more about the various areas of the city as we passed through them. We finally pulled into the ground floor reception area of the hotel around four in the afternoon. Although it had been a long ride in, the comfort of the bus and Sayuri's monologue had kept us entertained and in good spirits.
As we got off the bus, the bell boys were busy off-loading our bags onto their luggage carts. Sayuri herded all of us together and asked that we proceed to the elevators and go to the 41st floor. I think we made it in four elevator cars. It was quite a trip up to the lobby, with my ears popping once or twice as we ascended.
As we got off the elevator, we were greeted by a concierge who escorted us to a series of sit down desks. Yes! Sit down so we wouldn't have to stand up the entire time! What a delight. I was impressed.
Sayuri arrived in the lobby with the final group and waited as we all checked in before checking in herself.
