D-Day is here!

We woke up on Friday morning and all we have done is fly across the Pacific with very little time wasted and here we sit in Tokyo's Narita Airport having just got off the plane and it is Saturday afternoon.  We have been cheated out of a day!

So what is the feeling in Narita? Did you expect mobs of panic-stricken ex-pats and saddened Japanese nationals crowding the departure areas? Were the baggage handlers wearing nuke suits? Have I been offered $100,000 for my tickets to Hong Kong by people desperate to get out of the country? No, no and no, the feeling is very much business-as-usual, professional, kind and considerate Japanese people going about their business as if Anderson Cooper didn't exist.

Backing up a bit, we had an uneventful Air Canada flight to Vancouver from Calgary and a long (10+ hour), albeit pleasant Japan Airlines flight from Vancouver to Tokyo. We are now sitting in a JAL lounge waiting for the connection through to Hong Kong. The lounge here is 20 times bigger than the one in Vancouver and they are serving French wines and numerous Japanese delicacies that are even new to me and I considered myself somewhat familiar with the cuisine.  Don't tell Linda but there is Sake in my glass, not water. Domo!

Unfortunately we are not going to experience Japan outside of the airport but I have seen enough to want to come back to this fascinating country. The people are wonderful, the country looks very intriguing and the food is very appealing to me. Here are some other observations:

1. I have never seen so many golf courses flying into any city anywhere else in the world! Furthermore, these golf courses look spectacular. They look challenging with perfectly groomed grounds. We must have passed over thirty on our approach.
2. There is nothing wild about Japan. the countryside is groomed just like the golf courses. I saw several woodlots where the evergreens were pruned up several feet so the grass could grow green underneath.
3. There is no rusting machinery in any of the farmyards.
4. In the airport, the mens room had the coolest urinals I have ever seen and the hand dryers were space-age blowers that looked like they were activated by lasers.

That's it for now. Shortly we will be saying so long to Japan and if I am not to tired I will write something when we check into the Four Seasons in Hong Kong.