Japan at First Glance.

Run. Jump. Skip. Hop. Roll over. Dodge! Think. Swim. Fly. Fight. Pan-Asianism: Myth. You read one book of Asian cultural mores; you think you’ve read them all. But you’re dead wrong, man. You’re dead wrong. A stone’s throw away is a different country—a different people. You do your part. You watch the instructional Youtube videos to learn the basics. This is easy, man. You’re dead wrong. You take the morning train to Incheon, collar raised, chin high, lips tight. You arrive at the airport with limited sleep and tired eyes. Jump through the hoop. Sit! You present your US passport to a smiling woman who smilingly tells you that you need to consult Immigration. You don’t have the right paperwork. Oh my God, I hope the straight-laced folks at Immigration know a lick of English, you think. You arrive. They don’t. You gesture with your stupid presumptuous American smile. You hand her your passport and pray to God that she can help. Meanwhile, you did your homework. You clicked and typed out all of the right forms. You dotted all of your digital i’s and crossed all of your digital t’s. She looks unenthused. This isn’t working, you think. Eventually, with absent eye-contact, she hands you your validated passport. The next number is called.

This could have happened.

After some immigration hogwash, I walked to my gate, phoned an adieu to a friend or two, and hopped onto the plane to Osaka. Wait, hold on, back to the smiling woman behind the Japan Air counter: Economy class was full; I was now was an honorary suit in business class. Anyway, the plane lands. I miss my train to Namba (a hip part of Osaka, but Osaka is so gigantic that it takes an hour by train to get anywhere). A kind Japanese local helps me navigate my alternate route. I’m running on five hours of sleep and that’s being generous. I get to Namba station and am completely disoriented. This isn’t Korea. You can smell it; you can see it; you can sense it. I am reminded of the huge cleavage between the first and second world. Literally, there are girly mags everywhere here. I have reached Gomorrah. Well, this isn’t exactly true. I did go to a few temples while here. And although I have to give a shout out to Korea for friendliness, Japan takes the architectural cake. The temples in Kyoto are gorgeous. Whelp, Brynn just walked up, I gotta go. Next time I post pictures.