In Okinawa w/ Miyavi - Departure

7:15 am - Departure

By the time I got to my hotel last night, I was no longer nervous. Once I got away from home, it was like cutting the cord. I just had to let go.

I got up this morning at 5am and caught a free bus from my ho

tel to Haneda Airport. It wasn't strictly necessary that I leave so early. However, the warnings about arriving late, written three times in bold, red, boxed letters on my itinerary, had pretty well assured I would be up at the crack of dawn. Sure enough, I was too early to check in at 6 am, so I stood around and observed people. Not long after I arrived, I saw another girl with the same tour papers in her hand. She stood to one side of me and must have s

een the papers in my own hand, for she turned to me right as I turned to her. I think her name was Kato... we talked for a bit in Japanese and English, and it was nice. I hope everyone is so friendly.

We really liked how our plane tickets actually said "MIYAVI" on them. How kickass is that.

15 min. until the plane boards!...

9:55 am - On the Plane

So, one more hour - 45 minutes to be exact - until we land. It seems the fates were smiling on me; I am not alone. I found the one other foreigner on this tour. Rather, we found each other, each of us trying not to be obvious but noticing a fellow non-Asian hustling into line during boarding. Fumbling with our introductions, I think we both sort of sighed a little breath of relief at having more-or-less an instant companion. Her name is Rosie

and she is from Greece. Turns out she heard about this fanclub trip and decided to make a vacation of it, spending 24 days in Japan and seeing an impressive number of Miyavi's lives. I was pretty impressed. Even though I live here in Japan, I cannot imagine planning and executing such a large scale trip on my own.

I am sure it was by design that we ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. I am betting that we will be roomed together too. I am really glad there is exactly one other foreigner. As it is, we are rather a unique pair among a sea of Japanese fans. Previous experience leads me to believe this may very well prove to be a valuable advantage.

Usually I do not like sitting in the middle seats on planes. Who does? However, for this trip, I was actually quite grateful, as it gave me the opportunity to talk to people on both sides of me. Naturally all the people on our tour were booked together in one big group, so we could be sure that the people around us were all 'family'. Keeping this in mind, I had no qualms about opening conversation with the Japanese woman on my right. Her name is Kaori and she is 31. I am sure, when she was approaching her seat and saw the two of us sitting there, her stress level ratcheted up a couple notches. At first I could tell she was really nervous about using her English, having heard Rosie and I speak to one another. I gave her credit for gathering the nerve to ask that first question. Nonetheless, when I replied in Japanese, her relief was quite palpable. I can hardly blame her. The three of us spoke for a while, fortunately staying on easy enough subjects that I could hold up my end in Japanese. I am sure glad of my time spent studying!

The Happy Trio