What's the Japlan?

Last December I was minding my business when I received a phone call from American Airlines. I was surprised. I hadn’t flown AA in years. I didn’t even know they still existed. Why would they call me?

“Your miles expire tomorrow.” they said.

“How many miles?” I asked.

“105,000.”

Years ago I signed up for an American Airlines credit card during a promotional period that offered, as a signing bonus, a ludicrous amount of miles. The card was long gone and if I didn’t act fast the miles, roughly two international round trips worth, would also be gone.

“What should I do?" I asked.

“Book a trip…today.”

I got home, put my proverbial finger to the spinning globe, and landed on Japan. Japan seemed like a good place to go. I had never been to Japan. I had a friend in Japan. Japan wasn't the target of a North Korean nuclear missiles strike. Satisfied with my vetting process, I booked my trip and put the whole incident out of my mind.

Four months later I found myself en route to Japan with a six hour layover in Honolulu. I figured this would be enough time to hit the beach, so I wore my bathing soon under my jeans. In retrospect, packing the suit in my backpack would have made for a more comfortable flight.

I was excited for my trip, mostly because I love sushi and feeling tall and I thought I would get plenty of both. I hadn't done much research, opting instead to enter "blind" and see just how skewed my expectations of Japan could be. What was I expecting?

I was expecting large crowds and bright lights - a Times Square on every block. I was expecting subways to employ people whose sole job was to push other people into already packed cars. I was expecting it to be really expensive. I once heard an apple can cost $50. I wonder if a $50 apple tastes any better. I was expecting marvels of technology - vending machines that dispense things I didn’t know could be dispensed - ice cream, pizzas, small pets maybe? Cell phones embedded into people’s ears. I was even expecting technologically advanced crosswalks with diagonal crossing options. Can you imagine how much time a society could save by eliminating the two part intersection cross? Minutes a day could turn into hours a year. A population could save years as a whole and use that time to become technologically superior to their neighbors. This is probably where they found the time to invent pet dispensers.

I wasn't sure what else to expect and that excited me. Surprises are fun and I felt a bit like an explorer. I'm in Japan now and over the next few posts I'll do my best to pass along my thoughts and experiences. If you have any of your own, please share them in the comments section.

Yosh. Gahn-bah-di-mus.