Early Impressions

When the flight finally arrived in Osaka International Airport, my first feeling came to be a jet lag-like feeling. Everything seemed unreal and all I could feel was dizziness. The flight landed on a platform above the sea and it almost felt like we were going to crush into the water when landing on it. The staff in the airport were extremely polite and warm-hearted, so were the pick-up staff from Kansai Gaidai.  In my earliest feeling, the most impressive part about Japan is the politeness of everyone. (Usually people who work in the airport do not seem to be that patient, but in Japan they do. )
         The other thing is that the natural view in Japan is so great despite how bad the weather is. I arrived by the end of August, Osaka welcomed us with a wonderfully hot, humid weather and later, a storm. So what really happens was we accidently went out at the night that tsunami arrived and got all wet on our way back to the dorm, not to mention the fact that we hardly know the directions. If these are all not big deals, then one thing that really bothers me was the invisible mosquito, which leaves bites which make all treatments to work ineffectively.

A Bus stop near Kansai Gaidai.

Selling machines in LEON mall (w/ Vladda). Hirakata-shi Station.


     It will take long time before I can convince myself I am really living in Japan, but I am getting this sense by seeing many of these machines. As I do not usually get culture shocks, it should be a benefit for me when trying to view a new culture from a nutural perspective. I am looking forward having a new and serious cognition of Japan, and to see how is it different from what we used to think about Japan.