I start out from home at 9am on Monday for LAX. It takes $1.25, 90 minutes, a bus, two trains, and another bus to get to the airport. The Thai airways check-in isn't even open when I arrive. Twenty minutes later they open and I get an emergency aisle seat on the Boeing 747-400 for the flight to Tokyo. I wander around the international terminal at LAX and I've fallen in love with 2 differetnt jpop clone ChiChis before I even get on the plane.
I arrive in Tokyo and give out my telephone number in LA to two people who were friendly and who either live in LA or visit regularly. An hour train ride gets me from Narita airport to the Tokyo station and the Tokyo Station Hotel where I'm to meet with Karl, Kikumi, and Ike.
As I'm waiting for my friends in the hotel room I turn on the television to flip through the channels. I have not been watching for more than 10 minutes when footage of Tsubasa Imai, my favorite jpop star, comes on the screen. I don't know what he is saying but I am as enthused as he is anyway.
I get out for a 30 minute walk before sleep.