My first introduction to international travel happened in August 2010. I was on a flight en route to the Republic of Korea. I departed from Raleigh, NC and had connections in Atlanta, New York and Seattle. By the time I landed in Tokyo, I had one last leg to my journey, but was more than happy to stay in Tokyo for a bit.
At this point in time I had been traveling for approximately 18 hours. This would be my first foreign country, I had never traveled internationally prior to this. I was not familiar with the language, I had no idea where to go and not a clue what to expect.
I bought all of my tickets from an online website. Since I had no experience with this type of situation, I didn't know if I would be able to change my original travel plans. I walked up to the counter of the airline I used, told them my intention and they changed my ticket right then and there. I gave myself about a week to explore.
At this point in time it was about 8-9pm. I went through customs and got my Visa stamp. In my mind, I imagined walking out of the airport into a world of neon lights and girls dressed in Manga and Lolita outfits. That assumption couldn't be further from the truth, although I would have been perfectly happy with that.
I wasn't nervous in the least, just very confused. Telling someone you want to visit Tokyo is like saying you want to visit New York City. Well...what part? Are you going to Midtown? The Village? I went to a counter near the taxi stands to grab a map. Nothing was distinct and there was no clear indication of where I should go. I wanted to see everything in the movies, everything you see on TV and what we as foreigners think of when we hear the word Tokyo.
The lady at the counter suggested I go to Shinjuku. I told her downtown. From my experience, everything downtown is better than uptown - and usually cheaper. So I bought a ticket for a bus and off I went. The trip from the airport to Shinjuku was roughly 1 hour. It arrived at the drop off point, which was a hotel I reserved at the airport.
I was completely exhausted. I was awake for about 20-22 hours now, but there was no way I was going to sleep. I am in Tokyo, this is supposed to be exciting. How could I possibly sleep, at the very least I need to go outside and just walk around, see what's happening. I dropped off my bags, I took a quick shower and changed then I left the hotel.
At this point in time is when I realized I had been lied to. News articles and other sources always talked about how English was the most popular language in the world. That it is practically spoken everywhere. I distinctly remember reading articles that said China...Japan etc. all taught English as a second language. Then again in America, Spanish is taught as a second language. How many people habla espanol? Exactly.
All I wanted to do was eat. I lived the entire day off of airport/airline food and wasn't all that happy. I started walking down the street and everything was lit up. It's late at night but people are still moving around and I felt at home. However, everywhere I went I couldn't find a single person who spoke English. I finally got desperate and went to McDonalds. I couldn't even order from there. I was completely down, but I wasn't out.
I walked back to my hotel and broke open my laptop. I started writing Japanese phrases down in my notebook. "May I have ____?", "How much for ____?" and similar phrases. Then I made another list of items that I would need. Water, chicken, rice etc.
I finally got food. I made it back to my hotel. I passed out for a solid night of sleep.
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