Chaos as I say Sayonara Japan

I wrote this piece as I was on transit to Nairobi from Japan. I had forgotten about it till today. It has brought back alot of memories of what happened between Japan and Nairobi.


On April 23, 2009, the moment that I knew was going to happen but wasnt really prepared for actually happened.I knew that time would come when I said bye to Okinawa. I cant believe I crossed that sayonara bridge and there were lots of tears involved. I am surely going to miss everyone.. Each one in their own special way was a star. They contributed something to my life. I am eternally grateful to each person I met in Okinawa.

My flight to Tokyo passed in a daze because part of me wasn’t believing that it had actually happened.
Now as I seat in a black chair in Schipol airport waiting for the final flight to connect, I believe
that I actually left. What has been most exciting…well it has to be the luggage fiasco at Narita airport in Japan! One of my travel mates had excess luggage. The Japanese ladies at the counter got firm on her and requested that she off loads it! It wasn’t a pretty sight. After what seemed like hours of intense discussion, we removed the excess luggage and shared the excess luggage amongst the three of us and off we went. That problem was solved.

So we head to Sakura lounge...a VIP lounge for Japanese in transit. We had some refreshments in a hurry and went to check in. After check in, I realise that I had left my beautiful army camouflaged bag (hand luggage) in the lounge. You should have seen me running back like a mad woman! I was glad that I remembered when I did- before I entered the plane! As I was passing the ladies at the check in counter…looking like Usain Bolt’s fiercest competitor, one of them stopped me. I explained and she sent one of her colleagues to bring the luggage. She told me to go and sit…as I entered the plane, the door was closed!
After 3 minutes of not hearing a thing from the hostesses and yet the plane was beginning to move to the runway, I begun to panic. I then called on another hostess and told her my plight. She left immediately with a promise to do whatever she could.

When she returned after what seemed like eternity, she informed me amidst apologies, that the luggage wasn’t on board. After she said that, all I could her was “ Sunimasen, blah,blah, blah…sunimasen..blah, blah …sunimasen”. It wasn’t her fault at all but I wasn’t interested in any other explanations or options.

All I kept thinking about was beautiful bag! Then a quick thought went to its contents! That’s when I bolted.” Oh gosh, all my connecting flights’ tickets are in that bag”. This hit me like a lightning bolt as fear gripped me like I had never known before. Luckily enough when I checked my laptop bag, there lay all my tickets!

Then the other thoughts came in Oh my bag…and its contents! “will I ever see it again” on part of me was asking…while another consoled me that since the Japanese are very organised and efficient people, they would have it delivered to me in no time. But still I couldn’t help but feel “Oh why me”!

The Japanese man seated next to me on hearing the hostess’ reply got concerned. He promised to follow up with her after we had taken off so that she through her captain can contact the ground staff and make sure that the bag is sent to me!

The flight took off with me feeling so rotten! I tried to flip through the in flight magazine but I wasn’t reading nor seeing anything! The green army bag just kept popping in all the pages!!

Ok, to cut the long story short, there is a happy ending to this. 15 minutes after take off, the air hostess I had talked to, came carrying my beautiful green bag! A calm breeze rushed through me. I am glad that my trip from Japan turned out this beautifully.
Well what do you know, the Japanese are indeed a very efficient lot! People who go the extra mile just to make something happen. Everyone does their work with such passion that its overwhelming...oh let me not start! That’s a story for another day and forum.