Do Japonska som cestovala cez Moskvu. Cesta trvala približne 15 a pol hodiny, z čoho som niečo cez 3 hodiny strávila na letisku v Moskve. Prvýkrát som si užila let celkom sama, s patričnou dávkou neistoty. Prekvapilo ma občerstvenie v lietadle, ale i množstvo chorých a pokašliavajúcich cestujúcich. Veľa som toho nenaspala, zato som si ale pozrela rozprávku Rise of the Guardians (vrelo odporúčam všetkým, ktorí ju ešte nevideli), vypočula album Imaginaerum od Nightwish-u, a pozorovala ako vychdázajúce slnko ožaruje Stanovojské horské pásmo, zatiaľ čo na mojich hodinách sa ručička pomaly blížila k polnoci. Posun v čase sme ale nakoniec celkom dobre zvládli :) S napätím som očakávala pohľad na Japonsko z výšky, túžiac zhliadnúť horu Fudži, Japonské ostrovy, Tokio... očakávania však zostali nesplnené. Nad Japonskom sa vznášala nepriepustná prikrývka bielych, nadýchaných mrakov.
Keď sme konečne dorazili na letisko Narita, bolo zhruba pol štvrtej ráno (rozumej 10:30 miestneho času ;)) Prechádzajúc chodbami letiska, kde boli dokorán otvorená okná ma ovalil neskutočne ťažký, horúci a vlhký vzduch. V tom teple potom prišli na rad vybavovačky pre imigrantov, vypĺňanie papierov, získanie rezidenčnej karty a potom hurá po batožinu a nájdenie tých, čo nás prišli vyzdvihnúť. Našťastie sa všetko bez problémov podarilo a kôpka zahraničných študentov sa začala pomaličky spoznávať. Okrem toho som stretla tri Slovenky, ktoré prišli na výlet do Japonska - dievčiny, s ktorými mám pár spoločných známych na Slovensku i v Japonsku. Bolo to príjemné stretnutie, počuť medzi prvými hlasmi v Tokiu práve ľubozvučnú slovenčinu.
Ešte sme nejaký ten čas však museli čakať na letisku a to nás chránilo pred tým vlhkým teplom vonkajšieho sveta. Ale keďže takto to nemohlo pokračovať navždy, museli sme sa zdvihnúť a nasadnúť na čakajúci bus. Prejsť k nemu nám dalo riadne zabrať. Páliace slnko a vlhko, ktoré liezlo pod oblečenie - jeden Angličan to veľmi dobre vystihol slovami: "vzduch nás tu uvarí za živa." Ja by som povedala, že skôr "uparí." Človek sa tam naozaj mohol cítiť ako preparená knedľa :)
V autobuse sa podľa očakávaní spustila klíma - tú Japonci využívajú v zásade nepretžite a chlad vnútorných priestorov veľmi ostro kontrastuje s horúcim vonkajškom. Ideálne na prechladnutie (ako som zistila v priebehu pár dní ;)) Z okna autobusu som mohla sledovať Tokio cestou z Narity k internátu. Spočiatku mi veľmi ani nedochádzalo, že som v Japonsku. Vyzeralo to tam úplne normálne - tráva, stromčeky, kriaky, asfalt, špinavé zábradlie, vyblednuté čiary na vozovke... Len nápisy v znakoch dávali tušiť, že sme vo východnej Ázii. A potom nadšený jasot v autobuse - Disneyland! Poschodové autostrády, budovy poprepájané navzájom a potom konečne príchod na internát. Bolo načase, každý si už určite túžil odpočinúť, no nebolo nám to dopriate. Čakalo nás privítanie a exkurzia po internáte. Až potom sme konečne dostali voľno, mohli sa dať trochu do poriadku a vyraziť na prvý nákup do miestneho supermarketu :)
Takže, aký bol vlastne prvý dojem z Japonska okrem neskutočného horka a vlhkosti? Ten dojem zrejme prebil všetko ostatné. Potom sa k nemu pridružilo aj poznanie, že potraviny sú tu naozaj drahšie než u nás doma a najviac citeľné to je pri ovocí a zelenine. A že sa tu stmieva oveľa skôr. Ďalšie dojmy, pozitívne i negatívne, prišli neskôr... o tom tiež ešte bude reč, nabudúce.
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I traveled to Tokyo through Moscow. The flight took almost 15 hours and a half, with more than 3 hours waiting at Moscow airport. It was my first time to travel alone and certainly first time to go such a long distance. No wonder then that I was full of uncertainty and stressed. I was amazed by the meals being served during the flight and startled by all those sick, coughing people inside. Didn't sleep much, but the time was well spent on watching 'Rise of the Guardians' (a fabulous fairy tale I wholeheartedly recommend to everyone) and listening to 'Imaginaerum" by Nightwish. When my watch was showing almost midnight, I was looking out of the window to see how the morning rising sun hits the Stanovoy Range below us. It was an amazing view which warmed up my soul and relieved me of much of the anguish and sadness I've been feeling. I was hoping to see whole Japan and especially Mt. Fuji from the plane, alas, Japan was covered by a thich whiteish blanket of clouds.
Then we arrived at Narita - my watch said it's 3:30 a.m., but local time has difference of +7 hours. This change of time didn't go unnoticed, but neither did I suffer from jetlag. One good sleep the following night was enough of a reset to me :) And there it hit me - the heavy, hot and damp air coming through the open windows. It was almost unbearable. With this strange feeling, crawling up on my skin, I moved to fill all the necessary papers, get my resident card and luggage. All was done without any problems and soon I met up with other foreign students waiting there in the meeting room. (I also met three girls from Slovakia at the airport. It was a very pleasant meeting and to hear Slovak language among the first few voices heard in Tokyo made me smile :))
We had to wait some time and then the bus came to pick us and take us to the dormitories. Airport was cool, but it couldn't continue like that forever. We had to move out and the hot humidity embraced us. One Englishman summed it up quite well: "The air is gonna boil us alive." I would say it was going to steam us.
When we set on the road, the bus started air cooling - air condition seems to be used quite frequently and it was set on a pretty low temperature, in comparison to the hottness outside. Just a perfect combination to catch a cold (as I was to find out soon). I was looking out of the window and still didn't realize I'm in Japan - I could see the grass, bushes, trees, dirty railing, faded lines on the road... quite way away from the "perfectness of Japan". Just the characters written on cars which were passing us were giving a sign that we are in the Far East. Suddenly there were shouts of excitement in the bus - we passed by the Disneyland! Now this was Tokyo - highways in several stories, high buildings connected together by bridges, lots and lots of buildings close to each other. Urbanization in its fullest. And then, finally, the dorms. Everybody was tired and longed for rest, but it was still far away from us. We were welcomed by our Residential Assistents, who checked us in, gave us keys and showed us around the dorms. Only then were we finally allowed to rest and take our time into our own hands; meaning, take a look inside the nearest supermarkets.
Then what was my first impression of Japan? The strongest and all overshadowing feeling came from the high humidity and amazingly hot air of the mid September. In the evening I also realized that the prices of food, especially vegetable and fruits, is much much higher than back at home. And also that the sun is going down much more earlier. Later, there came many more impressions, both positive and negative... but we will speak of them later. For this is where the first impression ends.
Stanovoy Range (?)
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