We
started our long day of travel by meeting at Biola at 10am. Once everyone gathered and we had a
time of prayer, we left for the airport.
Our flight was scheduled for 2pm.
Check-in went very smoothly as we were helped by a supervisor and he
checked us all through himself. We
arrived at our gate by 12:45 and had about an hour to wait for boarding. While we were waiting, Austin was
called by the airlines to come speak with them. Paul went with him and it turns out that they notified
Austin that his seat was broken, and that he was being moved to Business
Class. Score! Or so we thought. When we actually got on the plane, his
business seat turned out to be two seats over. And, the “broken” seat was only because the movie headphone
jack was not working. We had a
good laugh over that one.
Also
while we were waiting, Asst Coach Phil took the opportunity to begin ministry
as he got into a conversation with a Japanese lady sitting next to him (see
pictures). When it came time to
board, the supervisor who had checked us in came and “grabbed” us all and
checked us in first as a group.
That was nice. It also
could have been that we were seated in the back four rows (see video montage).
The
flight was uneventful. The first
meal was either chicken teriyaki with rice, or cod with vegetables. Everyone I saw had the chicken. It was actually very good. Dessert was strawberry ice cream, with
the brand being “Three Twins”.
Three Twins? Not sure how
that works, but that is what it was (see picture). The flight was really long. Activities included the usual movies, cards, writing
testimonies, planning soccer strategy with Phil, and, of course, sleeping (see
pictures). About 2½ hours before
we arrived, the next meal was served.
The hot course was noodles with shrimp, accompanied by vegetables (1
piece of cauliflower, 1 piece of broccoli and 1 tomato), and some fruit and
yogurt (see picture). Not bad.
The
flight landed at 6:12pm, and we didn’t make it through customs until 8pm. We were met at the airport by Pastor
BJ, Kousei & his Mom, and Mr. Mizuno.
Please pray for Mr. Mizuno as he hangs around every year (he plays on
BJ’s 50’s+ team) but has yet to make a decision. We took the bus from the airport to BJ’s church, dropped our
stuff there, went for a ramen dinner, and then off to the sento. For those new to the tour, the sento is
the public bath where people go to bath and relax. There are a series of pools of varying temperature, some
mineral pools, sometimes an electric pool, a cold dip & a sauna. Some of the pools are outside (simply
no roof). There are two sides so
the men’s and women’s sides are segregated (of course). After sento, Paul discussed tomorrow’s
activities on the bus but then sent everyone off to bed.
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