Sunday March 13th

So on Sunday morning I packed up my last few bits and said goodbye to Kyoko (the house manager) at Hotel Fujimi..  Strange feelings as I was walking through Nippori on my way to the train station..  Such a great place, great people and I couldn't help but wonder what lies ahead for them.  Got the SkyLiner from Nippori station to Narita terminal 1 for the 45 minute train journey.  When I arrived at Narita it was incredibly packed.. Lots of people sleeping with blankets and cushions and it was obvious that they must have been stranded since Friday.  There were hundreds of people standing in queues waiting to check in for flights..  Even at the airport in the midst of all the chaos the Japanese people and staff were calm, collected and unbelievably respectful as they dealt with all the questions that passengers had..  Its sad to say it but the behaviour and manners of some "western" people at the airport really annoyed me.. For example:  at one of the restaurants in the airport there was this "western" lady there and she got some tea and a muffin or something... The Japanese ladies behind the counter were doing a great job dealing with everybody.  But this "western" lady got about 70 Yen change from her transaction and she stood there and held up the whole place looking to see what she could buy with her 70 Yen (about €0.50) because she was leaving the country.  When the Japanese lady told her that she didn't have enough to buy anything she stayed standing there asking what she should do with her money so... Very very annoying!

As I was waiting at the gate to board the Singapore Airlines flight the crew for the flight assembled.. It was obvious they didn't know each other and they started to greet each other... It really started to hit me that I was leaving Japan as I saw them greet each other by shaking each others hands.. After being immersed in Japan for the last two months and their culture of deep bowing while maintaining distance from each other... this shaking of hands and hugging seemed strange to me!  How weird is that?! 

Didn't really sleep on the flight from Narita to Singapore.. Couldn't help but think at times how am I going to maintain the level of intensity in my training that I have developed over the last two months..  I can't wait to go back training in Ireland but I'm also really eager to share my experiences in the dojo by doing some teaching.  Couldn't help but think of all the great people I had got to know in Japan and hope that they will be safe as everything unfolds there.  When I got to Singapore I got a room in a transit hotel in the airport terminal for 3 hours and had a shower there as well.  Ready for the next leg of my journey now.. A 14 hour flight to London Heathrow.