Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

Arriving to Narita airport,

and we do the usual. Immigration, customs, bag searches, random passport checks while standing around only for people that don't look Japanese. Hey, wait. That is not so usual. Oh, that's right, racial profiling is 'business as usual' here in Japan and being a 'lound eyes,' we are fair game for the special attention. It all comes back to me. The whole 'no humans with tattoos allowed in public swimming pools' and how hotels used to block Japanese female's from going to the hotel room of a male westerner. Japanese dude like fully blocking the elevator and if you try the next elevator over, he dashes over there for a new block, meanwhile chattering a stream of unintelligible words intermixed and surrounding repetitions of the one word I do follow "Noh!" It has been a while since I have tried it but I have little doubt it still hotel policy in many in many of the not so western places to stay. Ha ha, and just like Texas and other places and culture I love Japan and this love comes with an occasional ouch and the ouches are often as interesting as the enjoyment.

Also not so usual is to see a promoter rep waiting there as we exit customs. Actually that is usual except for today as we still have another plane flight before we are supposed to find the locals from promoter reps awaiting. "There has been a change and the tour has been postpo ...." Ah, you all know the next bit of the story as I spilled the beans when I time-slipped a few days ago.

First stop, my palatial hotel suite

Not only was I thrilled to see that I was afforded such a roomy room with room for a sleep over friend to have their own bed, should such a person I meet, I was head over heals with joy when I discovered that in the event two pals both drop by each needing a bed to sleep in, there is yet a third bed in the room that can be conveniently rolled out in the vast openness of spare space available.

Before heading out for to hunt for food, I may as well do a quick check up on the email. As you may or may not know, Japan is on a cell network that ic conveniently compatible with no one else on earth rendering our Blackberry's useless. No tethering my laptop to my cell here for internet so I break down and cry. Actually I breakdown and head to the front desk for the "internet connection package" which consists of an ethernet cable, a phone cable, a DSL modem, a power supply and a set of simple instructions

Even I, a proficient techno nerd, found myself challenged and nearly aborted the mission when I finally realized to ignore the instructions and found the proper place to plug in the phone cable hidden on a cable stuffed in hole behind the desk I had to move. Aha! Of course that is where it would be. I don't know why my jet lag dreary mind didn't spot it sooner.

Ring ring goes the phone and off to dinner with Chris and Tracy,

Dave Rat