Airport Arrival & First Flight
April 14-15, 2025
This was the beginning of nearly five weeks across Asia, the first trip I ever planned myself and the longest one I have taken thus far. It was 3 a.m. in my hometown of Stockton, California. My grandparents had just picked me and my best friend Carlos up, and we were on our way to San Francisco Airport. Bags were packed – a large suitcase each to be checked, and our backpacks to have with us on the plane. Arriving around 4:45, traffic was light and security was easy to get through.
This was Carlos’s first time ever flying (not to mention leaving the country), but luckily the first leg would be pretty short, only to Vancouver, Canada. It was the second leg which would be more intense – a 10 hour flight to Japan, our ultimate destination.
But why Japan? Well, the main reason was Star Wars Celebration – a semi-annual convention hosted by Disney and Lucasfilm in major convention centers around the world, and this year it would be in the city of Chiba, southeast of Tokyo. I had wanted to go ever since it was announced at the previous Star Wars Celebration two years prior, and I convinced Carlos to come along as well since we often watch new Star Wars content together. Of course, we would not just go for that – it turned into a much longer trip.
Since I have a goal to visit every country, I wanted to hit several others while in Asia. I bought the tickets for Celebration all the way back in May 2024, which allowed me plenty of time to think, and I eventually decided on 5 countries total: Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore (as well as a one-day layover in Hong Kong), which would take me to 33 days of travel. While Carlos would not be with me that whole time, we would be in Japan for 12 days, and he would have a nearly day-long layover in Taiwan.
Our flight was at 7:00 a.m. through Air Canada, which I had never flown before – though it ended up being pretty nice. The flight to Vancouver was on a small plane, with two seats on our side and three on the other. I had a window seat and had some lovely views, such as Mt. Shasta, Mt. McLoughlin in Oregon, and Puget Sound. For Carlos’s first flight, it went very smoothly, especially since it was under 2 hours. We also were extremely tired since we hadn’t slept much the night before, so we took some sleeping pills that Carlos had and went out cold for 30 minutes or so – somehow this actually sustained us all the way until Japan!
We had a layover in Vancouver Airport for about four hours. We first saw the awe-inspiring mountains in the distance when we landed. After deplaning, there was a gorgeous main lobby area with a pond, greenery, and a little bridge that we explored for a bit. From here we headed to immigration. Luckily that didn’t take too long, so we had around three hours to kill before boarding. We spent that time rewatching Rogue One in preparation for Andor Season 2, which would be coming out about a week from then.
For the international leg, I took the middle seat and let Carlos have the aisle. For entertainment we watched Avatar: The Way of Water, as well as playing some games on the screen like chess. There were attempts to sleep, but they were unfortunately met with failure.
However, one of the best parts of our flight was meeting a Mexican man seated right across the aisle from Carlos named Roberto De Paz Gutiérrez. He turned out to be part of the 501st Legion, a global fan organization dedicated to creating screen-accurate costumes of Imperial characters from Star Wars – most famously stormtroopers, but also Darth Vader, Royal Guards, and more. They’re officially recognized by Lucasfilm and often volunteer at charity events and conventions.
Roberto wasn’t totally fluent in English, but Carlos speaks Spanish and was able to talk with him more easily. He told us he was also headed to Celebration (though we didn’t end up running into him there – it turned out to be very crowded, but I’ll get to that later on). One especially cool detail: he mentioned that he was actually an extra in Rogue One – the same movie we had just watched!
(For any Star Wars nerds reading, he appeared in the Jedha City sequence, during the Partisan ambush on the stormtroopers, and was one of the troopers who got launched by an explosion.)
On top of that, he shared that his father had worked with toy manufacturers back during the release of the original trilogy, so they had all sorts of rare figures and prototypes at home, including early Boba Fett models with an infamous missile-firing mechanism. He was clearly a longtime collector as well. It was a really interesting and unexpected conversation, and it gave me a small taste of what Celebration would be like.
Over the course of the whole flight, we were served two meals and a snack (a tuna sandwich – which I learned I actually like), and there was complimentary wine as well. While I am not a fan of wine, Carlos decided to try it – he absolutely hated it but decided to drink it all anyway (I think he nearly threw up)!
During the course of this flight, it had become a different day – it was quite strange actually, we left at around 12:45 p.m. from Vancouver on a Monday and landed at Narita Airport the next day at around 2:50 p.m. Landing got me very excited – I was even able to see the Tokyo Skytree in the distance through one of the right-side windows as we landed!
The actual airport process was fairly easy, but just lengthy. Immigration took well over an hour due to a large crowd, but we eventually got through. I received a sticker on my passport with a small QR code rather than a typical stamp, which I thought was pretty cool.
At some point, probably around 4:30, we picked up Welcome Suica cards – both loaded with ¥5,000, or around $35 USD at the time. These are special short-term IC cards made specifically for foreign tourists and are valid for 28 days. IC cards like Suica and Pasmo are accepted almost universally across Japan’s public transit systems (trains, subways, buses, etc.) and even work at some stores, vending machines, and restaurants. It makes getting around incredibly efficient, especially since you can just tap in and out at stations without worrying about calculating exact fares. You can also easily refill them at stations and convenience stores. I would highly recommend getting one before leaving the airport – both Haneda and Narita airports offer them.
After discussing route options, we had our first experience using the train system. The train system was very navigable for English-speaking tourists. Most signs were bilingual and included clear directions, with transfer information and walking distances to other stations or lines listed in meters, which made navigating much less intimidating than expected. To pay, you tap your IC card when going through gates leading to and from platforms – a very easy process. The trip from Narita to Edogawa, the area of Tokyo where we were staying, took over an hour, but it was not bad. The Keisei Line ride was scenic, with beautiful views of the countryside and I enjoyed seeing the traditional architecture and landscapes.
We eventually would get off at Keisei Yawata Station, preparing to transfer to Moto-Yawata Station. Along the way, we had an interesting experience. When we were going to head down the stairs with our bags, a random Japanese guy who looked to be around our age (early 20s) led us to an elevator. He didn’t seem to speak any English, but we really appreciated this gesture. The weird thing was that he then tried to lead us somewhere else besides the station. We just needed to go a few steps to the escalator so we could head to the underground station, but he wanted to lead us through the alley, and we were confused – so we eventually just stopped following even though he gestured several times. I looked it up later and the big building he wanted to lead us towards was Terminal City Motoyawata, an integrated residential, office, and commercial complex. Maybe he wanted to show us to an ATM? We will never know, but it was fascinating nonetheless.
From Moto-Yawata Station, we took the Shinjuku Line and got off at Funabori Station. These would become our main train line and station for Tokyo, respectively. As we had a short walk from the station to our hotel, we got a brief taste of Japan at dusk, with lights beginning to turn on and the bustle of traffic about. We even saw a Denny’s nearby, which was kind of funny.
We arrived at the hotel a little after 6:00 p.m. – Kuretake Inn Tokyo Funabori. When we checked in, the front desk clerk used a small handheld translation device to communicate with us and explain the hotel policies. These pocket translators are pretty common across Japan, especially in places that serve international visitors. I saw a few more of them used throughout the trip – not just in hotels but in shops as well.
Something nice the clerk mentioned was that we could each take one free drink per day from a cooler in the lobby. That little act of trust stood out to me and ended up being one of the first things that made me realize just how high-trust Japan’s society is. It was small gestures like this – unlocked drink coolers, unstaffed vending machines, people leaving valuables on seats without worry – that really left an impression on me. I wish more places around the world worked that way.
Anyway, the room itself was very small, and I shared a bed with Carlos – but it was pretty cheap for Tokyo, and we had agreed upon it prior. It was a smoking room, but it didn’t smell bad – in fact, it had a somewhat sweet scent. We didn’t do much else that night and were asleep by around 7:30 p.m., owing to the harsh 16-hour time change we experienced, as well as a profound lack of sleep.
Of course, most of this entry did not even take place in Japan – the real excitement would begin the next day, and we had a lot planned for our first full day there. If you want to join me on my journey throughout Asia, you can click here to read my next entry!
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