The Plane

I'm right now on a Boeing 767-300ER over the Pacific Ocean, bound for Osaka, which is in the Kansai region of Japan. I left YVR Vancouver, B.C., Canada this afternoon at 13:10PST. The captain announced that we should have about 11 hours of total flight time, which means I'll be in the air slightly longer than I've sat in airports today.

For those that don't already know, I'm going on a study abroad trip to Kyoto, where I will be studying Japanese language at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. I will be studying there for one year and coming home, hopefully to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Japanese (broad area).

As for the flight itself, it is now 1914, Will Standard Time, which means I've got about four hours left. I have no idea what time it will be in Japan when I land, but it's going to be 11PM or midnight Will's Watch Time and, not surprisingly, Will's sleep cycle time. Hello, jet lag! Actually, I've been trying to nap as much as possible so that I can be semi-wakeful when I get there, but the seats are not particularly conducive to it. They're comfortable enough, though. I'm right by the emergency exits located by the wings, and I think they need to check the seals, 'cause this thing leaks a lot of cold air and makes quite a lot of noise in addition.

I'd been meaning to get a site-shaped thing set up for this, which will serve to help keep my family - and the other four-ish people that care - up to date on my journey. I'll try and tack at least one annotated picture with each post, though I have no intention of limiting myself with that.

Since I'm not yet off the plane, here's a list of some of the stuff I've got pictures of thus far:

• My dad, who is cool.
• YVR Vancouver terminal, where I waited for this flight
• The inside of both the DHC8 Dehaviland twin turboprop that I got to YVR from SEA on and the 767-300ER I'm in as I type this.
• The 767's got little touchscreens you can watch movies on! It's so cool! Also, they've brought us food on two separate occasions, plus a little bag of snack-things. Plus, I think I've had about a liter of Canada Dry ginger ale. Those of you who know me know my history of ginger ale abuse.
• Some of the customs forms for both Japan and Canada. It's convenient for me I'm not carrying any perfume, alcohol, or tobacco, as that is almost all they care about.

I don't intend to make future entries nearly this large, unless I find large quantities of time on transit or something. I'll have to add pictures later, probably from the hotel, as I don't have space to set up my camera safely. My laptop is already consuming the entirety of my lap-area, which is my whole workspace.

And Dean would be disappointed if I didn't put any 漢字 (kanji) in anywhere, so here are a couple of the places I've mentioned:

Osaka	Kyoto	Kansai
大阪	京都	関西

Some eggs at YVR
A fish full of soy sauce
08-03-25 1931WST - ウィル (Will)