I had an opportunity to visit one of the reputable leading research institutions, the Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.
This is my story.
At about 11.00 pm, I arrived at Haneda International Airport, Tokyo.
The travel agent informed me that there will be a free shuttle bus from the airport to Jal Hotel. Me being a penny-pincher, I planned to hop on the bus to go to the prebooked hotel.
I was done collecting my luggage at around 11.45 pm. By that time, supposedly 2 more buses were still available, as stated in the bus schedule.
But somehow, I could not find the waiting area. It was pitch black and rainy outside of the airport.
At that time, I was traveling alone, it was my first time ever to step foot in Japan, and it was midnight. I was feeling worried sick.
I went on back and forth a couple of times trying to find the waiting point while dragging my heavy, wheeled suitcases.
I did notice that every 10 to 20 steps outside of the airport, there will be one security guard, and seeing them calmed me down.
One of the security guards was willing to send me off to the waiting area, without me asking him to.
After almost 15 minutes in the waiting area, he came back to me and informed me that there will be no more bus at that time!
Fortunately, after sending me off, he made an effort to call the hotel to ask if there is another bus at that time. If he had not done so, I would certainly be waiting there till 6 am to catch the earliest bus.
He asked me to take a taxi instead, and he arranged the booking for me, considering that my phone would not work without a local sim card. I have to pay 1800 yen (RM55) for that journey, and there goes my plan to penny-saving up in the air!
However, I realized that this good Japanese man had outdone his scope of work, without asking me a single penny for his service. Now, how should I pay him for teaching me this career lesson?
Half an hour later, I safely arrived at the Jal Hotel and checked-in. The receptionist handed me a letter together with a plane ticket to Hiroshima, my next destination. I will write a post soon about my visit to Hiroshima University and their Advanced Research Centre, specifically, the Hiroshima Synchrotron Radiation Centre (HiSOR), wait for it! The letter and plane ticket were from Mr. Kishida, the agent that managed my travel to Japan.
I went on to enter my hotel room, and I found the facilities to be exceptional as this hotel was quite recently-built. This hotel was also convenient because of its near distance to the airport and train station. Before hitting the sack, I sipped the delicious Japanese tea that has a tasty seaweed aroma. I believed this had helped me to get a calming and restful night.
The next day, at 9.00 am, I went down for breakfast. I ate the delectable rice, grilled fish, and fresh vegetables while reading the Japan News. I packed the leftover that I planned to eat during my journey to Kanagawa prefecture an hour later. I bought an umbrella and some essentials at a nearby convenience store once I finished my meal, just to kill time waiting for my appointment with the guide.
When I was done shopping and went back to the hotel, I found an ever-smiling Japanese lady named Coco, sitting in the lounge area upholding my name tag. I introduced myself to her, and she kept me up to date with our trip for that day. We chatted for half an hour at that lounge area and continued to walk to the train station, just 10 minutes from the hotel. Later on, we hopped on a train heading to PARI, Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture. The journey took 1.5 hours, and we got there by 11.30 am.
My appointment with Dr. Takaaki at PARI was at 1.30 pm, so we have time for an early lunch at the train station. I thought this was an excellent time to try local delicacies, so I requested to eat sushi. After the meal, we hopped on a bus to go to PARI and arrived there at 1 pm.
We were warmly greeted by Dr. Takaaki Mizutani, and he introduced us to his colleagues, Dr. Eng Yoshiyuki Morikawa (Head of Soil stabilization group) and Dr. Eng Satoshi Matsumura (Researcher). I was truly honored because Dr. Eng Yoichi Watabe, the Director of Geotechnical Engineering Field and Leader of Soil Mechanics and Geo-environment group, was willing to stay all the way through during this visit that took 3 hours to finish. Worth to mention that the last time I contacted him in 2018, he was a Professor at Hokkaido University.
All of them were well-prepared and ready to receive visitors like me. I was even lucky enough to watch a tsunami demonstration.
They were really kind to me during this visit, and it was quite an experience realizing that I cannot give them anything in return. I am a hijab-wearing woman, and I came down to visit their center alone. Still, I received their utmost attention and precious time. It seemed like this skillset, to respect and serve guests well, was taught from a very young age because it looked like it came naturally to them. I will write a post soon on what I learned from my visit to one of Japan’s secondary schools – Goko Senior High School. This visit had not only taught me research skills but soft skills too. I have learned a lesson of honoring guests, diversity, and inclusivity throughout this visit.
I finished my visit to this research institute at 4.30 pm and headed back to the hotel. I stopped to buy sushi for dinner and reached the hotel at 7 pm. I rested for the night to get ready for my next adventure, the University of Tokyo. Before getting in bed, I pray that my networking efforts with PARI will flourish over time.
I have written all that I want to remember and I hope this writing will benefit readers to some extent.
See you in my next travel stories.
Norpadzlihatun Manap
June 2015
