Maiden Voyage

(This section was submitted by Bryan) 

When we arrived at the gate for our departing flight to Tokyo, we found ourselves in a celebration of sorts. We were unaware that we would be taking part in a historic first flight from Chicago to the Haneda airport, which is located in Tokyo itself. Our previous trips took us through the Narita airport, which is an hour train ride from Tokyo. 

The celebration was on! A large crowd was gathered at the gate and two Japanese women in traditional costumes were playing stringed instruments for the ceremony. At first the music sounded classically Japanese, then a strange thing happened. The second piece we heard them play sounded oddly familiar. After a few bars it was clear that it was the American classic folk song 'Grandfather's Clock', written in the late eighteen hundreds. Ah, the fusion of it all. I half expected their next piece to be 'She'll be comin 'round Mount Fuji when she comes', or 'If you knew Sushi like I knew Sushi'...

After the music was over, a few officials had to add their two yen worth of congratulatory speeches. It seemed like they were speaking English, but from the mangled mess of word salad it was impossible to tell.

Next a calligraphy artist created a large piece with the name of the airport in Japanese script. The ceremony was concluded with the ribbon cutting. As we boarded we were each given a wrapped gift with a miniature of the jet and some chopsticks. Clapping his hands, Trevor enthusiastically squealed that this reminded him of the pomp that preceded the launch of the Titanic. cs

Shut yo mouth, Trevor!