Leaving for Japan today

The plane for Japan departs at 1:35 local time (3:35 PM Indiana CST) today from the San Francisco International Airport. It will be about a 12 hour flight to Tokyo Narita International Airport. Because of the International Date Line, which we will cross, we will lose a day and arrive on Tuesday the 14th at about 4:30 PM. Coming back I will actually leave Japan and then arrive in LAX before I left because of crossing the International Date Line coming the other way. The flight back will also be shorter because of the jet stream.

After arriving in San Francisco on Sunday morning, I met-up with a lot of other JFMFers and we took a bus to our hotel, the Sheraton Gateway Hotel. I had a few minutes to eat lunch before I had to get dressed-up to attend the orientation meetings all afternoon and evening, culminating with a banquet at 7 PM. The Japanese Government really has treated us in a first class way! Once the dinner was over and I was free for the evening, I met-up with a friend of mine from Alexandria-Monroe High School, Nathaniel. He now lives in San Francisco and took me on quite a tour of the city. I got to see a trolley car in action, the Golden Gate Bridge, an incredible garden with pillars and a dome, extremely nice and expensive houses (10 million $ plus!), the beach, the famous Trans-America (pyramid) building, the Bay Bridge, and even Alcatraz. Once I got back to my room I got some sleep and now I am ready to begin my journey across the Pacific. I have included a nighttime shot of the Golden Gate Bridge below.