Unloading at the rehearsal
After crossing the International Date Line, it was now Saturday afternoon. We sighted the coast of Japan about 3:00 p.m. local time. There was much acitivity in the water below, with small craft, fishing vessels, and ocean going ships huddled around the entrance to Tokyo Bay. As the aircraft came in, I noted the route was lined with hotels with fanciful names, not unlike the approach to LAX.
15:50 Touchdown at Narita Airport
16:10 Arrival at gate
After a 14-hour flight it was time to rehearse! The group transferred from the airport directly to the Chiba rehearsal venue via tour bus at 5:30 p.
Chiba is known as the "Flowery City"
m. The MYO students met Chiba Youth Orchestra members for their initial joint rehearsal at the Chiba Makuhari Municipal Worker’s Plaza (on High-Tech Dori). I met my son's homestay family at the rehearsal. The Chiba parents had bags of treats for the adults. (Including a bottle of Chinese iced tea, as it was called--as opposed to iced green tea.) The MYO parents then went on to Hotel Sungarden in Chiba while the rehearsal continued.
In the evening the adults walked around the downtown area near the hotel. McDonald's and Starbucks were in evidence, but we found an interesting Japanese restaurant and proceeded to order based on the pictures in the menu. Everyone ordered his or her own dish (though I gathered from observing other diners that the idea was for groups to order dishes for the table to share). I had chicken yakitori. It came as five skewers of different varieties of chicken, including chicken liver.
