IT WAS my first trip to Tokyo in nearly 20 years. The last time I visited Japan, I was an employee of a global beverage firm, and we had an Asia Group meeting in Tokyo where we presented our business plans to the Asia leadership.
This time, I was visiting as an employee of a mining firm that has a major Japanese conglomerate as business partner; our CEO and theirs were going to exchange business plans and preliminarily discuss issues that we should address together to make the partnership even stronger. And I was chosen to come along for the trip in part because of my recently “acquired” twin responsibilities of sustainability and risk management.
Not to mention, I think, my penchant to crack jokes even during the most serious moments of a business meeting, happily almost never at inappropriate moments.
‘And all the while I thought the dog had detected the four jars of Mountain Maid ube jam that I was bringing as part of our pasalubong for our Japanese hosts!’
Anyway, thanks to the super-duper efficient executive secretary of our CEO, my application for a business visa proceeded smoothly. She also handled the online application for immigration permits that results in a QR code being issued for the traveler; she handled as well the same thing for Customs. And she also handled the distribution of our per diem (!!!).
With a few days to spare I was packed and ready to go.
The flight, on All Nippon Airways, was on time. Service was impeccable and I loved the food. Got to stretch out a little prior to landing, but before I knew it the lights in the cabin of the 788 Dreamliner were on bright and it was time to sit up straight. We landed at Narita just as I remembered it, coming in from the sea, and took a few minutes to taxi to the ANA section at Terminal 1. Disembarkation was a breeze and the QR code got me through Immigration in no time. Lines were very short anyway.
At Customs, I waited for my bag at the luggage carousel that was not yet running. While standing there I noticed an elderly Japanese with a golden retriever who was smelling every checked-in luggage that travelers picked up on their way to the Customs desk. I thought nothing of it. Soon, I noticed my checked-in luggage appear, third in line. “That was fast,” I said to myself as I reached down to pick up the heavy luggage. I stood it on its wheels and began rolling the bag to the e-Customs counter where my QR code would allow me to pass without a breeze.
But then the friendly golden retriever started to show interest in my luggage! He kept circling it and sniffing it and I began to sweat, images of “Locked up Abroad” episodes playing in my mind. Just as I was about to fall to my knees and confess about what I had in my luggage the dog handler approached me and perhaps saw the sweat all over my face. I looked him in the eye but didn’t say anything as I waited for him to say something; I knew my rights. It took almost an eternity for him to do so as I waited.
“It’s ok,” he said. “Do you have dogs?” And that’s when I realized that the golden retriever must be sniffing the pee that Goya and Apollo alternately sprayed on my luggage when they marked and counter-marked territory the last time I arrived from a trip and kept my luggage in the living room. I couldn’t describe the enormous relief I felt when he said that the only time they know something bad is up is when the dog’s tail itself is also at attention (in this case it wasn’t).
And all the while I thought the dog had detected the four jars of Mountain Maid ube jam that I was bringing as part of our pasalubong for our Japanese hosts!
What a way to start a rerun to Japan: nearly nabbed at Narita. Thank God, halfway through the trip (as I wrote this), it’s been a great learning experience (and eating experience) and hopefully will remain so till I need to depart Narita again.
(Needless to say, I once again couldn’t escape comparing how easy it is to pass through airports in other parts of the world versus the experience at the three NAIA terminals. Will we ever get to higher standards?)
