Almost There

Narita International Airport, Tokyo
October 10, 2005

Tanaka is, the inside-the-bed-incident aside, a great traveler. I have not heard a peep from him since leaving Washington. I'm fortunate to be flying business class on my way over, sitting in the top section of a Northwest Boeing 747 with a small shelf between my seat and the window. The shelf is just wide enough to fit Tanaka's Sherpa bag, which means he sat by my side rather than at my feet for the Los Angeles-Tokyo leg of our trip. This has allowed me to reach in to pet him from time to time and to sneak him an occasional Pounce treat.

On landing, the ground agent came aboard and made an announcement for me to "please see the ground agent upon deplaning." And, sure enough, after walking up the jetway, there was a woman holding a placard with my name in both English and Japanese. Seems she wanted to take Tanaka's travel documents to make photocopies of each of them. I found myself easily falling back into my days of trusting Japanese efficiency, saying, "sure, here you go" and turning his entry to Manila over to a total stranger. She promised she would meet me at Gate 22 in 20 minutes, and that's about what it took her to get there. Only in Japan would I trust this to work!

When transfering between international flights at Narita, you have to go through security screening again. Carrying Tanaka through security had been my biggest fear of this whole trip. He's squirmy under the best of circumstances -- definitely not a cat who likes to be held for much more than a minute. I knew that, in Washington at least, my trip through security would be a fairly complicated dance:

1. Take shoes off.
2. Take computer out of bag.
3. Put shoes, computer and computer bag through the x-ray machine.
4. Go through metal detector to make sure I don't cause it to beep.
5. Take Tanaka out of his bag.
6. Put Tanaka's bag through the x-ray machine.
7. Carry Tanaka through the metal detector.
8. Return Tanaka to his bag.
9. Hope computer hasn't disappeared through all of this.
10. Squeeze computer back into a very full bag, while putting shoes back on.

Lucky me, I was also selected for "additional security screening," but the whole thing went much more smoothly than I had assumed it would. Tanaka, for once, had no interest in going anywhere other than my arms.

Security at Narita was much easier. I didn't have to take my shoes off, didn't have to take Tanaka out of his bag and didn't have to take the computer out of its bag. I carried Tanaka through the metal detector in his bag, which a 40-year-old man then visually examined while cooing "ah, kitty-chan!" It did, at least, give Tanaka a moment to stand up and stretch.

So, we leave soon for the last 4.5 hours to Manila. I can't wait to see Shelly, and I'm sure Tanaka feels the same way.