On my way to Okinawa!

The ANA plane that I took to Naha, Okinawa
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I'm on the airport limo bound for Osaka (Itami Airport). From there, I will fly with ANA to Naha Airport, Okinawa. This is the highlight and the purpose of this trip. Because there are no flights from Niigata, I have to fly out from another airport, so might as well throw in some other places to visit.

The people here are amazing. Besides the 2 kind souls from last night, I met another kind oji-san this morning. Actually, I'm still wondering if he's kind or just hum-sump.

With some time to spare before the time of departure for the limo, I decided to go to Toji, a temple near the station. As usual, my sense of direction was lousy, so I stopped at a corner, whipped out my guidebook and maps and tried to get my bearing. Then, this oji-san on a bicycle stopped and asked me where I wanted to go. After hearing that it was Toji, he pointed to the basket in front of his bicycle, and asked me to put my bag in and get on behind. If only he knew how heavy my backpack was.

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Anyway, I declined, fearing he might be hum-sump. Last night, on the way back to UNO, a guy (this one looked hum-sump) actually followed me on his bicycle. It freaked the hell out of me. Luckily, I wasn't that lost, so I made it back to UNO unharmed, though shaken. He actually loitered along the street outside for some time. That was scary.

But except for that one incident, most people here are alright. I was pleasantly surprised that people actually wait for passengers to alight from the subway before they get on. They don't need yellow lines, boxed or arrows like back home. And they don't start moving in before the last of the passengers have got off. They actually wait for everyone to get off before getting on. Why can't we be like that?