I tried not to think about it as I boarded the plane, and embarked on my first trip out of the country. Luckily, I chose Singapore Airlines cause they have TV screens in all the seats. I was able to watch movies and play video games and this helped take my mind off the flight. The food was pretty good, and the service was excellent. I started thinking, ‘Hey, this flying scene ain’t so bad after all.’

But things took a turn for the worse.

As our plane neared Tokyo Airport, the turbulence became extreme. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before, and a couple of times, the plane felt like it was about to take a nose dive. The sound was so intense, it sounded like we’d be ripped to shreds.

The guy sitting next to me pointed out the window, and I could see the wing flapping up and down like it was made of rubber! This went on for almost two hours and I could see on the GPS screen that we were just circling over Tokyo. I started wondering, ‘What in the hell is going on?’

Inside the plane, everyone was silent. The only sounds were the shaking plane and this peaceful, elevator-style, landing-music which only stressed me out more. I looked around, and saw the expression of terror in every one’s eyes. ‘At least I’m not the only one freaking out here.’ I thought.

Then my eyes caught a dreadful sight…a green-faced flight attendant grabbing for a barf bag!

‘We’re doomed,’ I thought, ‘Looks like I’ll never get to see Japan.’ Suddenly, I felt a panic attack coming on. The urge to escape, to run somewhere, to get off that death ship welled up inside…but I manged to hold it together, and stay put in my seat. (I don’t know if any of you’ve ever had a real panic attack before, but I can assure you, it’s not pretty. It’s pretty much the worst feeling in the world)

As these thoughts of dread ran through my head, I took another look out the window, and it appeared we were descending.

‘The nightmare is almost over…just hang on a little longer!’ I reassured myself. But the closer we got to the ground, the more intense the shaking got to the point where we were bouncing around in our seats like dying animals.

We were about to touch land when our plane suddenly veered straight up again, climbing back into the night sky. ‘My god!’ I thought, ‘Why don’t we just land and end this hell right now!’

Finally, the pilot got on the speaker to inform us that we were in the middle of a huge typhoon, and Tokyo Airport would not allow anymore planes to land. We were being diverted to Kansai Airport, in Osaka.

This is typical of my bad luck, but again, I was thankful I took Singapore Airlines. They took real good care of us once we got on the ground. All the hotels in Osaka were booked, due to the flight diversions, but Singapore hooked us up with reservations at The Four Seasons hotel in Kobe.

They rented huge charter buses to take our weary rumps on the one hour drive from Osaka to Kobe, and though I was unbelievably tired, I actually enjoyed the drive.

The whole way to Kobe, we drove right through the center of an immense harbor where the night sky was lit up by fire from smoke stacks, and oil refineries.

At the hotel, Singapore once again hooked us up with a free, all-you-can-eat, buffet, and I was famished. After eating like a pig, I took a much-needed shower, and passed out. The next morning we got back on the bus for the one hour drive back, and got on our plane to Tokyo, where we arrived safely.

So that was that. A real nightmare flight on my first trip overseas. But I feel it worked out ok, cause I got to see another part of Japan for free.

I went to public school, and in LA, like most other cities, which school you attend is based on where you live. My house was just on the other side of the border from the Junior High School all my friends would be going to. So I had the misfortune of being one of only two kids to go to the other school.

It was brutal showing up for my first day of Junior High alone. All the other kids seemed to know eachother from Elementary School, and nobody talked to me. On top of that, I was painfully shy at that age.

My Junior High was grades 6-8, and I was young for a 6th grader (only 10 years old). Some of those 8th graders were 14 years old and looked like giants! There were a lot jerks there, too. One 8th grader walked up and spat right in my face for no reason during my first week.

Kids would beat you down for no reason, and there were fights practically everyday afterschool. It was a real different world from Elementary school. Most of my teachers were fools, too…acting all hard the first week to try and scare us into submission. I was just thinking, ‘How the hell am I gonna survive in this hellhole?’ I was seriously considering trying to transfer to the other Junior High.

I did have one friend from the same street as me who happened to go to the other Elementary school, so he had connections at this crazy Junior High. But he was out of town the first week of school. I’ll never forget the day he got back, and I met up with him at lunch. It’s lucky I didn’t transfer, cause from then on, things started looking up.

No more lonely lunches

That fool really saved my life, and I’m still grateful to this day for that. He introduced me to all his buddies, most of whom happened to be Korean and Japanese…all 100% American. We quickly became good friends, and I used to stay over at their houses all the time. I remember my first taste of Kim Chee at my buddy’s house, and when his dad hooked up the Korean BBQ style for his B-Day party!

So basically I was this white-boy chilling with a bunch of Asian kids. But you know what? We were too young to give a crap about race and all that other BS. If somebody messed with one of us, they messed with us all. We looked out for eachother.

Our school was really mixed, and among the Asian kids, there was a definite split between the ones who grew up in the States, and the ones who couldn’t speak English. There were a few Korean kids in the latter group, but I remember most were Chinese, and Japanese.

One of my close friends came over from Japan when he was five, so he spoke perfect English, but he also went to Japanese school on the weekend, so his Japanese was great, too. He was in tight with the Japanese-Japanese kids at the school, and I remember one time at lunch he suggested we chill with them.

They were a big group of about 30 dudes, and I was a little nervous if they’d be cool with some white-boy who can’t even speak Japanese sitting with them. But my friend introduced me, and they were all cool. Mostly, we communicated with body language, but my friend translated, too. I even picked up a few non-swear words.

Some of the guys could speak a little English, and it was enough for us to make friends. After that, I was in, and I started hanging out with them at lunch regularly. They told me about life in Japan, showed me comics, and even their Japanese porno magazines. I was surprised at how much porn these guys had, and they said they could buy it in vending machines, along with beer!

Going to my friends’ houses afterschool was fun for me, cause I got to try new food all the time. I remember the first time I tried umeboshi onigiri, or when my friend’s dad had my family over for homemade sushi. I’ll never forget how my dad spread on the wasabi thinking it was avocado…I’ve never seen such a bright red face!

The more I learned about my friends’ home country, the more I wanted to go check it out. Everything sounded cooler than America. I guess it was the old “Grass is Greener” syndrome…you know how that goes

There’s a lot of neighborhood pride out there for sure, which gave rise to all those bumperstickers that look like the European ones. Like: “SP” for San Pedro, “T” for Torrance, etc.

What part did I grow up in? I ain’t gonna give you my address or anything, but I’ll tell you I lived most of my days in the South Bay. All the LA locals reading this already know where the South Bay is, but for those who don’t, I fill you in.

On a map of LA, it’s basically, all the cities south of Los Angeles International Airport/South Central, and west of Long Beach.

You can find almost anything in the South Bay, from nice beaches to oil refineries and chemical plants. There’s a lot of cultural variety too. Brown, Black, Yellow, White, Purple….whatever, everybody’s living there together. I like that mix, and it’s one of the things I miss now that I’m in Japan.

Out here, 99% of the population is Japanese, so it’s a totally different world from LA for damn sure. That’s probably one of the biggest culture shocks I encountered out here.