Looks totally real, but really it's plastic!

Japan. An exotic blend of ancient culture and advanced western technologies. A place where you can visit grand castles surrounded by sublime Japanese gardens, then go home to see some of the strangest, wacky television shows ever invented.

The 9.5 hr flight went by very quickly thanks to the aide of personal seatback TV monitors which allowed one to select from 40 different movies, games, maps, radio and trivia. I watched A Bugs Life, Lucky Number Slevin, The Inside Man, Aliens, and Over the Hedge and loved every minute of it. And since we were flying over the Pacific, there really wasn't a view out the window to enjoy. There were about 65 JETS from Portland and the surrounding areas ranging in ages from 22 to 40. All were nervous and one even decided at the last minute that he didn't want to go and needed some strong, firm convincing that a school was counting on him to work there this year and cancelling right now would really put them in a tight spot. Basically there was no backing out now.

The first hours after arriving were, like any international flight, filled with the tedious procedures of retrieving luggage, going through customs, signing papers, etc. These hours we even more difficult due to the vast number of us JETS moving through the airport that day; the lines were extremely long. With all that done, we were herded by JET alums through the airport to the busses that would shuttle us on our two hour trip into Tokyo. Everyone was tired but there still was an excited buzz about the bus as we traveled through the vast, endless concrete Jungle that is Tokyo.