Now that I’ve finally finished with posts about Okinawa, I thought I’d take some time to complain about ALLERGIES IN JAPAN. Now, I’ve never had allergies in my life, but here in Japan I’m a different person. A different person with allergies! I’m specifically talking about hay fever (花粉症, kafunsho in Japanese). It’s a big thing here. Apparently it has to do with reforestation after WWII — there’s too many trees now so pollen is out of control and everyone’s being smothered with it. According to Wikipedia, some 25 million people here suffer from hay fever and I guess I’m one of them.

I thought I just had a cold but then the “cold” ended up lasting for over a month so I realized that it wasn’t a cold after all. Anyway, it kinda sucks. Allergy season basically runs from February to May. Sigh.

At least the Japanese weather includes cute little faces (above) to show you how bad the pollen is going to be each day. (Clearly this week isn’t looking too good for me.)

Surviving in Japan has some good tips for dealing with hay fever. I didn’t bother with masks and sprays — I turned immediately to my local kusuri-ya (pharmacy). I’ve tried the foreigner favourite, Allerga (アレグラ, looks like this), and Contac (クンタック, looks like this), but Contac has worked a lot better for me. Unfortunately it makes me feel both wired and sleepy. (Good thing I work from home.) Also unfortunate: allergy medicine is kind of expensive in Japan. Both Allegra and Contac are around $20 a box. So if you’re coming to Japan during allergy season I recommend BRINGING DRUGS. LOTS OF DRUGS. (But not anything containing pseudoephedrine like Sudafed, because it’s illegal here and you can’t bring it into the country.) Even if you don’t think you’re the kind of person who gets allergies (I wasn’t!), be prepared.

On a related note, I find it funny that the action word for sneezing (like “atchoo” in English) is ハクション, hakushon. I’ve tried saying “hakushon!” when I sneeze but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

 Here’s the conclusion to the two days I spent in Narita. (Part one is here!) After spending the night in a Narita airport hotel, we headed back to the airport, in hope of actually getting on a flight to Seoul.

UNITED! Y U DELAY MY FLIGHT SO LONG?

Back at Narita Airport. Hey, it’s a Korean Air A380!

Because our flight wasn’t a “real” flight (it was scheduled for yesterday), we didn’t have a gate. So we got on this shuttle and drove waaaaaaaaaaay out on the tarmac to board the plane. (You can see the shuttle ride in the video above.)

Our not-so-fixed plane.

The first class seats. The first class section was empty — I assume they just don’t bother selling seats in First for such a short (2.5 hours) hop to Seoul.

Our business class seats that we sat in for approximately half an hour. It was almost comical when the pilot announced that there was another mechanical problem with the plane and that they were waiting for a part. Sixteen hours after our flight was supposed to take off, we got back on the shuttle and headed back to the terminal.

We raced back to the lounge to try to get on another airline because we had pretty much given up on that United flight ever taking off. We ended up getting rebooked on Asiana Airlines. IN SEAT 1K! ON A 747!

Why is seat 1K on a 747 so awesome? BECAUSE IT’S IN THE NOSE CONE! Here’s the 747 we were on — see the window at very front of the plane, beneath the cockpit? That’s where we were sitting. You’re so close to the front, you can almost see forwards. It’s basically an airplane nerd’s dream. AND I AM AN AIRPLANE NERD.

Mike is smug again.

Hello, comfy seat.

Trying to take a photo that shows how massive the aisle is in first class. You could probably drive a car through the cabin. And if you’re wondering why we were in first instead of business, it’s because the first class cabin on this flight was also empty (like the United one above) so Asiana used it to accomodate all the business class passengers from my United flight. Win!

Sitting at the front was cool because you get all the windows and because there’s no cockpit in front of you. The cockpit is upstairs.

Seriously! This aisle!

WINDOWS GALORE!

The empty space at the front was a closet.

Pre-take-off orange juice.

Pretty excited that we were actually on a flight that was going to take off.

Goodbye, Narita!

Japan from the air.

I love a good duty free catalogue. And Asiana’s was good. Fat like a phone book.

They even had one of my favourite Korean BB creams!

Mt. Fuji from the air. So pretty.

It was only a 2.5 hour flight but included a meal. There was a Korean option and a non-Korean option. (I don’t remember what the non-Korean option was, because obviously I picked the Korean meal.)

Ssambab! Not fancy, but seriously one of the BEST meals I’ve ever had on a plane.

Mmm, kimchi.

Soup

Bulgogi beef and rice. You put the beef and rice in a lettuce leaf, add some chili paste, and roll the whole thing up. Stuff it in your mouth and feel happy.

I drank my green tea and watched some K-pop concerts on the IFE. Really, my life doesn’t get much better than that.

Almost there!

South Korea from the air.

Mike looks very relaxed.

Almost 24 hours after we were supposed to arrive, we were finally landing in Seoul. Annyeong, Seoul!