In Transit

Last month I passed through Dubai on a transit to Africa and found that airport to be spacious--yet easy to navigate, friendly--yet professional, and comfortable--yet, well, still an airport. Today our flight from Tokyo landed at New York's JFK airport. Although we are only deplaning in order to connect to our flight to Sao Paulo, we had to go through immigration & customs, up a flight of stairs, and through security again, just to sit and wait for the next flight. For the life of me, I can't imagine the purpose of all that for what is probably a stop to refuel. Nevertheless, my impressions going through the process are as follows:

1. US Passport holders (and "green card" holders) had a separate line which I waited in, whereas my Japanese colleagues were in the foreigners' line. There was a nice attendant that made sure women with small infants were ushered to the front of the line and also made sure the zig-zagged ribboned path to the officials was always arranged so people didn't have to zig-zag needlessly.

2. The official that checked my passport and customs form was a big, friendly man in his 50s. When I told him I was heading on to Brazil he made small talk, which was nice, except that the only thing he could think to say was, "Why there?! Isn't that country dangerous?" and told me how he saw the movie City of God, which is an extremely violent film about drug lords in Rio ghettos.

3. Passing through customs, the official took my form, looked it over and set it down. Simultaneously, he called over a woman who was supposed to take over his shift. They had a short conversation before she sat down. Then he walked away, and I was still standing there. When I asked if I was done, the woman looked up as if to say, "Are you still here?"

4. Exiting the arrivals area with my transit card, I had to look closely for signs to show where to go. Food stand signs and other advertisements were more prominent. I finally found the stairs I was supposed to take to departures.

5. When I got to the security check I waited in a short line until I was called over by a woman in uniform. She took my boarding pass and passport, then opened her mouth and yawned, "Oh, excuse me," she said. She spoke with a woman behind her, looked over my ticket and asked me if I'd just come from Japan. When I answered yes, she asked if it was "like, an overnight layover" and I said no, I'd just arrived 30 minutes ago. "Oh, so you came from Japan and now you're connecting to Brazil?" she asked. "Uh-huh" I said, starting to wonder if someone told these people to try and be friendly, even though they didn't have much to say. Or were they just passing the time? Clueless, I continued on.

Now, sitting on the "iniside" of security, there is nothing left to do but wait for my flight. Despite what sounds like a list of complaints above, there is something refreshing about America. Things are not as clean and shiny as Dubai or Tokyo airports, but there is something exceedingly real world about everything here. Waiting in the line for US citizens and residents, there were as many races and languages being spoken as in the foreginers line. And although it always takes me by surprise how relaxed people seem at their jobs here, I know this is in contrast to Japan where people seem to take their jobs almost too seriously. You'd never get that kind of chit-chat in Japan or other places I've been. You almost wouldn't be surprised if the person went on break and said, "Hey, you wanna grab a hot dog before your flight?" Also, compared to last time I was here, in 2007, the atmosphere is drastically different. At that time, I was grilled on my "purposes for being in Japan", even as a US Passport holder returning home. This time I really felt there was an effort to make people feel welcome, and they asked the usual questions without giving the third degree.

Well, I will probably write more observations upon arrival in Brazil. It will be interesting to see how things compare as we arrive in Sao Paulo and then transfer to a domestic flight up to Manaus.