By Paul Anderson

And so the adventure begins. I know it’s a week early but since we have hosted 11 Japanese students in the last two years, I thought I would come the week before and visit with some of them. I am in Osaka as I write.

My flight was great, since I was upgraded to Business First Class. I sure wasn’t going to complain. It was long — eleven and a half hours from San Francisco to Osaka, after a two-hour flight from Seattle. Customs was easy. The drug-sniffing dogs kept coming by my bags. I was hoping they didn’t sniff out all the chocolate I brought along. Money exchange, check on cell phone rental, and outside I went looking for the bus.

A 50-minute ride took me into Osaka Station. My four-minute walk from there to the hotel took over a half hour. It would have been longer but I ran into a lot of nice people who helped point out the way. The last two walked me up to the front door. They just happened to be from Las Vegas and spoke perfect English.

After I went to my closet-sized room, the first thing was to check out the Internet. Yes, it worked! Then tried to make a call on a pay phone — no, it didn’t work. I will say the people at the front desk were a great help. They pointed out the nearest Starbucks with free WiFi. So after confirming with friends on meeting for the week, off to Starbucks I went. It was 8 p.m. here in Japan but 3 a.m. back in Edmonds. The barista was friendly and he helped me log on to the Internet with my phone.

After I left Starbucks, I walked around to check out my surroundings. I don’t think I’ll be at a loss for places to eat. That will come in another story.

Edmonds Sister City Commissioner Paul Anderson is writing regular reports about the commission’s visit to Japan, part of a 25th anniversary trip honoring Edmonds’ Sister City relationship with Hekinan, Japan. Edmonds Mayor Dave Earling and his wife Sue will head a delegation of 28 community members going to the Japanese city April 1-8.