During my active service as the correspondent of the Seikyo Shimbun I visited the United States several times. This is the fifth year after my retirement and I visited there again for the first time in 10 years. I encountered a lot of fresh surprises and moving situations. So I would like to refer to these episodes that cannot be included in the main text.

Robust flight attendants

 　　I was forced to keep the traveling cost as cheap as possible because I am living on a pension. Under such situation, I reserved the flight and the hotel through the Internet this time, and not through a travel agency. It was late June and a little before the high summer travel season. The cheapest fare for flights from Narita to Atlanta and from New Orleans to Narita was that of Continental Airline. (A round trip fee was 72000 yens. The fees of Japanese Airline companies were more than 100000 yens.)

     In addition to this, airport tax and some other costs were added. It is inescapable and we have to pay these anyway. So I can accept that. It was a great surprise to me, however, that an item called “petroleum surcharge” was added to the fee. It was not a small amount. It was 16000 yens, a large sum of money for me. I thought then, it might be inevitable under the actual situation of the high price of the petroleum worldwide.

     Also, I thought it would be accepted as Japanese passengers that the meal served in the plane would not fit to my tongue, since the plane fare was cheap. I believed it was quite natural that the taste of the meals in the American Airlines was intended for the taste buds of the Americans.

 Apart from these, what got my attention was that almost all the blond hair flight attendants in the airplane were very robust. It seemed to me that about ten flight attendants in the cabin were more than 30 years old and some others were more than 50. But they were working energetically. I watched their robust arms when they tried to arrange the luggages on the shelves and serve foods and drinks to the passengers. I didn’t feel the tenderness and the delicacy that Japanese young flight attendants possess. Rather, it seemed to me that the American flight attendants were working eagerly to protect passengers.

  In general, they don’t have mandatory old age retirement system in the US. It is interpreted that refusing to employ a worker owing to old age is against the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. I felt I saw typical aspect of the American society. They put as much importance to this issues of  “age discrimination” as racial discrimination.

Unusual inefficiency at the immigration office

     I arrived at the George Bush International Airport in Huston. The airport is the prime center of Continental Airline and all the passengers have to pass the immigration office to enter the US there. When I came to the lobby of immigration from the plane, I found more than 200 passengers standing in a line separated by ropes, waiting their turn. There were 40 booths in line but the numbers of booths where an officer was at work was only 14. On the upper part of other booths were the signs “Closed”. The line of the passengers preceded little.

     Looking around me, I noticed some passengers who were going to change the flight here to Mexico or Sao Paulo. They were worried about the time to pass the immigration. So I talked to an officer who was taking care of the passengers standing in a line.

     “I am not sure if they are able to make their next flight. It seems to me that some of them are worrying about the time they need to pass thorough immigration. Can’t we do something to solve this situation”.

     The officer, probably more than 180 centimeters in height, with a black robust body, said to me. His gold teeth made him charming when he smiled.

“Frankly speaking, I also worry about the situation. According to the time schedule of the staff worker for today, 20 officers were to come, but I see only 14 here now. I don’t know why. Yesterday, too, we had a similar problem. The escalator to carry the luggage from the planes to the luggage claim center was out of order. So, we, staff workers ourselves, had to carry them to the elevator. The situation lasted for about 3 hours. I heard that there was something wrong with the computer”.

     After he explained to me the situation, he tried to transmit what he said, to all the passengers waiting around him in a loud voice.

     I had encountered similar situations several times during my visit to Latin American countries as a correspondent. How they react to the passengers at these occasions, however, was different. In Latin American countries, there were seldom explanations why the planes were delayed. I didn’t see passengers, however, complaining to the officer.

     I think, as you have probably heard the word “Hasta Manana” (Spanish: means, “until tomorrow” or “bye and bye”), the rhythm of the life of Latin American people are slow tempo compared to that of the North American people. It seemed to me that they took it for granted and were convinced that the plane would take flight some time anyway.

     But we were at Huston. This is where they have the base for space travel. We were in the US where they are punctual in general and they put priority on rationalism. These episodes teach us that even the most developed modern technology in this world depends on the management and the heart of human being.

The security check: how strict it was!

     Before my departure, I was told that the security check in the US was very strict. My turn came and I proceeded to the reception desk. “Hello”. The officer saluted me with a smile. I felt his welcoming attitude. The security check itself, however, was totally different. After checking my passport in detail, he told me to apply my fingerprint. First I put my index finger of my left hand on a small pad and did the same the right. Then he took a picture of my face with a special small camera (which I presumed was connected to computer). I even had to take off my glasses in front of the camera. (To prevent us from camouflaging, I presumed).

     Of course, these are to deter of terrorism. The strictness of the security check was totally similar to other airports when I took an airplane to go to other cities. Let me comment here on the different things we don’t have to do at Narita InternationalAirport.

�@    I had to take off shoes, that is, to become bare feet ( Socks are permitted). It is to prevent passengers from concealing dangerous things in their shoes or under the bottom of the shoes, I presume

�A      I had to take off my jacket and the belt from my trousers (because the iron buckle reacts to the metal detector). I had to take off the belt at every occasion when I board the plane. The trousers were about to drop down. I had to take care not to show American passengers the SUTETEKO, very typical Japanese underwear during the summer.

 I thought this was inevitable. To protect countries and citizens, we need to analyze the actual situation of the US and the world after the September 11 incident in 2001.