Arriving at Japan international airport from Kathmandu amid covid in 2022

Recently, I arrived to Narita Airport from Nepal. Here, I am writing a summary of how it was.

At Kathmandu, I had to a RT-PCR test one day ahead of the boarding the plane. At the hospital, you need to request to provide a form that can be used at Japan. They will charge you extra fee for it. I did my test at Hams hospital. The PCR test was NPR 1500 while NPR 300 was charged extra to make the japanese form.

Other preparatory thing you need to do is install mySOS app in your smartphone. If you do not have smartphone, you may get rental smartphone at Narita airport. You can also download the pledge form and fill the questionaries from this website https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/bordercontrol.html. In case you did not fill it, you can do it at Narita airport. I suggest filling the questionaries and make QR code, as this will save some time at airport.

At Kathmandu airport, they will check the PCR result only. But if you have taken vaccine, show it the authority as well. This should make the process smooth. Ask the baggage handler to put the baggage sticker properly and recheck yourself. My baggage was lost for a couple of days due to lousy staff who did not paste the baggage sticker properly. Then, head to the immigration, show your passport and residence card. The officer will put a departure stamp.

Before landing at Narita, the aeroplane staffs will give you some forms. It includes (1) Pledge form, (2)questionaries and (3) custom declaration form. If you had not preprepared early, you can fill these forms in the flight. Once one lands, they are walked through the airport and the following will occur. When I arrived, many Nepali staffs were present at the Narita airport.

1) First they will check if you have installed mySoS app in your phone

2) Then you need to show the questionaries and paste a ID number in your passport

3) Then a technical staff will help you to register your detail into mySoS app.

4) After that you will be taken to the place where PCR test will be done. A saliva sample will be taken. After sample are taken, you will be taken to a waiting space.

5) After about 1 hour, the result will be called with the ID number.

6) Then you will be guided to a place where the quarantine method will be described. In my case, it was 7 days home isolation. They will also give a colour paper indicating you are covid free.

7) After that, you can go to the immigration. At this place they will take photo and fingerprint along with stamping of passport.

8) Then you can pass to pick up the baggage and pass the custom.

Beautiful Japan

In whim I purchased a Seishun 18 pass (seishun= youth or springtime of life) and travelled on the western part of Japan. With this pass you can only board local trains thus forcefully avoiding bullet trains. The slow trains gave enough time to realize the beauty of various places. Flat plains, green hills with snow caps, farms with colourful crops, blue ocean with waves, the experience was amazing. In addition, there were cultural and heritage sites on the way at various stations.

It was a travel meditation.

The website for purchasing the pass:
https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/pass/seishun18.html

a story

Oh! the summer is here. The temperature is rising. My neighbors have started to migrate and green meadow has replaced their home. May be soon I have to leave this place too. Just waiting for right weather. The wind seems to be blow me out but my firm foot is still helping me.

That was when I stayed at my home with fellow neighbors. But soon I had to leave too. The journey towards new place was not so easy. At took me months to reach the new home. On the way I met many new friends and I saw some strange creatures.

As soon I started my journey, I was amazed to see number of others who also had migrated due to the rising temperature. Our state has changed.

Migration itself was not bad as I had thought. Initially, I was so excited that could run like a horse and even jump hundreds of feet without any fear. On those occasions sometimes I screamed with fear while sometimes I sang with joy. I was so strong at that time, I could carry extra loads with me. I even put some precious stones in my pocket to show to give to my neighbors as gift when i reached destination. I could swirl those loads and i didn’t feel any pain.

But after few days of travel, I got little tired. I could not move as fast as I used to. However, I met few new kind of friends. These friends had tails and we traveled together. We became so intimate that this friend could not live without me. It felt so nice.

One day as were traveling, I felt a bang in my head. I was pulled towards some unknown dark hole. My friend could not come along me. There was a bar between us. I felt suffocated. Unwillingly, I had to say goodbye to my friend.

I was taken to a big pool. I saw I was not alone. Millions of my neighbors who had left early were also there. All were quite. Soon, I felt I had no energy at all. I could not carry the gifts anymore. It felt heavy and heavy. I had to take them off and finally I had to throw all of them. I could only carry very few. After few minutes in the pool, I was sucked in a dark path. It was a scary experience. Even though we tried to escape, a force was pulling us. The path was sometimes a big while sometimes it was very narrow. I had to stay cramped in the crowd. Soon I realized I was falling. It was a nightmare. Initially I thought it was a black hole. But it wasn’t, as the speed was not comparable to speed of light.

Then soon, I began to see some light at the end of this falling tunnel.

(…to be continued)