One night in Tokyo

The phone call from Nike sports communications manager Rely San Agustin came as a surprise a few weeks ago. Rely said Michael Jordan was embarking on a week-long Asian tour to promote his personal Nike brand and asked if I could join him in meeting the former National Basketball Association (NBA) star in Tokyo.

That kind of proposition is something you dream about. Of course, I replied, When do we go?

The plan was to fly to Tokyo via Northwest Airlines on Sunday morning, May 23, and arrive in time for Jordan’s court dedication at the Mitake Park in the Shibuya district at 4 p.m. There was also a Jordan brand fashion show and a media conference with his Airness an hour later at the Park Tower Building beside the Park Hyatt Hotel where he was billeted.

The big deal was a 45-minute interview with Jordan in a hotel suite on Monday morning. Rely explained it wouldn’t be a one-on-one, that I had to share the time with reporters from Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. After the interview, Jordan would fly back to the US. We, too, would fly out late that day.

We lined up outside the Japanese Embassy to file our visa applications Tuesday last week. Applicants were entertained on a first-come-first-served basis. It took us about three hours of waiting before our turn came to submit our applications. Comedienne Mitch Valdes was among the applicants. University of Manila’s Attorney Ernesto de los Santos was also there to apply for a visa to attend a Rotary international convention in Osaka.

The Japanese consul who received our application was business-like and no-nonsense. He asked for my name, my birthday, the purpose of my travel and what newspaper I write for. I

answered without hesitation. He nodded his head then said I could pick up my visa on Friday.

Rely and I were back at the Embassy last Friday to pick up our passports with the Japanese visas. This time, we waited only about an hour for our turn.

Our Northwest flight was scheduled to leave at 8:25 a.m. last Sunday. Rely and I hooked up outside the airport at 6 a.m. Luckily, my Silver Elite Northwest card allowed us to check in at the business class counter, avoiding the long queues for economy passengers.

We didn’t check in a single piece of luggage. Since we would be gone only for a night, we packed our stuff in carry-ons.

On the way to the boarding area, Northwest’s Alan Axalan saw us. He was standing outside Northwest’s VIP room and invited us in. I told Alan we didn’t qualify to enter because we were flying economy. Besides, my Silver Elite card had to be Gold for automatic entry to the lounge. Never mind, said Alan who escorted us in. "Part of the service for our loyal customers," he added.

The lounge was fantastic. Comfortable with lots of food and drinks, something to look forward to when you fly Northwest.

The four-hour flight to Tokyo was smooth. We went through immigration without a fuss and took the airport bus from Narita for the two-hour ride to the city. The bus brought us to the doorstep of the Washington Shinjuku Hotel.

We quickly checked in and stowed our bags in our rooms then booked a taxi for Mitake Park. We showed the taxi driver a note with Japanese scribblings on where to go. The driver drove like a madman, zigzagging through traffic and running fast on narrow side streets. It seemed like he got up from the wrong side of the bed that morning. He screeched the taxi to a halt and motioned for us to get down. Our fare was the equivalent of about $15 for the 15-minute ride.

Rely and I couldn’t find the Park and had to ask several passersby before finally being told we were brought to the Children’s Castle when we were supposed to go to the Children’s Hall where the Mitake Park was. We walked about three blocks and got to the Park at 4:15 p.m. Jordan was gone. The ceremony was over.

We didn’t want to miss the next Jordan appearance so we hurriedly flagged another taxi. We showed the taxi driver the Park Hyatt Hotel card–our next stop. Alas, he told us to get off because the hotel was on the other side of the street and obviously, he didn’t like the idea of making a U-turn. So we got out of the taxi, crossed the street and boarded another taxi.

It was another $15 trip. When we got to the Park Hyatt Hotel, we asked the front lobby receptionist where the media conference for Jordan was. She told us to go to the 50th floor. When we got off the elevator on the 50th, a security guard stopped us and asked for our credentials. We had none. Apparently, this was where Jordan’s suite was. The media conference was somewhere else. The security guard couldn’t speak English but he understood our situation.

We went back down to the lobby and bumped into a kitchen chef talking to customers near the hotel’s pastry shop. We asked where the conference was and the chef good-naturedly accompanied us to the next building, the Park Tower.

There was a Japanese man holding up a placard with the inscriptions "Jordan Media Conference Third Floor" in front of an elevator. We raced up, thinking we might be late. When we reached the third floor, we found out we had 30 minutes to spare. There was time to catch our breath.

More in tomorrow’s column.