"I've read your blog," was her answer to that question.
"Did someone tell you about my blog? Is there a reason you read my blog in particular?"
"I've read your blog," she repeated. "Thank you," she said, indicating she was done talking to me, and I handed the phone back to the ANA agent.
A nice man from Hong Kong who worked for ANA took me back through Japan Immigration. No problems getting back into Japan. (Technically I suppose I had left Japan when I went through Immigration earlier in the day at the airport, and they stamped my passport and all that, but in any case, it wasn't an issue.) The man said that in the three years he had been taking care of people on this flight from Narita to Auckland, this had never happened. He wasn't entirely sure what the procedure was at this point.
He helped me collect my luggage. He shared some of his own minor travel horror stories -- he recently went hiking in Siberia, where the fact that he is fluent in Chinese, Japanese and English was of absolutely no use in trying to navigate Siberian society, which led to some travel complications for him.
He took me to the hotel reservation desk. They said all the hotels were full. He said I should try calling one in particular, the Narita Airport Rest House. He left and said he had to talk to his boss about my situation. He said I should wait there for him, and he'd be back in 15 or 20 minutes. An hour and a half later, he never came back.
The hotel had a free room, thankfully. Getting to this room, I felt like I was living in a travel anxiety dream, the kind of dream I have at least once every few nights. Except it was all very real. Still feeling that way. I called a friend who is a lawyer in Christchurch. Maybe she knows another lawyer who can help. Maybe. Seems unlikely at this point.
I think I'll be able to get a work permit before I land in Australia, anyway, so the rest of the tour should be OK. If I can figure out how to get to Australia without using the ticket that goes there via Auckland, which is the one I already bought.
Not sure what my next move is, but I know it's going to be costing me many thousands of dollars, whatever it is. And if I max out all of my credit cards completely, I guess I've got the money.
If you've got any to spare for a stupid musician who didn't get a work visa to do 6 lousy gigs in a country that has 3 million people and 60 million sheep and is located in the middle of nowhere, your donations are very, very, very welcome.
Info on how to help David is here
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