American born, Finn Nieminen, glanced out the window looking at the massive city of Osaka, Japan; sprawled out just below him in grids and rectangles of many different colors, shapes and sizes. There were many waterways that transformed into nearly dried rivers and creeks that drained from the surrounding hillsides.
From the view from a jet plane window, looking down below, he mumbled in his well-mannered English dialect of a gentleman well educated and sophisticated...
"So, this is Japan." he whispered to himself, overwhelmed by the density of the city that was to be his home for the next few months. His blue eyes glanced across the hazy horizon to the heart of Osaka with its towering skyscrapers hugging the coastline. He prayed that he would never have to visit there, for it looked awfully crowded!
His fear of being in crowded places had begun when he was only seven years old. He still remembers that day as if it had happened just yesterday: lost and all alone in downtown Portland. His parents had vanished, leaving him behind all alone on the streets. For nearly twelve hours, his home was amongst a forest of steel, cement and glass high-rises.
Finn remembered being huddled against the mortar of a 546-foot-tall Wells Fargo building, watching a large group of protestors marching down Jefferson Street towards the Multnomah County Courthouse, screaming and chanting profanities.
The protestors were all dressed as if they were part of civilian militia armed to take down the local government with baseball bats, crowbars, fireworks and rocks. And opposing of them were the Portland City Police Department dressed in their black riot gears, of whom stood back and allowed all hell to break loose in the City of Roses.
Only an hour to midnight, the police then began making street arrests, and Finn was one of those people arrested for breaking curfew. He, however, was released to his parents who had reported that their son had gone missing and any charges for rioting and or vandalism were quickly dropped that evening, after his prints were taken.
Ever since then...Finn has been terrified of crowded places; along with girls, gambling and animals with long sharp teeth: especially dogs! He was absolutely petrified of them!
The proof of his hatred for canines still hangs on his parents' refrigerator like a well-earned trophy. The disaster had happened during one of his father's many business trips to the island nation of Japan.
When his father had time off, which was extremely rare, they would travel around and sightsee. And on an adventure into the wooded mountains near Shiroishi, they stopped at a strange village that had over one hundred foxes living there!
Finn had not seen so many fluffy foxes ever before in his entire life! There were Artic white foxes, silver foxes, platinum foxes, artic red foxes, and kitakitsune red foxes that Finn absolutely adored.
He rubbed his right hand softly to smooth out the aching pain from his trip down memory lane. "I wonder if Kitsune Mura is still in business?" as he recalled the haunting screams that once escaped between his lips while the jaws of a sly silvery white fox had dug deeply into his tender flesh.
Those scars were his constant reminder to be weary of all types of canines, especially crafty foxes! No matter how cute or fluffy they look, they all have sharp razorlike claws and bone crushing teeth. With the intellect of a psychotic kleptomaniac!
With a sudden shift of the jet plane pulling Finn out of his reveries, the tip of the wing pointed down towards the black asphalt of runway 14, below. The plane descended for its landing as he closed his eyes, saying a small prayer for blessings in his upcoming schooling at Naniwa University, and teaching at Kansai Elementary School in Osaka.
The plane banked hard as it then leveled out and descended towards the earth like an overweight homing pigeon! Finn's heart raced as his new life was soon about to begin once he walked off of the international flight.
The plane taxied slowly down the runway as it then came to a sudden stop at the terminal. With the chime of a sweet-sounding bell, everyone seemed to take that as permission to stand up and scurry for the exit with their luggage in hand.
Once the crowd had thinned, Finn finally stood up and exited his row and collected a single carry-on bag, tucked beneath the front seat. He only carried one bag, as he knew that all he needed was a suit and a change of clothing. Anything else could be bought in Japan.
Finn exited the plane and entered the moderately crowded airport as he searched for the exit. He wanted to see the school where he would be teaching, and then go to his hotel to recover from the jet lag.
Flying from Portland to Japan was very boring and exhausting. Not to mention that it was morning when he left the states, and now it was tomorrow evening. He continued to the exit as he stepped outside into the damp cold and breathed in deep the strange foreign air. It had felt like a very long time since he was in a place unlike his own home country.
Once the nostalgia had passed, he quickly took in his surroundings, trying to find his connections that would lead him to his temporary new life. How proud was his parents that he had returned back to Japan, and not only did he have his first job in teaching in a foreign country, but also learning in a place that would instill honor, respect, duty and exhaustion.
Living and working here would teach him about the easy life that he had taken for granted, back in the States. Finn's attention was suddenly grabbed when his pocket started to vibrate, catching a cell tower signal...
"Who is calling me?"
Finn stepped off to the side, so that he did not block the main walking path and answered his phone in the busy airport loading/offloading platform.
"Hai? Dochira-sama deshō ka?" Finn asked politely as he did not know whether it was his employer, or one of his friends calling him...and he certainly did not want to seem unprofessional with a simple: moshi-moshi.
"Hey Finn my man! Are you already in Japan!?" asked the male caller.
"Oh, hey there Conor-san. I just arrived in Osaka." Finn said, speaking in English as Conor knew extraordinarily very little Japanese, except for the simple greetings that Finn had taught him, and a few simple words to communicate for food, water, amenities and directions to the nearest 'Pleasure Hotel'.
Conor could be described as an 'eccentric' gentleman for all the wrong erotic pleasures of life. Accepted at Naniwa University in the school of business; his favorite business was dominating women.
"Aren't ye just a wee bit too early, my man!?" Conor asked "The fair ain't until tomorrow!"
Finn quince at Conor's terrible use of the English language. But respecting the fact that Conor was from Ireland, and he was from the United States, he understood that dialects tend to create their own version of English 'slang.'
"Iya," as he could not agree "I did tell you that when I was a child, I lived in Japan for a few years, hai?"
"If I remember correctly, ye were bitten by a dog?"
"Fox actually." he corrected, looking at the tooth scars on his hand. "I was inside the fox habitat with my folks. I slipped on some ice and fell, that was when a silvery-white fox came over and bit down on my hand for no reason! Hurt like hell!"