Chapter 1

Off we go to Japan!

On the 23rd of December 2019, it was my birthday. I celebrated my birthday in Indonesia before we went to the Soekarno Hatta airport. My family planned to have a vacation to Japan for my birthday. We were so excited!

We went to the airport at eight p.m. and met our maternal grandparents at the check-in counters. We took pictures with the Christmas decorations at the airport.

In the airplane, I sat beside my mom while my brother and dad sat behind us. I slept along the way to Japan. The journey on the plane seemed so quick but it was actually 8 hours long. It was a direct flight. I lifted the barrier between my seat and mom’s seat so I can place my head on my mom’s knees while sleeping because I can’t sleep while sitting.

We arrived in Tokyo at 6 a.m. the next day. After we got off the plane, my family bought fried rice. Next, we all got on a bus that was going to bring us to our ryokan (traditional hotel) in Asakusa. On the way to our hotel, I slept again in the bus. When we arrived, my mom woke me up. I had placed my backpack under my seat in the bus. When my mom told me to get off the bus, she didn’t see my backpack. So, I forgot to bring my backpack and got off the bus. After I went down, my dad asked me, “Where is your backpack?” I just remembered it was left in the bus. We ran back to the bus stop but it went off already. I cried because there were lots of things in there like my pencil case and my books. My mom cheered me up because we were in Japan already and she said, “Maybe I could ask them to send it back.” So, I had a small hope of getting my bag back.