Never before have I returned to Japan after an overseas trip at the end of the cherry blossoms. Don't do it! The season is best when it is being anticipated. When I left, there was just the hint of a pink haze around the trees, the first indication that the blossoms were readying their show. That is a poetic time, anticipation of what is to come with no hint yet of possible disappointments -- bad weather, or perhaps not receiving an invitation to your favorite viewing party. Then suddenly they arrive, and there is one perfect day for enjoying their splendor. If you miss it, forget it. Almost at once, green leaves appear, diluting the pink-cloud headiness of a tree in full blossom. Usually nature takes a hand, ending the performance with the inevitable strong winds and heavy rains, and we are into spring, and azaleas. It was depressing to return to leaves coming out while the blossoms were still hanging on, not yet ready to leave the stage even though the show was over.

Sometimes I feel that way too, staying so many years in Japan, so many friends now living elsewhere. It was those "elsewheres" I visited. I left from the newly opened North Terminal at Narita, where many foreign airlines are located. The renovation has taken more than five years and I was eager to see the results of the transformation. It had opened with little fanfare March 16. When you see it, you will understand why. There is little to celebrate except space. Obviously, no international competition had been held to select a winning design. It is big. It is functional. It is bright. It is filled with many fast-food type restaurants -- order at a counter, pick up your tray and find a place to sit. Those choosing Japanese foods are better served. Restaurants are more upscale, with an occasional waitress in kimono, though there are enough of the mass-travel outlets to satisfy those who must carefully consider exchange rates when they shop. The branch shops of Mitsukoshi and Mikimoto seemed a bit uncomfortable among the more plebeian arcade shops. Carts are not to be used in the arcade. Most people sensibly ignored the notices.

Compared with the South Terminal, where ANA and JAL have top billing along with the foreign airlines they service, and with Haneda, it reminded me more of a tourist bus stop than a new international terminal, and I felt slightly insulted that those who did the plans thought that was what would please us. Might it have been planned to prepare the mostly Japanese passengers for what they would find when they arrived overseas, especially in the United States? Convenience stores and fast foods? If so, they might have provided paper towels in the restrooms, another American convenience.