Guests of the Prince!

imperial palace


Yes, we were guests of the then Prince Akihito, now an Emperor. Actually it was only Dad and Mom who were invited but poor mary anne who will be left behind. Being the only child, they would want me of course to be with them in this important ocassion so they had to ask permission from the palace.

The photo shown here is the one and only official photo taken by palace media. At 5 years old, I was not really aware of who we were meeting and his importance. All i remembered was we kept circling the palacsince we arrived a few minutes early of the appointment. When I was older, i learned from mom that we could only enter the palace grounds on the exact time of the invitation. We were accompanied by the japanese ambassador only up to the reception area. Only the invited guests can meet with the Prince.

When we got in the 'meeting room', what I remembered was meeting a very fair complexioned slit eyed rosy cheek guy who I felt like pinching because of his seemingly blushing face. I told this to dad so he tried holding me back with all his might otherwise I might just really pinch the Prince.

Dad and Mom presented a painting by Narciso Reyes. I can't recall what they discussed but it was sure an interesting moment in life.

My First Airplane Flight

first plane flight

I will never forget the first time I took the plane. We were headed for Tokyo accepting an invitation from the then Prince Akihito (now Emperor).

Many firsts in our lives usually get stuck in our memories but this was extraordinary for we almost didnt make it to our destination.

First I found out i easily get air sick (well I have some form of motion sickness) but you might say I had reason to be air sick then, why? Well, I think one of the plane's engines conked out making it almost nose dive a thousand feet- yes almost because after the drop, we were still up on air.

Oxygen masks all of a sudden appeared. Who would think that after several dozens of international flight by my parents, their first with their only child will prove this dramatic? :)

Because of this yellow dangling object right in front of our faces, dad nervously got the mask and placed it mistakenly on top of my head ha ha ha, then on my face to aid me in breathing. Thats when I got dizzy.

Mom said there was a passenger who got so nervous he tried bringing out a cigarette (yes smoking was still allowed during that time) but dad gave him a karate chop since lighting it might explode the plane! The oxygen was still out!

The plane had to turn and land in Honkong. When we reached the airport we were told to wait while they fixed the problem. Dad chose to buy another ticket rather than take the same plane.

Quite an adventure looking back!