When I had finally reached Tokyo I decided to go directly to teh airport at Narita and resume my trip to London, and decided first to visit my friend Will Pendergrast who was living at the time somewhere near Portibello road. Before I could do this however I had to get out of the airport, and it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. Nobody told me what teh problem was, but costoms detained me and I was put in a room with some other passengers. It had a few seats, and a couple of toilets. It bagan to become tedious as one hour streached into two, then three and then four. Several time I was visited by an official who said that soon they were going to come and take us out for a hamburger, and once we did go out and talk to somebody who may have been a customs agent, and then it was back into the room. Once I was visited by a doctor, or someone who claimed to be a doctor, who was a woman, but my meal never materialised, and the hours passed.
We passed the time chatting to each other. There was a tall skinny woman sitting next to me who said she was from British Giuana, but we didn't really have too much to say. I wondered when I would be out of there. After about 24 hous I suddenly realized that they may suspect me of being a smuggler, and thought it might wise to use the toilet and pass a motion. I'm not sure if this was it or not, but soon after that a man appeared who asked my questions about my intended stay. I told him I had a school friend in Harrogate, and a friend in London, and I intended to visit them and then possibly go on to Ireland for a quick visit. I had my return ticket to New Zealand, and some money on my Mastercard. He wanted to know the phone number of my friend in Harrogate, so I gave him Gavin and Heather's address and number and he gave Gavin a call.
He came back shortly after and told me I had better get on a bus quickly and go and see my friend in Harrrogate. I said I had intended to go into London first and see another friend, but he insisted and took me to teh bus saying it was up to me whether I got on it or went back into the room in the airport. My total time spent in detention was 27 hours.
Gavin told me later the official had asked him if he knew a Malcolm Baker. "I know him well" Gavin had replied in his deep kiwi accent. Gavin had been a marketing manager at a well known supermarket chain in Leeds, Asda supermatkets.
The bus took me as far as Leeds I think. I'm a little hazy on the facts now as it was so long ago. Possibly I rang Gavin from there, and found a hotel, a "Starsky" or "Star", which wasn't too expensive as I recall, about £40 or so.