I’m writing this on a 15-hour Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to New York. The man next to me is sleeping barefoot (no socks), his snoring is more like snorting. The flight attendant just shouted at a man who got out of his seat when the seatbelt sign was on. Another flight attendant whirs past me at a frantic pace, her heels causing my seat to vibrate with each pace she makes back and forth past me. At the lounge before boarding, people shoved each other in line towards the noodle bar. One man stuffed an entire dumpling in his mouth before returning to his seat from the buffet.
Normally, living in New York, all of these human behaviors wouldn’t phase me, but they are jarring after 10 days in Japan. There, the bustle of people maintains a muted hum, the energy is consistently soft and delicate. In Japan, I often felt hard of hearing as nearly every person I encountered in service seemed to whisper, their …