Back to US in no time

"Ain't no way I'm getting on board no [expletive] time machine!" said Marvin.

The Red Sox, drive-time warriors of the Far East, know exactly how this feels. Without the aid of a flux capacitor, the Sox lost to the Oakland A's in Tokyo last night, flew out of Japan early this morning, and landed in Los Angeles early last evening. Marty McFly meets Manny Delcarmen.

"This trip was the best and the worst," said owner John Henry as he waited for baggage. Henry was one of the few who didn't sleep on the 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles.

"I'm looking forward to having my first hamburger," added team chairman Tom Werner.

"There's still 10 minutes to get a bet down on last night's game," added a member of the traveling party who shall remain nameless.

So, Japan is over. Just about the time we were finally learning how to say konnichiwa (hello) it was time to say sayonara.

With Tokyo in the rearview mirror and the Sox returning to spring training for three games against the Dodgers, including Saturday's history-making Coliseum-palooza, which is expected to draw in excess of 115,000 fans, here's a look back at some of the memorable moments from Japan:

-- Highlight of the trip, hands down, was EMC CEO Joe Tucci having a catch with Hideki Okajima at a fancy reception at the Sox' New Otani Hotel headquarters Monday. While 2007 World Series clips were shown on a Green Monster-sized LED screen, assorted clients and dignitaries - most of them Japanese - feasted on sushi and fine wines. After a few speeches and interviews with Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Terry Francona, a couple of fielding mitts were produced and Tucci lined up to play catch with the Sox' second-most-famous Japanese hurler. Standing in front of the giant screen, Okajima softly tossed to Tucci, who was about 20 feet away. Tucci made the catch, and before you could say, "Nuke LaLoosh," gunned a wild heater that sailed far high and wide of a sprawling Okajima and punctured the precious LED screen. I will never look at the EMC logo (which was on the Sox uniforms for the Japan games) without thinking of this.