Winding my way back to Yokota -- er... Fussa

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The spontaneous adventure is drawing to a close. Today we said goodbye to our host family and headed (ran) for the train to get Mike and Nick to Tokyo in time. Turns out that the schedule we were looking at was for a train we can't take with our passes. Despite the crunch, we made it with time to spare. We were a little worried since we were going right around rush hour (7-10), but turned out to be no problem at all. We mostly slept through it and I tried to power through the rest of the book I was borrowing from Mike (which he has to return to the library so I can't borrow it after he leaves). I've taken a new interest in Kurt Vonnegut and was trying to jam out a 3rd of his books before we left (big fan of Sirens of Titans, and as far as I got in Slaughterhouse 5 was pretty good too). We parted in Tokyo, where Mike left for his plane (he should be home soon!) and Nick got on his train(s) to Sapporo (he should be home soon too). I decided to adventure a little since I had some time. My only goal was to return this little speaker I bought from a Japanese electronic store chain. I headed to that part of Tokyo (just another stop on the train), returned my speaker, then looked around with a "now what" kind of feel. It was about 11am and the only thing I had on my list was be in Yokota for the night (flight leaves Thurs). I set out to wander, stopped at a noodle counter for lunch and had my last bowl of udon here, and that was about it. I got bored and just hopped back on the train to make my way the couple of hours to Yokota....or so I thought. This is where it gets interesting.

So, apparently, there are several towns named Yokota in Japan. When you type that in to the JR website, you actually get a town named Yokota that's about 2 hours from Tokyo -- exactly the distance that I had traveled to get there when I went at the beginning of the trip. The only problem is that the base Yokota is actually in the town of Fussa, with its own strain station named FUSSA. We had this whole elaborate schedule laid out to Yokota with 3 transfers, all of which I executed beautifully. It was an awesome day out, so I was looking forward to getting to the base around 2 and just walking around the town and chilling out. Well, the train arrived in Yokota, which was in the middle of BFE. I looked around and was like "holy sh*t I have no idea where I am but this is not the base..." Started to panic a little bit since I was in the middle of NOWHERE and didn't speak Japanese. Thank God I had the base map buried in the bottom of my bag (pays to be a packrat!) and was able to pull it out to realize the horror of my mistake. When I stared blankly on the map on the train (I had immediately gotten on the same train going the other way), a very nice little old Japanese lady took pity on me and asked in broken English if I needed help. I showed her the map and where I was trying to go, and she spit out the trains and transfers and stations like a robot (ha! get it?) Turns out, the Yokota, Japan that I was in was about 4 o'clock while the Yokota AFB (Fussa), Japan was about 11 o'clock, with Tokyo in the middle. Crap. I had just spent the longest 2 hours of my life on that train getting to Yokota, now I had to go back. Well, the Japanese lady was actually going to Tokyo too, so she stuck with me and transferred with me, and practically held my hand through it. I went from 2 guys holding my hand to a little old lady holding my hand. I think I could have done it, but it was nice to have someone there who spoke broken English and perfect Japanese. Plus I had company for the trip. She was so nice! She even gave me her name, address, and phone number so if I'm ever in that area of Japan again I can come and visit. I can't believe how open and friendly most people here are. By the way, if you're planning on coming to Japan (Nippa) bring business cards. EVERYONE here has business cards and exchanges them at the drop of the hat. Mike had some so we always had something to give back if someone gave us their card, but Nick and I just looked blankly back.

The trip back to Tokyo actually wasn't that bad -- there's a rapid train (which I thought I had gotten on, but I guess not, since this one was NICE!). Got to Tokyo pretty quickly, and even got to see Tokyo Disneyland on the way. But from Tokyo it was a painful stop-at-every-stop ride, with a transfer in the middle. By the time I got to Fussa, it was 6:30pm and dark. So much for the nice day and plans to walk around. I like to think it was fate somehow stepping in and changing my destiny. The other lines were delayed because of accidents. Who knows, maybe that accident was meant for me and now, through a divine intervention, it's been averted.

I had some energy after sitting on the train all afternoon, so decided to walk the "15 minutes" to the base from the train station. I put that in quotes because I have no idea where they got that number. Apparently I have a short memory because I should've learned from last time. It's way more than 15 minutes and is a pain in the freakin butt with bags (though I figured out how to raise the handle on my suitcase all the way up --oops-- so I don't have to stoop and hurt my back anymore). I stopped at the conveni (the local term for convenience store) on the way and picked up a few snacks for later and the morning. Meanwhile, at the train station in Tokyo while I was wasting time, I found kit kats of every flavor you can imagine: strawberry, blueberry, muscat grape (that was weird), some maple thing, green tea (haven't tried that one yet), and of course they have plain and white chocolate. I think they love kit kats here. But that was pretty cool to try. So I had a bag full of candy, but no real food.

By the time I got to the base, I was a sweaty mess (not to be confused with a hot mess). I checked in and asked for a room in the building with the computer and receptionist (as opposed to across the street like last time). It was an extra $2.50, but I was pampering myself after that walk. When I got to the room, I saw why it was extra. Holy crap! Brand new everything, FULL kitchen with new appliances (stove, oven, dishwasher, microwave, coffee pot, toaster, fridge), bathroom with soaking tub (no electric toilet though), huge living room with new furniture, another TV in the bedroom. DDDAAAANNNNGGGGGG The best $2.50 I've ever spent. I can't believe they don't offer that as standard instead of giving me the room across the street for $39. I would've liked it last time when I was actually trying to make food (this time I missed the commissary (grocery store) so couldn't buy food for bfast). I entertained myself by walking to the exchange to look around. It was funny that, now that I've been in the country for 2 weeks, I had a new appreciation for everything I passed on the street from the train station. The walk/don't walk signs are obsessively obeyed. The conveni is incredibly popular, and are mostly 7-11s but also other random chains. Little noodle places abound everywhere (but very hard to order in unless you speak Japanese since most people don't speak English -- and it's not like you can read the menu and translate it for yourself). So I figured that walking through the exchange, I might see something I'd like to buy now that I knew a little more about Japan and Japanese culture. I was mistaken -- not much there except a yukata, and I already have one. Instead, I spent the next 2 hours having dinner at Subway and reading "iPods for Dummies" (still trying to learn the nuances of mine). And now here I sit, catching up on 125 new emails, printing out oodles of crosswords for tomorrow (though it won't be the same without the gang -- that was fun!), and writing a few last thoughts before I leave the country.

My flight leaves around 4pm tomorrow but I have to be there at noon. Since they never stamped my passport when I came into the country, I have to see if they'll let me back into our country. Otherwise I might need to quickly find a stamp tomorrow morning... hmmm.... So if my next blog is titled "They Won't Let Me In," you'll know what happened. By 8pm tomorrow night I should be landing in Seattle, if all goes well. Too bad I'm not flying back on Friday though -- I would've had a whole extra 13 hours of my birthday! How cool is that. With a whole lot of luck, I'll be rolling into home on my birthday. But that might take another divine intervention...

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Comments

[Doc Nic]

Thanks Aunt Mad! Looks like I might be at your house for my birthday... :) At this point, there's a flight to Mcguire on Friday.