Getting Lost Finding Myself in Japan

After a long Saturday featuring a bunch of screaming children and "judgey" parents, 7 o'clock finally hit and the weekend was officially upon me. I was a little happier than usual because I was looking forward to having some Yakiniku with friends in a neighboring city. Long story short, that plan fell through and I found myself alone, standing at the train station at 8:30pm, trying to figure out what to do with myself for the rest of the night. So almost instantly a shuttle bus appeared. I'd been told earlier that week that there was a shuttle bus that goes back and forth between the train station and the mall. Segoi! <---that's Japanese for "Great!" I thought to myself, I'll just take the shuttle bus to the mall and see a movie. So I straightened up my backbone, and with head held high, marched up to the shuttle bus, and barely heard myself squeak out a feeble "Sumimasen" (which means excuse me) before the driver shut the door in my face and drove further up the parking lot. I should have taken this as a sign from God that this was the part where I turn around and go home, but instead I chased the shuttle bus up the road like a lost puppy and asked the driver if I could board. He waved me on and 10 minutes later I was at the mall.

And boy was I happy!

So I decided to see Sex and the City part 2 because it was the only English movie that I hadn't seen yet. (The other 2 English movies were The Book of Eli and Iron Man part 2.) I anxiously waited in the lobby, trying to decide what to eat while I enjoyed my first American movie . . . in Japan. I decided on a hotdog, a coke and some caramel popcorn <--- that I'd heard was really good.

"Cheese dog, chili dog or normal?" the clerk asked.

"Chili dog" I said and he handed me what looked like a slim jim with some tomato sauce on it.

I settled down into my chair, took a bite of my disgusting hotdog and began to panic. What if I just walked into the wrong movie just now? What if the whole movie is voiced over in Japanese and the subtitles are in English? I sat through a few corny/confusing commercials (Japan's specialty) and listened as the Alica Keyes/JayZ "unofficial New York City anthem" started. When I heard Sarah Jessica Parker's voice speaking English, I took a huge sigh of relief and silently thanked God for allowing me a couple hours of sanity in a public place.

I watched the movie and despite the fact that I am thirsty and desperate for all things American, it was not enough to quench my thirst. The movie was okay, but not good. After it was over, I walked out of the mall and noticed how empty and quiet everything was. I checked my cell phone and saw that the time said 00:06. "What the heck does that mean?" I thought to myself. There were three people in the parking lot and one of them was headed to their car. The other two sat at a bench, waiting for something.

I waited too. Maybe there was another bus coming. I waited for 15 minutes and decided that it was time to try to head home. So I took a deep breath and walked across the parking lot, secretly praying that that very same shuttle bus that appeared out of nowhere to take me to the mall, would appear again and take me back to the train station. No such luck!

I made it out of the parking lot and decided to turn left. I wandered along the sidewalk, beside a wall of dark trees and loud bugs. Things got darker and darker the further I got away from the lights in the mall parking lot. Then I decided that I was going the wrong way and turned around. I did this about 5 times before deciding that I needed to flag down a car and ask for directions. All of the cars were too fast and being that it was so dark outside, I'm sure they didn't see me. At some point, however, a man on a bike appeared and I was able to ask him (in broken Japanese) what direction the train station was. He pointed down the road that I'd gone up and down a few times already. I thanked him and started down the long country road, lined with houses and dark garages. Things got creepy, especially when I walked alongside the rice fields which buzzed with all kinds of disgusting creatures.

After a half an hour, I reached the train station and five minutes later, I was home. I then realized that this whole trip would have taken less than 10 minutes if I'd just taken my bike. In other words, I was pacing back and forth, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, about 10 minutes away from my own home.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how a bill becomes a law.

Goodnight!