Phew! Today was definitely a day filled with excitement, fun, and new experiences. I woke up at 8am (9pm for all you United States East Coasters), and got ready to go to church. I placed a quick phone call to my good friend Jonathan Newman and was out the door by 9:45am. Lauren would not be joining me on my travels today because she had a prior commitment with her old host family. They would be taking a trip to Cost-Co (Yes, Japan has a Cost-Co, which is basically the same as Sam’s Club.) and then they would be heading to Shinjuku for dinner at the kaiten sushi restaurant Lauren and I visited not too long ago. By the way, Lauren and I have decided that we want to become “regulars” at that kaiten sushi place! We’re going to try our best.
Last night Lauren briefly explained the route that I would be taking to get to church but now it was time for me to actually brave the train network by myself. As I said before I had to get on the bus to the Tsudanuma train station, got to Nishi-Funabashi, switch to the metro in Nishi-Funabashi, and make my way to the #3 exit where Joe would be waiting to walk with me to church. To my amazement, the trip went smoothly except for one minor issue. While in Tsudanuma, I wasn’t really sure which train to take to get to Nishi-Funabash, but just as I was staring at the train schedule in confusion, Joe called me to ask if I was on my way. He told me the best way to go and I was off!
Church was good and so was my Korean lunch. I met a Japanese girl studying English at the university in Makuhari where I teach. Her name is Kozue (Koh-zoo-eh) and she was very nice and very excited about everything. Much like someone else I know – me! I think I will be meeting up with her and Haeji for lunch in the coming weeks.
Haeji pointed Kozue and I towards the train and Kozue let me know when it was about time to get off at Shinjuku. I had to go there to get the second “A Series of Unfortunate Events” book for my student Sao. Normally, we would order them on Amazon.com but she had finished her previous book unexpectedly and I had to be prepared with something for the next lesson. Since the Shinjuku station is humungous, Lauren warned me to only leave by the Kabukicho exit. Not seeing any signs of that nature and being as smart as I am, I headed for the West exit only to find it was not the right one! I had to re-enter the station with the help of a guard and I felt like a jerk asking for him to show me how to get to the Kabukicho exit. This is how it went:
Me: Excuse me. I don’t understand Japanese. Kabukicho please? (in Japanese)
Guard: Blah blah blah… (in Japanese)
Me: Staring in confusion and saying “I don’t understand.” again in Japanese.
Guard: Saying something in Japanese and then using very dramatic hand signals to point the way. Straight and to the right.
Me: Yes, thank you. (in Japanese)
Then I gave him my card to reset so I could go through the turn style. Because I was flustered, I walked through without swiping my card and was reminded by the guard’s booming voice. I turned quickly and walked back around and through the turn style. After all that I finally found a sign pointing towards the Kabukicho exit. I tried to get out and had to get my card reset again. Luckily, the second guard didn’t ask me anything in Japanese. Finally, I was home free!
On my way to the bookstore I passed a man with a painted face, mohawk, and lack of a shirt. He was playing the saxophone in an odd drum-like manner. As he played, a second man with a mask danced interpretively in the middle of the street. I watched for a good five minutes and spent a while in the bookstore looking in the Foreign books section.
I found Sao’s book and left to get some fruit on a stick. On the way I saw a group of men carrying a shrine on their shoulders. The shrine decorated with gold represents a small city. These men were carrying it through the streets of Shinjuku; this is usually done once a year. I was getting ready to head home and found my way back into the Shinjuku station and onto a train. As I passed Akihabara and Motoyawata, I decided that I would have to try and visit these two places when I had extra time.
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