saiyakuna koto ga okota

Shit happens

The flight back to Tokyo was the first time I ever passed out on a flight heading towards the place I'm visiting. What can I say it was a long stressful day of deciding whether I was going to return to Boston and revisit Tokyo in the summer or just going and taken my chances with the situation, which had me worrying about my friends in Tokyo. Attempting to get a Internet connection at the Detroit airport was hell as well but when I did I was surprised to see how many people were worried about my safety and if I had been in Japan during the Earthquake and Tsunami. In times of tragedy it cheered me up to see when my friends and family come through. Although friends at home and Japan told me to return to Boston and go to Japan another time, my stubbornness disallowed me to go back when I was already 90% on my way home (my home away from home).

I gotta give it up to Delta because they could have made this trip much worse but there customer service understood the situation and allowed me to push back my return flight to Boston a day later without charge.

One of the challenges I knew I was going to have to deal with was pulling an overnight stay in the airport because my flight landed close to midnight. Luckily Going to Haneda airport was so much more convenient than Narita. If anyone plans on going to Japan and there first destination is Tokyo. Make arrangements to land in Haneda. It will save you an enormous amount of time. It was only a 20 min train ride to get into Tokyo vs the 2 and half hours I went through in Narita (although you can take an express train that makes it a half hour but it is a bit more costly).

I ended up in Shinagawa, an area of Tokyo I was not familiar with but was informed that I can take the legendary Shinkansen to Fukuoka at that station. I arrived way past midnight and was not surprised to find out that I would have to wait til 9 the next morning to catch the Shinkansen. However I was surprised to find out I was in a part of town where there was no manga cafe in sight!
So after asking pedestrians, police officers in the koban, and a taxi driver, I start drifting around aimlessly in an area that seemed to not offer anything I needed at that moment. It wasnt until I saw another taxi driver chillin outside his ride that I decided to approach him with the manga cafe question. He wasn't sure but asked his friends and when two Japanese taxi drivers are together your sure to get somewhere. While in the ride to the cafe I realize that dam my Japanese is better than I give myself credit for. Finally all those years of studying paid off! I was having a legit conversation with the driver about the earthquake, directions, and small talk conversations.

So dude got me to my destination and again I'm in an unfamiliar place but I'm thinking it's all good I'm finally gonna get to communicate back home, shower if possible, sleep, and catch my train in the morning. NO. HEAVENS NO! The manga cafe was full. WTF and there was not one anywhere near by, and I looked (>_<) So again I'm asking cab drivers and most simply don't know. I eventually get this one dude who didn't know but called his friend on that keitai denwa and sure enough I'm getting somewhere.

By the way taking a Japanese cab is freaking expensive. I blew $50 bills trying to get to a manga cafe and the second ride was even more pricey.

The good news however is that I was taken to Shibuya. That's a place I knew because I was there one way or another everyday on my last trip in 07. I got to use my Japanese once again and had a chip on my shoulder until dude left me off on the other side of the building where the cafe was and it took me like 15 min to find the door and floor.

I gets there and it turns out that they don't have a shower. I came this far I'm gonna keep going. The crew there was very helpful and directed me to a cafe that did have one. On my way to the other manga cafe I come to see this McDonalds that has a legacy to it in my heart. I'll save it that story for another time.

So finally I'm here I'm set. I can use the restroom which by the way the Japanese have immaculate toilets. I won't go into details but the job was 5 stars. Enuff said

Being able to contact my peoples was a relief but at the same time I come to find out that the day I went to Japan my moms turned out to be hospitalized. The relief was that I come to find out she was getting out of the hospital. I'm gonna have to skype video with the family ASAP! My Spider-senses tell me she must have lost her appetite and let her blood sugar levels fall cause I was gone. (- - ; )

The good news is all my friends in Japan as well as there families were Ok. It was good to hear because I came to find out that night that the death toll went from 300 to the possibility of 1700 within a few hours. Also although all the nuclear plants were successfully shutdown one had a bad reaction with the cooling waters used and an explosion occurred. Nothing nuclear but it put the plant in a position of a possible nuclear meltdown. To make things more dramatic there is a city in the North that has half the population not in contact with the rest of Japan. Possibility of many deceased. I hope all this is more precautionary measures rather than truth. Crazy to think an advance civilization like Japan can have half a city MIA with no contact.

On a side note the limitless green tea at the manga cafe was totemo oishii (^^) I needed that cause for all the good customer service Delta had there food was horrible and the green tea was below standard even for American green tea.

I'm gonna have to skip a few meals in the next few days due to running through $100 in one night. Thank goodness to all that Delta grub I smuggled off the flight and did I mention peanut butter and organic bread from the states. Customs in Japan never saw it coming.