Lost
Went to robot restaurant. Missed last train. Left camera in cab. Noooo!
Although I would rather drink poisonous dried snake tea, have my feet eaten by small brown fish, or plaster my face in bee larvae than call anyone on the phone in any language, I recite my Butch Up Little Missy mantra three times, then use the phone number on the receipt to call the cab dispatcher. At midnight. In Japanese. He checks with the driver, and sure enough, (hey, it’s Japan!) it’s still in the back seat. I’m informed that I can pick it up anytime the next day at taxi headquarters. He gives me the address.
The next day, I google it. It’s in…Kamata? WhereTF is Kamata? I guess I’m about to find out.
I get on a train.
And another train.
And another train.
And the wrong train. Oops, Haneda Airport.
I get on another train.
And another train.
I walk to the little red pin on my GPS.
It’s a 7/11.
Ask 7/11 person if there’s a taxi company anywhere within the known galaxy.
Hallelujah, I don’t have to get on any more trains.
Get directions.
Walk to taxi headquarters.
Camera.
Live to fight another day.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Tokyo
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Jonelle Patrick View All
Writing mystery books set in Tokyo is mostly what I do, but I also blog about the odd stuff I see every day in Japan. I'm a graduate of Stanford University and the Sendagaya Japanese Institute in Tokyo, and a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters In Crime. When I'm not in Tokyo, I live in San Francisco. I also host a travel site called The Tokyo Guide I Wish I'd Had, so if you're headed to Japan and want to check out the places I take my friends when they're in town, take a look!
I am so phone phobic that I don’t even call my own adult children. I used to be the teen with the phone to my ear 24/7 don’t know what happened but I prefer to look at the people I talk to in real life. It seems I miss body and facial language without it. And I always talk on speaker phone as I just can’t comprehend what is being said. I understand the words, I just don’t process it well. And your train adventure? Yikes! Glad you found a taxi!
Arg, arg, I was so busy running around taking pictures of cherry blossoms, I missed replying your comment, my Sistah In Phone Hating! Apologies! I have been phone phobic all my life, even in English, but in Japanese it’s even worse, because it takes me just a second longer to respond, and if I didn’t understand what they just said, I have to decide if it’s because I didn’t hear them right, or I just need to remember what some word means. (>_<) It's awful!