The Final Days

Okay, I was originally planning to post this a little bit closer to the day it actually happened. In fact, I was going to have two more blogs before and after this one. However, I guess that just didn’t happen. (Obviously, as it is now months after the fact). As a result, this one will simply be titled “The Final Days” (which does not refer to death of any sort) as it will briefly encompass my last few days in Japan, with extreme detail on one of them because I actually wrote the one the day I was supposed to.

So, the day-before-the-day-with-lots-of-detail was just a day trip around the Tokyo area. Otosan took me to the Tokyo Sky Tree (a massive tower that requires incredibly advanced booking to get inside), where we ate lunch. Prior to that, we briefly swung by a large temple so I could see it. Otosan said we weren’t going to go inside, which I was frankly a little grateful for because the crowds around it were huge. Before the end of the day, we made two more stops including a park (please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks this statue looks shockingly like a giant turd [picture to be included later…probably]), and a wonderful land known as Electric Town.

Electric Town was like anime central. There were all sorts of gaming shops and figure shops. Otosan could tell that I was really fascinated, so he told me to meet at the place we were standing (a building beneath a giant sign of Hatsune Miku [if anyone knows their vocaloids]) in one hour. I agreed and quickly rushed up the (anime decorated) stairs to explore the other floors of the enormous building.

Now, this next part I remember quite clearly for some unfathomable reason.

I got very excited when I saw a thing-that-dispenses-toys (as I really don’t know its actual name) for vocaloid characters. This was the first one I’d seen with anything familiar, and I decided that I absolutely had to have a Kaito (he’s my favourite male vocaloid).

The sign read three hundred yen, so I dug in my pocket and hastily shoved in three hundred yen. Then I twisted the knob and…nothing came out. Feeling betrayed but also obligated to free dear Kaito from his captivity, I dug in my pocket for more change. Two hundred yen later, I was rewarded with receiving the vocaloid I wanted: dear Kaito.

I still have no idea why the machine decided to give Kaito to me after five hundred yen- two hundred more than he should have been. Perhaps it had been going about its life stealing money from people and had a sudden attack of conscience when I was so determined.

At any rate, I like to think that I made that machine feel ashamed of what it had done, because when I decided I wanted a Miku to go with my Kaito and even fetched more coins from three floors down, it deposited another Kaito after only two hundred yen.

Now there are two ways one could look at this:

1.       That evil machine! No matter how you look at it, it still stole one hundred yen from me!

Or

2.       What a sweet machine. It felt guilty enough to give me two of the vocaloid I’d- eerily enough- said out loud that I wanted. What a beautiful thing to do.

I prefer to look at the second way.

After that, we headed back and I met up with Okasan to join Aiako-san for dinner. I’m still not sure how some of these events came about, but I wound up wearing samurai amour, stealing a stuffed toy dog head and “forgetting” a Canadian souvenir in Aiako-san’s car.

The amour was likely because I was staring at it. With help from Okasan and Aiako-san, I put it on and had pictures taken in Aiako-san’s tatami mat room.

The dog was because Okasan asked me if I thought it was cute. “Kawaii, ne?” And when I agreed, Aiako-san insisted that I take it.

The souvenir was because I felt too awkward to give it to her in person, so I sort of hid it in her car which in hindsight was kind of a weird idea. Oh well.

And now, for the really detailed day: the day I embarked on a journey and actually wrote the blog soon after it happened.

Today, in an amazing display of independence, I took the train to Akihabara by myself.

Otosan waved me off at the station and I walked through the gates armed with nothing more than my wallet, my railway pass, my iPod, my borrowed cell, my notebook with vague instructions written in it, and my map. Written out, it looks like a lot, but it seriously felt like less than it looks like.

The ride to Tokyo was relatively painless. I stood in a corner by the doors for the hour it took to get there, alternating between reading on my iPod, staring at the map, and watching the lights spell out the next stop. I was scared stiff that I was going to miss my stop and wind up God only knows where.

When I got off at Tokyo station, I found myself feeling abnormally confident. I figured that if I’d managed to make it to the station without getting lost, I was going to be set for the whole trip. Now, this didn’t actually make a lot of sense, especially when you consider that all I had done so far was get on the train and get off at its final stop. I can’t say why I felt so awesome, but I can say that it may have made me a tad over-confident.

The second I saw the name of the rail line I was supposed to be getting on, I just assumed that it was the right train. I climbed in and leaned against the wall, noting that I should be getting off within the next two stops.

Four or so stops later, I realized that I had the wrong train. Or to be more precise, not the wrong train, but the train going the wrong way. I can’t recall exactly what it was that tipped me off, but I suspect it had something to do with the ride lasting longer than it should have, and the names not matching up to the ones on my map.

Further examination of the map proved that the train I was on looped around in a giant circle. One way or another, I was going to eventually reach Akihabara. Feeling defeated and stupid, I plopped down in an empty seat and tried not to look as dismayed as I felt. The businessman on my left gave me an odd look, as though sensing my error. I pretended not to notice and stared out the window.

I suppose I have the businessman’s making me awkward to thank for what happened next. As I was gazing out the window, I noticed another train across the platform. A train that looked exactly like the train I was on, other than it was going the other way.

I shot the doors a desperate look. I wasn’t sure how much longer they’d be open for, nor did I know how much longer the other train would remain. Paralyzed by the fear that I’d get up and start to walk only to find myself having to awkwardly hover in the middle of the train because one or both of the previous things happened, I stayed in my seat and prayed that the identical train would be at the next station.

Luck was on my side and I was able to leap up, barrel across the platform, and dive into the other train. All I could think about as the train pulled out of the station was how the businessman probably thought I’d looked like a total idiot sprinting off the train only to get on the same train going the opposite way. But as I leaned against the wall again, I began to feel hints of the confidence slipping back in. I’m not saying that I no longer felt like a complete idiot, I’m just saying that I no longer felt like my failure in the art of train-riding was guaranteed.

And finally- finally- I arrived at Akihabara. Victory was mine. Of course, I nearly started off that celebration on a sour note by almost using the wrong gates, but I realized my error early enough to correct it without it being too obvious. I walked out of the station and into Electric Town feeling like a champion.

My excitement as I entered an anime store near the station was so intense that I was shaking a little. I kept stopping to marvel at objects that came from anime I’d never heard of before, but it wasn’t long before I started finding things I knew. That was when I had to start mentally reasoning with the side of me that just wanted to buy everything in sight.

Me: Oh my gods, look! It’s a figure of that character whose name I totally forget, but he was my favorite character in that show that got boring in the second season! I should totally buy it!

Inner Me: Please try to be rational here. You have to be rational, because this time there’s no one else to be rational for you. Now ask yourself: Serina, how am I going to get this home?

Me: In my suitcase!

Inner Me: Okay, but that box is pretty big. Will you have enough room?

Me: I could just cram it in really good.

Inner Me: That’s possible, but you haven’t actually tried to fit anything in there yet. How do you know there will be enough room?

Me: They call it cramming for a reason.

Inner Me: Fine. If you can tell me his name, you can have him.

Me: Okay! Tsur…no… Okay, I think it sounded like Tokyo. Maybe Toki-something? Toko…i…yo…

Me: You win.

And then a couple minutes later, a similar process would begin again.

Me: It’s a stuffed Miku! I could hang her off my bag! She’s adorable!

Inner Me: You already bought Yuki Miku.

Me: Yeah, but…

Inner Me: Have you checked the price?

Me: Well, no, but I’m sure it’s pretty reason- wait what? No. That’s got to be an extra zero. Hopefully.

Inner Me: Put her back.

Me: But…fuzzy hair…cute…friend for Yuki Miku?

Inner Me: No. You have to-

Me: Oh my gods, bigger Miku!

It took me forever to go through stores because each store seemed to have at least five levels. It was like a never-ending tower of anime. Except obviously it wasn’t fully never-ending.

Walking around, I passed more of those stupid game arcades, and because I do not learn from past errors, I decided I was going to win myself a poofy kitty. Two thousand yen later, I was pretty sure I was only a couple of attempts away from winning, but there was one problem: I’d drained the last of my resources.

Defeated, irritated, and disappointed, I wandered around a little more to cheer myself up before making my way back over to the train station. The poofy kitty had evaded my clutches yet again, but at least I could ride the trains like a pro.

Or at least, I thought I could.

I made it back to Tokyo station, found what I thought was the right line, and bounded up to the platform. The train arrived, everyone shuffled off, and then the entire population of the station proceeded to puzzle me by not getting on.

Me: Should I just get on anyway?

Inner Me: No. No one else is. Please, I beg of you, stop standing there like a confounded moron.

Me: But maybe this just isn’t their train.

Inner Me: Everybody on this platform? I don’t think so. They’re probably cleaning it or something.

Me: Yeah, you’re right…I’m getting on anyway.

As I started to step hesitantly onto the train, a woman who’d been eyeing me worriedly put out a hand to stop me and shook her head.

Me: “Oh, not now? Okay. Arigatou.”

Inner Me: I swear it is a mental impossibility for you to actually listen to me.

Then, feeling even more uncertain than before, I walked over to the sign and started comparing it to my map. They seemed to have all the same places on them, but I still wasn’t sure. I must have been glancing between the two really rapidly, because the same woman who’d stopped me a few minutes earlier came over and asked if I needed help. I gratefully showed her my map and asked her if I was picking the right train to go to Chigasaki. She confirmed my suspicions that I’d been right this time, and I thanked her several times, feeling deeply relieved. A few minutes later, people started getting on the train and I made it back to the station without getting totally lost again.

My old confidence back, I marched purposefully off the train, through the gates, and out of the station. I was awesome. I totally knew where I was going, and exactly how to get there. My mental map was perfect, my sense of direction immaculate. I followed the street I was on all the way out of the buildings and started walking in a completely straight line.

Although I was fairly certain we’d had to take a few turns to get there, I figured I was probably just going a slightly different route. I could see the big AEON store, and that was good enough for me. I barreled along at a brisk pace only slowing to walk around people or move for bikes.

I soon spotted a bridge and felt completely ecstatic; I was so sure it was the same bridge that Okasan and I always stopped at to watch the fish. Now completely positive that I was going the right way, I started walking even faster.

That was when I passed some sort of gated community and a seed of doubt grew in my stomach. I was pretty sure I’d remember passing on of those. In fact, I was positive that I’d remember passing one of those.

I was going the wrong way.

Spinning around, I made a beeline straight for the AEON I’d spotted earlier. Even now, I’m not sure why I wasn’t panicking. I think one is supposed to panic when one is lost in a mostly strange city, but I somehow still felt confident that I could make it back to the house alive and on time.

From the big AEON, I was able to recognize a park, and from there, a series of random landmarks such as the railway tracks, the bike parking, and the proper bridge lead me to the area behind the middle school I’d gone to earlier in my trip.

I was making my way down the alley when a clearly foreign man walking the other way greeted me in English, asking me how I was. I slowed a little to reply, “Oh I’m good, how about you?”

“Good,” He replied. “Are you an exchange student?”

“I’m actually here on a scholarship,” I answered.

“Oh, college student then?”

“Nope. High school. I’m only here for a few more days, though.”

He nodded. “Well, I hope you have a nice couple of days then.”

“Thank you. I will.” We smiled a little, half-waved, and then continued on our paths.

From the middle school, getting back to the house was no problem, and I arrived on the doorstep feeling sweaty and disgusting but proud, only to find that the door was locked and I’d forgotten the code again.

I guess it was just one of those days.

The days following my journey were fairly uneventful. I spent a lot of time packing, and went out to the store to collect food to bring home with me. Otosan took me by the schools again to thank the principals and I brought them thank-you cards.

Later, Otosan and Okasan invited over some of the people I’d met while living with them. I was walking out of room when I first heard the door open. I panicked, backed up, tripped over the doorframe and slammed into the door which promptly slammed into the wall. Surprisingly, no one noticed, and I was able to calm myself down before joining them downstairs at Otosan’s call.

Then pretty much before I knew it before I knew it, it was time to go. I was fortunately able to get on the plane without any near-death experiences. I waved goodbye to Otosan and Okasan before going to wait for said plane. The flight itself was fine, however, the people in front of me weren’t. It was a suntanned couple, who managed to be surprisingly clichéd. The man was tall, kind of buff and wearing a muscle shirt. The girl was thin, blonde, and wearing shorts. I don’t know why this in particular sticks out in my mind, but I may have had to do with the fact that the kept their seats tilted all the way back the whole bloody time.

Anyway, I got off in Vancouver and (thankfully) met up with my grandparents for a few hours before boarding the plan to go home.

It was exhausting, and I was up for more than forty-eight hours, but it was nice to be home.

Japan was an amazing experience, and I would really love to go back there some day. I actually think that I don’t have a choice, because I met so many great people and it would be sad to not get to see them again. Especially if I can speak Japanese by then.

I also have a steadily-growing list of items I wish I’d bought.

Perhaps half a billion keychain swords wasn’t the greatest way to go.