Getting Lost in Tokyo
Before Japan, I was extremely navigationally challenged. I could get lost inside a cardboard box. During my stay, I really focused on fixing that and I'm proud to say I only got lost once. Unfortunately for me, it was on my last day. (I did say these stories would be disorganized)
Now, one quick disclaimer. In some of the videos I'll be posting in the future I say that I'm lost or I don't know where I am, but to be clear, I'm not lost in those. Generally, I had an idea of where I was and a backup plan if I ended up going the wrong way. This story is the one time where I realized I didn't know my way back.
(I'm also currently digging through and organizing all of the photos and videos of my trip so I may end up going back and adding some to this post. For now, it'll be empty)
So I was just finishing up my last day with a trip to Harajuku and enjoying the buzz of Tokyo. Since I don't remember my suitcases I must have hurried back to the sharehouse and grabbed them first before catching my trains. They were both rather large and bringing them onto the crowded trains was a nightmare. At one point one of them got caught in the door and people had to help pry the doors open so I could tug it in. I can imagine I was quite the annoyance wherever I went.
One of the last trains I caught I wasn't familiar with and there was no English in sight. It also didn't have any helpful screens showing what stop the train was at. The only thing I had to hold onto was listening for the voice over the intercom to announce "Haneda Airport". I rode that train for over a half hour before I finally got too antsy and nervously asked a nearby passenger.
Ok, I'm going to be honest. I have decent pronunciation for most of my Japanese and people assume I'm fluent, but there are some things I just suck at saying. The name of the airport was one of them. For some reason, I'd gotten into my head that it was "HaNAda" rather than "HaNEda". (Even while writing this out, I googled it to double check and realized I was still calling it Hanada...) So when I asked "Hanada desu ka?" the man just gave me a funny look. At the time I was offended that he couldn't just guess at what I was saying, but thinking back on it now all I had asked was "Hanada?" (Desu is polite, Ka is to make it a question) which is really not that helpful.
After finally connecting the dots he looked quite horrified. "No no!" He said, "Not this way". Apparently, I'd caught the wrong train completely. He frantically began speaking in Japanese to other passengers and they together tried to work out enough English to help me. With their combined efforts I slowly got an idea of where I needed to go so I thanked them, and hopped off at the next station. Looking over my shoulder I saw them all pressed to the window, frantically pointing which direction I needed to go. I don't believe I'll ever forget that image of kindness. I swear the Japanese are some of the nicest strangers I've ever met.
Getting on the right train was still a bit of a challenge and I had to go down elevators and escalator with my massive suitcases, but I did manage to find my correct train and get to the airport.
So you now may be wondering. "Did you catch your flight?" Well, lucky for me I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to travel so I'd left five hours early. I caught my plane no problem. (The trip back to Canada was a mess, but that's a different story)
And that was my time getting lost in Tokyo! Moral of the story? If there isn't any English ask for help before you get lost.
Ja-Na!
Now, one quick disclaimer. In some of the videos I'll be posting in the future I say that I'm lost or I don't know where I am, but to be clear, I'm not lost in those. Generally, I had an idea of where I was and a backup plan if I ended up going the wrong way. This story is the one time where I realized I didn't know my way back.
(I'm also currently digging through and organizing all of the photos and videos of my trip so I may end up going back and adding some to this post. For now, it'll be empty)
So I was just finishing up my last day with a trip to Harajuku and enjoying the buzz of Tokyo. Since I don't remember my suitcases I must have hurried back to the sharehouse and grabbed them first before catching my trains. They were both rather large and bringing them onto the crowded trains was a nightmare. At one point one of them got caught in the door and people had to help pry the doors open so I could tug it in. I can imagine I was quite the annoyance wherever I went.
One of the last trains I caught I wasn't familiar with and there was no English in sight. It also didn't have any helpful screens showing what stop the train was at. The only thing I had to hold onto was listening for the voice over the intercom to announce "Haneda Airport". I rode that train for over a half hour before I finally got too antsy and nervously asked a nearby passenger.
Ok, I'm going to be honest. I have decent pronunciation for most of my Japanese and people assume I'm fluent, but there are some things I just suck at saying. The name of the airport was one of them. For some reason, I'd gotten into my head that it was "HaNAda" rather than "HaNEda". (Even while writing this out, I googled it to double check and realized I was still calling it Hanada...) So when I asked "Hanada desu ka?" the man just gave me a funny look. At the time I was offended that he couldn't just guess at what I was saying, but thinking back on it now all I had asked was "Hanada?" (Desu is polite, Ka is to make it a question) which is really not that helpful.
After finally connecting the dots he looked quite horrified. "No no!" He said, "Not this way". Apparently, I'd caught the wrong train completely. He frantically began speaking in Japanese to other passengers and they together tried to work out enough English to help me. With their combined efforts I slowly got an idea of where I needed to go so I thanked them, and hopped off at the next station. Looking over my shoulder I saw them all pressed to the window, frantically pointing which direction I needed to go. I don't believe I'll ever forget that image of kindness. I swear the Japanese are some of the nicest strangers I've ever met.
Getting on the right train was still a bit of a challenge and I had to go down elevators and escalator with my massive suitcases, but I did manage to find my correct train and get to the airport.
So you now may be wondering. "Did you catch your flight?" Well, lucky for me I'm a nervous wreck when it comes to travel so I'd left five hours early. I caught my plane no problem. (The trip back to Canada was a mess, but that's a different story)
And that was my time getting lost in Tokyo! Moral of the story? If there isn't any English ask for help before you get lost.
Ja-Na!
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