Hi, I’m Meiji. You might remember me from such educational films such as “Don’t Get Lost, Or Sleep in a McDonalds” or “Hokkaido And That Day I Got Lost in Lake Toya“. And now, I’m bringing you the remastered “From Tokyo to Yokohama: Lost in the Station”. In other words, I have an issue with my sense of direction. But that’s not too bad, right? It’s always fun after all and I end up laughing about how naive I can be.
This time could be the silliest way I’ve gotten lost. Well, it didn’t happen while cycling in the mountains, nor while trying to find my way back home. But ok, that last one was really silly too. It actually happened in a really impossible way. Curious enough? Keep reading to find out how it was!
A Kamakura day trip
It was saturday, Tokyo was still new to me and I didn’t have any special plan for that day. Days before, I’d messaged a friend who was introduced to me by another friend; so she was actually the friend of a friend. And on that saturday we planned a Kamakura day trip, a city about one hour from Tokyo.
The schedule was actually plain simple: we’d meet at Yokohama Station and from there we’d go to Kamakura and Enoshima; nothing to worry about. I checked for some routes on Hyperdia about how to go from Tokyo to Yokohama. I also checked the time it would take me to arrive. At the end, we would meet at a book store. Easy cake!
From Tokyo to Yokohama
Then, Saturday arrived! I wanted to be extra cautious -again-, I wanted to arrive half an hour before the time of the appointment. I never hired any Internet service in Japan and couldn’t do phone calls; once I were out of reach of any free wifi signal, everything must be perfect. So I had to be there without inconveniences. Actually, I also even took a screenshot of the location of the book store. This time I was ready! What could go wrong? Yes, here I was tempting Murphy’s Law again.
I left my capsule hotel near Ueno Station on time and took the Utsunomiya Line from the JR Train. Heading straight from Tokyo to Yokohama, my first time in that city as well. I’m used to spending time inside trains. I feel good and I usually won’t take a seat even when there’re available ones, unless I’m really tired. Five minutes later, I arrived to Tokyo Station and I went straight to the Tokaido Line. -Oh, I remember my first time at Tokyo Station too! Quite funny! But that’ll for another blog entry-. There, I changed to the other train which would take me to Yokohama Station. Another 27 minutes, counting the time I walked while changing lines, that’d be about 40 minutes from Tokyo to Yokohama. And I’d be arriving 30 minutes before the appointment.
No surprises this time, everything was great! How difficult it can be to get from Tokyo to Yokohama anyways?
Yokohama Station
I finally was in Yokohama! Well, Yokohama Station at least. Next I did was checking the screenshot to see where the book store was, then I realized something I didn’t know about first: the station was huge! Easy to get lost -uh, oh-. I checked the picture in my cellphone and realized I was in the opposite side. Without Internet, I depended on the picture of the station’s map I had, so I walked and went to the right place.
I finally arrived to the opposite exit and immediately assumed the book store was outside the station; and so I went straight to the street. Curiously, I never spotted any book store when I walked a bit around outside, and then I started to worry. I still had about 15 minutes, still on time; but with no book store on sight I was gonna lose the advantage soon. I checked my screenshot again and started to hesitate: “what if I’m wrong now and was in the right side from the very begining?”, “should I go back?”
Struggling inside the station
I went the the ticket vending machine (TVM) and bought the cheapest one. –Yes, I had learned the lesson of how tickets work in Japan already-. But I didn’t surround the station from outside since I knew it was huge and I’d surely lose my path. Instead, I bought the cheapest ticket with the intention of going in from one side, and going out on another. The Japanese system wasn’t familiar to me, so I thought it was the easiest and most logical solution.
It was getting late for the appointment, so I started to walk a bit faster; I walked through all the station from end to end until I reached to other exit. I introduced my ticket -the one I had bought in the same station but on the opposite entrance-; to my surprise, the turnstile rejected it! Tried again, same result. Now this, I wouldn’t go out of the station! I thought it could’ve been because I had to pay some extra charge; so I went to the closest Fare Adjustment Machine inside the station and introduced the ticket, but it was fine! Nothing more to pay, I knew that ticket wouldn’t work in the same station where I bought it. I needed to take a train and move for it to work.
Communication was gonna be an issue
But of course, I wasn’t gonna do that. So I thought I could explain the problem to one of the workers inside the station and that might be enough. Did I say the station was huge? One interesting thing Yokohama Station has -amongst others-, is that big special exit door for the eldery and people with different abilities; like the ones who need a wheelchair. It was a big, independent room made with transparent plastic -or something similar-, which was next to the the normal turnstiles. Inside that room there was a young -and cute- woman in uniform behind a desk; I supposed she was there to answer tourists inquiries or any other issue.
Lost in Translation
While a group of foreign tourists were trying to get some information about how to arrive to certain place; I immediately noticed a mayor issue: the language. The young woman didn’t speak any English, and the other guys didn’t speak any Japanese. When the group of tourists finally left, it was then my turn. Now, how do I explain this girl my problem? I took the ticket with my hand and did my best to transform myself into a gestures machine.
There I was saying basic words such as: “chiketto”, “yokohama”, “exit” -while pointing out to the exit of the station. I also tried to explain in English with no luck. My Japanese was pretty basic at that time, I only knew some basic words and didn’t know how to say something like “enter”, “exit”, or “I bought this ticket in the other entrance and I want to go out here”, for instance. The -cute- girl seemed pretty confused and asked me some questions which unfortunately I didn’t understand; She then took a look at the ticket -and saw it was only about 140 yen-. My fear was that she could mistakenly think I came from a long distance with the cheapest ticket; and then wanted to leave without paying extra charge.
I did my best with all the gestures I could, pointing out to the other entrance, then to the exit; but I was completely unlucky. I definitely think I wouldn’t have any good future as a mime. Finally, after several minutes of struggle, the -very cute- girl realized all I wanted to do was going out; and so, she let me pass. All I could say was: “arigatou gozaimasu!”
Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!
I think sheΒ never understood what I wanted to say and finally just gave up. Yes, that must be the most logical answer, right? But anyways, with all what happened, I had fotgotten about time after going out from Yokohama Station -again-. When I checked I was already 20 minutes late! I took a look at my surroundings but didn’t see any book store either. What I saw was a Starbucks about 100 meters from my current position, at least one good news! No, I didn’t feel like drinking a coffee precisely at that moment, I actually hate Starbucks’ coffee. All I wanted to do is using its free wifi lol. With that on mind, I quickly went to it but stayed outside, enough for the wifi signal to reach me.
I sent a message to my friend apologizing for being late; I told her I was lost and that I didn’t know where the book store was. She quickly replied asking me where I was, and that she would go for me. I noticed that besides the Starbucks there was also an entrance for the Yokohama Metro -I was using the JR-. Next, I took a picture of the entrance and sent it to her. “Ok, don’t move”, she told me, “I’ll be there in a few minutes”.
And what about the book store?
While I was waiting, I posted that same picture to some of my social networks; pointing out how getting lost was actually a normal day in Meiji’s life. The surprise would be the day I didn’t. About 5-10 minutes later, my friend finally arrived, checking the time, I was about 40 minutes late. I apologized and told her what happened, which turned out to be a good ice breaker to start a conversation. Yes, I got lost while going from Tokyo to Yokohama! Well, inside Yokohama Station strictly speaking.
After that we headed towards our next destination: Kamakura! But that will be for another entry π By the way, the infamous book store was actually inside the station all this time.
How often do you get lost? Would you also get lost at some point while going from Tokyo to Yokohama? Do you think when it happens, all you can do is to go with the flow and enjoy it? Share in the comments!
Leave a Reply