Fourth post from Japan, keep scrolling for the first one
I woke up this morning at something like 9:00 or so. I was content to hide out in my room, though, for I was uncertain as to how heavy of a sleeper my new roommate was and I knew she got in late last night from work.
I looked out on the balconey and it turns out I have a view of the mountains, once you look past the buildings and such.
I returned to Solace for a time, content to hang out in a world I knew. I started to get restless around 11:00 or so, but couldn’t gather the courage to do much about it. I have always been a closed door person and I was apprehensive about opening it now. What can I say? I like my privacy. And gosh, if that isn’t some kind of symbolic meaning. 
I heard stirring and I almost threw open my door, excited about the prospect of potential human interaction when the blasted apprehension stilled my hand. I waited. I paced. I went over options in my head.
When it seemed pretty well established that my roommate was definitely up and about, I slid open my door.
My roommate seems all right so far. We chatted superficially for a bit, and at first, she seemed aloof. I couldn’t quite gauge her. She made the general inquiries and it seemed to me that I was going to be on my own for a time.
I mentioned needing to go the ward office to register for my alien registration. She pointed out the building to me. When I said I also needed yet another passport photo, she told me where I could obtain them. In my head, I couldn’t help but wish she would offer to take me there.
I can’t remember clearly how it came about, but once we sat down at the kitchen table, it seemed that I got through her first line of defense. I guess her previous roommates were…how shall I put this…borderline inconsiderate. As in having sex in the room quite loudly. (All the more reason for me to be content with the Japanese style room as the loud one formerly occupied the now vacant Western style room.)
I quickly assured her that that would not be the case with me! “At least,” I admitted, “not that I know of!”
It seemed that we both relaxed and we talked more. We went through our roommate quirks, and some kind of understanding passed between us. Turns out, Darya also has a theatre background. She is from Edmonton, Alberta. She imparted some interesting Nova tales unto me and warned me of the “reject” male population of my soon-to-be co-workers. “They exhausted all the females of their country, so this is their new fishing pond!”
We ate lunch together at the “fast food” Japanese place on the other side of the building. It wasn’t too bad. She explained how there was a lot of curry consumption in this country and I returned with the fact that I am not much of fan. She high fived me and also confided that she was thrilled that I was carnivorous. “You would not believe the amount of vegetarians.”
She bought lunch.
I travelled with her back to Namba. She was going to take me to a photo place as well as show me how to get into the Nova Building. I was very grateful.
“Are you going to be okay getting back?”
I nodded, “If all else fails, I just start saying ‘Imazato’ and hoping someone helps me, right?”
“Or take a cab.”
We parted company and I came back home. It really wasn’t hard to figure out how to use the subway, despite the lack of English.
Locating the ward office, that was a completely different story. Despite the fact that Darya pointed it out to me from our balconey, I still managed to go the wrong way down three different streets. I ended up coming back up to plot my route. After realizing my silly miscalculation, I finally reached my destination, albeit almost twenty minutes later than I had planned.
The poor guy at the office had to suffer through trying to help me. I wished I knew more Japanese. I also couldn’t help but think about how people in America always bitch about “foreigners” not learning English and also being annoyed when people in foreign countries they’re visiting don’t speak it either. I wondered if this man thought similar things about me as I gestured, flipped through documents, and attempted Japanese — even if I could remember more, none of the Japanese I knew would have been of much help.
After what must have been the longest hour for this poor fellow, I finally obtained what I needed to. I wonder if he was glad to see me leave.
I had also established that talking to myself no longer had to be quiet. Not that I begrudged the poor guy, I was more berating myself. It’s not like anyone really understands what I’m saying anyway.
I don’t know what possessed me, but after I dropped off some stuff at my apartment, I decided that I NEEDED an adapter for John and took off by myself. I can’t remember the name of the stop, but I remembered that it was along the Pink Line. Last night, Stephen had mentioned an electronics area and I thought if all else failed me, I could just come back onto the subway and go to one of the other stops.
I got off the Pink Line one stop prior to Namba. I wandered down the brightly lit streets in search of the katakana characters “personacon” (personal computer). As I sit here writing this now, I can’t help but wonder what the hell I was thinking. I was without a map and had no idea where I was really going. I observed my surroundings, making sure I had some idea of how to get back to the subway, but there was always the chance I could make a wrong turn. Either I loved John so much that I decided to risk who knows what, or I finally gathered some courage.
In my wandering, I noticed I had walked all the way to Namba. I smiled. Good. I had some idea of where I was and if all failed, I knew how to get home. I spotted a Tower Records sign and decided that that was as good a place as any to try and find something for John.
Once I realized that this prospect was unlikely, I located an information counter and first asked, “Eigo o hanashimasu ka?” (Do you speak English?)
“A little,” was the reply.
“Computer store?”
I could see in the guy’s face he was trying to find the right words to answer me with. “Conputa store wa doko desu ka?” I tried.
He nodded, grabbed a piece of paper, and started drawing a map. He came around the counter to show me. “Leave Tower, turn left,” and then he gestured down the street, “maybe five minute.”
“Does it have a name? Er, uh…conputa store namae wa desu ka?” Some vague, broken attempt at formulating the question in Japanese. Thinking back on it now, I really should have asked, “Conputa store no namae wa nan desu ka?” Oops. It got the question across.
He wrote down the name. “Ninomi Ya.”
I bowed slightly and thanked him.
I started to follow his instructions and when I came across a sign that read “Ninomi Ya” I thought that he really hadn’t understood me. Nanomi Ya was an arcade. Uncertain, I decided to go in and look around. I figured, “You never know.”
Well, for the record ladies and gentlemen, Nanmoi Ya was not where I wanted to go. Across the street was Namba City, a mall. If any place would have something, I thought perhaps this was a good place to try.
I wandered around a little and located a “You Are Here” map. Fat lot of good it did me considering it was written in mostly kanji and my katakana is worthless. As I passed one of the escalators, I noticed that there was a music store downstairs. It sold keyboards and for some reason in my head, I interpreted this as a potential place.
I ended up not going into the store, but instead started to wander the lower level. Somehow, I ended up in a camera store. As I was sort of browsing, I couldnt help but think of me Da and how much he would like the place.
I went up to the counter and again asked the same basic questions. I showed the guy the map and explained that Ninomi Ya didn’t quite have what I was looking for. He seemed surprised and gave me directions to a different place.
“Sumimasen deshita,” I murmured and bowed slightly. I was finally remembering more of my Japanese. (That’s how you say “Thank you” when you think you’ve inconvenienced a person. Technically speaking, it’s like “excuse me”.)
Once again, I have no idea how I did this considering in spite of the fact that this guy’s English was a little easier to communicate with, his map and directions were kind of vague.
I was walking down a kind of shady street, darker than the others and I was uncertain of my destination. And yet, I didn’t turn around. I have no idea where this new found courage came from, but it was obviously motivating me.
At the end of the shady street, I noticed a Lawson’s. Due to the uncertainty of the map and myself, I asked for directions again. Well, I thought to myself, at least the guy didn’t send me in the wrong direction. The attendant nodded, “Sofmap!” He pointed just around the corner.
To be honest, I don’t know if I ever made it to Sofmap. As I was walking, I noticed laptops in one of the display windows. I looked at the sign and in no way did it read “Sofmap” — I was too lazy to translate the hirigana, but it was not the right characters for “sofmap”.
I showed the guy my cord and he gave me the necessary converter. That seemed easy enough, I thought to myself as I exited. Let’s just hope it works.
For whatever reason, I decided to see what else was down the other side of that street. “Son of a bitch!” I had found the electronics district, as well as the Ninomi Ya that the first guy must have been trying to get me to. It so obviously was a electronics store. The other one, in retrospect, did say Ninomi Ya, but it also said something about “Sega Elite”. It’s my guess that Ninomi Ya must sponsor places or some such.
I found my way back to Namba and back onto the Pink Line. I was pretty proud of myself. Come on, I traversed a foreign city with no map and little use of the language and still came back successful…and not dead.
The necessity of the situation seems to have given me courage.
I should tell my sister.
