Lost in Nowhere

It's been a while but let me give you a little update about my situation. So, two weeks ago I went to Tokyo to visit from old friends from my study abroad days. I had a great time, for example I got my hair cut (Japanese style), went shopping, had a couple of beers, then on my way to go home I got lost.

Let me tell you the story, so at the train station everyone left in different directions. The thing is there is only one train line that goes to my town that late at night. Therefore I went to that platform not knowing that the train that I was about to bored didn't go where I wanted. About 30 minutes out of Tokyo the train changes tracks and goes in the opposite direction. I boarded the train and fell asleep. Waking up 30 minutes later to find that I was going in the opposite direction. Thus, at the next stop I looked to see when the next time going towards home was coming, but there was none. I looked around and saw that the town I was in was really small and that there were probably no hotels, therefore I got back on the train. Usually at bigger cities there are lots of connecting lines so I waited for a stop that had a lot of connections. I know it's probably a silly way to judge if there is a hotel or not in a city but I tried it.

I got off at a city (the name I don't remember) and started to look for an all night internet cafe, hotel, manga cafe, love hotel, pretty much anywhere I might be able to stay the night. I saw an internet cafe outside the station but it was closed. It was the first time that I have seen a 24 hour internet cafe closed. I was very sad, because there was no where else to go. I saw a crowd of people walking down the main street so I followed them. About 10 blocks and 20 minutes later they entered a "hostess club" for lack of better words. I decided not to go in, firstly because it might be dangerous and secondly it's really really expensive. I walked around a little bit more trying to find a bar or some place which I could just hang out for a while. But no luck, this town is not homeless friendly. To make another long story short I had to spend the night on a bench in front of the station until the first train came. Wow was that a long night, it was cold, lonely, and most of all I didn't know if the cops were going to come by and start asking questions.

The moral of the story is... always look ahead, don't blindly get on to a train if you don't know where it's going.

Side note: There was only one good thing that came out of this trip; I now know why Japan is called the land of the rising sun, the sun rise is beautiful. Probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I didn't know that the heavens could paint such a sky.