Stranded in Japan

In the spring of 2006, I decided that I wanted to go to Japan for study abroad. I was excited and did all the paperwork before the deadlines. I got a few scholarships from school and used up my savings for a total of $10,000 for a 3 month stay with school, home, food, and entertainment. I left for Japan later that year in the fall of 2006.

The day before I left, my friend called me up and told me to be careful about typhoons. I just nodded and said thanks, thinking nothing more about it. The next day however, right before we could land in Narita Airport in Tokyo. We were hit by a... yes you've guessed it, a typhoon! The plane turned around and landed all the passengers in Osaka city about 342 miles away from Tokyo.

When they landed, they gave me a reimbursement form and told me that there will be no more available flights to Tokyo, so I should just go by train. First of all, I had no idea where to start. I knew no Japanese, had a giant luggage bag and a huge backpack walking around the airport. At night, sweaty, tired, and had no idea how to get out. I tried talking to the men at the bus stops but they did not know any English. I decided to jump on the bus and see where it would take me but I got kicked out. I called my student coordinator and he just told me to find the "Shinkansen" bullet train to get back to Tokyo.

This trip started to feel like the worse mistake I have ever made in my life. I went back into the airport.. After yelling and being impatient with the AA ladies, they finally gave me a free bus ride and hotel stay. After an hour on the bus I got to a hotel, checked in, and tried to call home. The phone card was not cooperating so I just went to sleep for about 2 hours.

I felt nervous and hungry, I went outside the hotel to explore Japan a bit, hoping to relieve some stress and find food. Found a noodle stand, ate some delicious noodles, then went to a 7-11 to get snacks. I took a deep breath, and decided that I needed to take charge of the situation. I wanted to feel safe and secure, but this felt like being dropped into the wild.

I asked the receptionist at the hotel how I could find this "Shinkansen" and they told me that I needed to take the subway to get to the area where I could go on the bullet train. He gave me directions to the subway station and told me that it opens at 5am. I took my luggage and snacks with me and waited outside the subway until 5am.

I was scared and afraid of getting lost. I did not know how to ask for directions, I knew no Japanese except for "sumimasen" which means excuse me. I just showed them the map and said "Tokyo?", "Tokyo?", train, after train, I continued doing that until I finally hit the Shinkansen, and got to Tokyo. Although it was a horrible and frustrating experience at the time, I look back today and was glad I had the experience, +25,000 airline miles =)