Japan Hates Me...

Sooo....funny story. I'm writing this blog from the Tokyo airport killing a bit of time before my flight to JFK. Since I had a 12 hour layover I decided to journey into Tokyo (about an hour and a half away) for the day. I walked around, did a bit of sightseeing, ate AMAZING sushi, wondered why Japanese people are so weird, and then decided to head back to the airport a bit early because I was worried about getting back for my flight (my flight is at 6pm, needed to be at the airport by 4pm, its like an hour to an hour and a half away). So at 1:15 (Im crazy remember...) I get in line to buy a ticket on the Narita Express (the high speed train that connects Tokyo and the airport). What do I discover...the train isn't working because of the weather. I flipped out, obviously. This nice young Japanese guy (with amazing English) helps me figure out another way to get to the airport - taking the subway to an above ground train (a slow train but its fine because I had enough time,..). So I get off the subway at the stop to transfer to the train (heart pounding because I'm convinced this isn't going to work and I am going to be stranded in Tokyo). I go to the ticket counter to buy the ticket and I didn't have enough yen on me...and the wouldn't accept credit cards. So I run around the station looking for an ATM and the only ATM they have doesn't accept foreign cards. So I leave the station in frantic search for an ATM. I find one...and again it wont accept foreign cards. I was literally on the verge of exploding into tears (the train for the airport was leaving in 8 minutes at this point and I still didn't have the money to buy a ticket) when this nice Japanese guy tries to communicate and help me. He also cant get the ATM to work. But, since he is perhaps the nicest person ever and my guardian angel, he hands me the 2000 yen for the train ticket and I hand him $20 (yup, that's right, he took my dollars for his yen...and the trade was not such a great one for him either...). Running up the escalator (in a country where people don't run let alone cut lines) I bought the ticket at lightening speed and literally jumped on the train about 2 seconds before it pulled out of the station. After catching my breathe I sat down and chatted with a super nice Japanese woman who also was running late for her flight because of the Narita Express not working. So, moral of the story....Japan hates me but the people are very nice. And there is some really nice Japanese guy walking around with $20 in his wallet. I hope its at least a little bit useful for him...

For the record...I arrived at the Airport 1 1/2 hours before my flight after all of that insanity, with just enough time to write this blog post.