Only in Tokyo

Thursdays are my busy day here in Tokyo. I have work in the morning, which has progressed from being 4 hours a morning as an "assistant" to 5 hours plus/day as an actual teacher. Still working out how that happened! Anyways, after work my afternoon is pretty full. I won't say hectic because the afternoon is full of ikebana which is actually quite relaxing. Then in the evenings I have two hours of Japanese.

Yesterday afternoon turned out to be rather hectic however. I was all ready, dressed in my kinda posh clothes (ikebana has been at the Argentinian Ambassador's residence recently, hosted by the Ambassador's wife, so looking like a grown-up is required!) and umbrella in hand waiting for a taxi, ordered for me by Ark Hills reception. I should have known something was up immediately when the taxi driver wasn't interested in what the girl from reception had to say, he just pointed at his GPS as if to say, "All I need is this, Baby!"

Well, sadly, he probably should have listened to instructions.

It was pouring with rain here yesterday afternoon (although it's worse today). The taxi drove off after about 5 minutes of button pushing on the GPS and before we got down to Roppongi-dori (the main road at the bottom of our small hill) the meter ticked over from the flag-fare. Great, looks like he was charging me for that button pushing in the Ark Hills "parking place!"

About 10 minutes and ￥1500 later we turn right off Roppongi-dori and the driver stops (in the middle of the street). I'm not sure what he said to me at that point but I wasn't getting out of the cab. Thank goodness ikebana was in the same place this week as last week because at least I had an idea of the direction we should have been travelling in. So the driver turns off the meter, gets out and asks random passersby for directions.

Not sure who gave him the directions, but about 5 minutes later he jumps back in and cancels the fare on the meter. Unfortunately (?) I knew we weren't within walking distance of the embassy so I couldn't just jump out, vase in hand, and take off without him. I had to trust him to get me there. We drove off again, back to Roppongi-dori and this time took the left turn at the intersection. At least this time we were heading for MotoAzabu which is an area with a few embassies.

Eventually we're driving through some pretty narrow streets and once again I have no idea where we are - none of these streets look familiar. But the driver seems to know where he's going and I figure maybe this is the way you have to approach the embassy by car (there's a few one-way streets in Tokyo). Soon the driver pulls over and points out an embassy across the road. The flag doesn't look Argentinian but what the heck, I pay him (￥800), get out my umbrella and take a look.

Uh oh. Run back to the cab.

Sumimasen!

(frantic pointing)

- IRAQ taishikan!

(More pointing - at myself)

- I want Argentin taishikan!

The driver seems to realise it's wrong because next thing you know he is jumping out of the taxi and running over for a look. Comparing the written instructions from Ark Hills with the plaque on the gate. Sure enough, Sarah wanted the Argentinian Embassy!

We get back into the taxi. The driver takes out his mobile phone and calls *someone. By this stage it's almost 3.30 and I am nearly in tears. The rain is getting harder, we're in a random sidestreet and even the driver seems to have no idea. Eventually he gets off he phone and explains something to me in Japanese. Sorry, dude, all I can do is look baffled and repeat wakarimasen!

So after a few nods and daijobus we're on our way again. And this time at least the driver seems a little more .. purposeful. Perhaps it was just my imagination. Soon enough we're on familiar ground again. But then he just pulls over and stops the meter - again! And begins explaining in Japanese some more. And drawing not-so-helpful diagrams with dots and lines. Turns out what he was trying to explain was that the Embassy was on a one-way street and I needed to back down the block a couple of hundred metres.

Finally, I arrived at the Embassy. About 45 minutes after I left Ark Hills. Still, the total price of the two taxi fares was less than the first one he cancelled. I am a little annoyed he charged me for the second part to be honest. But what could I do .. they don't teach us, "I'm not paying" in Japanese for Busy People I. In fact, there probably isn't such a sentence in existence in Japanese.