My Life in Tokyo

My advisor at Wellesley had a favorite saying: “Everything is either trivial or impossible. If you know how to do it, it’s trivial; if you don’t know how to do it, it’s impossible.” Of course, Prof. Hirschhorn was talking about incredibly difficult theoretical mathematical proofs. But the saying comes back to me so frequently that I believe it really applies to just about everything new we encounter.

And so it is with life in Japan. Everything starts out impossible. But if you can deal with that, you just might find that it gradually becomes trivial.

Today I had an adventure full of impossibles.

I met Mark for lunch and planned to do some shopping afterwards. I thought I would go by bicycle to give myself more flexibility and explore the city a little. I knew I could get to his office in 10-15 minutes, and then from there to Shibuya in 10-15 more. Going to Shibuya is one of my regular reminders of how small New York is in comparison with Tokyo. Like Times Square on steroids, Shibuya is one of the many big, crowded commerical areas dotted around the city. It is centered around a commuter rail station, crammed with departments stores and shops, dotted with neon and an enormous video screen. The streets come out in a star from the station and it is easy for someone like me (with little sense of direction) to get lost. It’s also very crowded. I have been there several times by train but never by bicycle. I’m not sure why I thought this would be a good idea, but it seemed worth a try.

Here’s what Shibuya Crossing looks like at night; it’s just about this crowded during the day.

I knew it might be a challenge to park my bicycle. Lots of people travel by bicycle in Tokyo, but it seems to be illegal to park your bike almost anywhere on the sidewalk. Everyone does it anyway. The police do routinely ticket illegally parked bikes and even cart them away, so there is some risk. I still can’t figure out where it’s okay to park. When I got to Shibuya today, however, I found an actual bicycle parking area. So I put my bike into one of the slots and locked it up. Then I saw that there was a machine to pay for the parking. Okay, kind of a drag to have to pay, but no big deal, I thought. Except for this: the machine was labelled only in Japanese. I had no idea how to use it. So I decided to go back and remove my bicycle. But when I tried to take it out of the slot, I found it was locked. Then I realized that you would have to pay in order to remove your bicycle. But of course I couldn’t pay because I couldn’t read the machine. Hmmm. I stood around for a bit, hoping someone else would come and park their bicycle so I could see what to do. Then I stood around a bit more, trying to look vaguely confused and helpless, hoping someone would offer to help (this often works). No luck. Then I called Noriko to ask if she knew how to use this kind of machine (maybe it was very common, I thought, and everyone would know how to use it). Unfortunately, she had never used one before. And then, of course, I couldn’t read the instructions to her for me to translate because, and this is the thing that I just can’t get over . . .

I AM ILLITERATE.

Yup, that’s me. Competent, intelligent, well-educated; yet I can’t read or write in my host country. A very strange and unsettling fact, which is unlikely to change anytime soon.

So anyway, back to my adventure. I did the only thing possible, which was to walk away and go on with my errands, hoping that when I returned I’d be able to find someone to help me. As I walked away I wondered: would I be able to find my way back here again? Could I possibly remember in this urban maze where I parked my bike? All I could do was check for a landmark or two and hope for the best.

Next, I went in search of Bic Camera again. This is the same store I was looking for when I got lost in Shibuya the first time back in December. This time I thought I’d look for the main store instead of the smaller, older branch I’d gone to before. I thought it would be bigger and easier to find. It still took me a long time to find it. When I finally noticed it, I realized it was the biggest store on the corner of the main street that I had looked at 10 times. This time I knew it would be labelled in Japanese, and I knew what the katakana letters looked like. It is just so very strange to read symbols and letters that are not Roman characters that I still often miss the obvious even when it’s right in front of my nose.

In the store, I was looking for a specific kind of cable to hook up the new TV in the bedroom. I couldn’t find it, so I asked a salesman for help. He didn’t know what I was looking for. Eventually, we each took out our cell phones to call for translation help. At one point, I was talking to his colleague in English and he was talking to Noriko in Japanese. Though we still didn’t manage to communicate much, it seemed clear that they didn’t have the cable. Strike 2.

Next stop, Citibank, to pay a bill. There are two ways to pay bills here in Japan: in person, in cash; or by bank transfer. No checks in the mail. To do a bank transfer, you have to go to the bank and either fill out a form with the teller or enter the information in the ATM. In general Citibank is pretty friendly to English-speaking customers and the ATM’s have menus in English for the basic transactions like withdrawals and balance inquiries. Not so for the bank transfer function, however. That is only in Japanese. So in order to pay a bill, I have to go the bank during regular banking hours and ask a bank employee to help me enter the information into the ATM. Today I got to the bank at 3:15, only to find that the branch closed at 3:00. So there I was again, with all the tools available to accomplish the task I needed, yet unable to use them. Because, of course, I can’t read. Strike 3.

At this point I just wanted to go shopping and buy something, anything at all. Last time I had an impossible day I came home with a waffle maker. This time, I very nearly came home with an ice cream maker (but it was a very silly bright red thing made by DeLonghi in cooperatin with Disney, and it cost about $100). I contented myself with a small canvas shoulder bag to hold all the extra stuff I seem to be always carting around. (I’m still longing for an ice cream maker, however, so I can have something other than vanilla, green tea, rum raisin or mediocre chocolate flavors!)

Finally, it was time to go back and face the bicycle challenge. I found my way back to the station and then, somewhat to my surprise, back around to the bicycle parking area. And as I had hoped, this time there was someone standing around whom I could ask for help. The machine turned out to be ridiculously simple: you enter the number of the slot where your bike is parked, then push a button. The display tells you to insert 100 yen; you put in your coin, and then you can pull your bicycle back out.

Just like Mr. Hirschhorn said: if you know how to do it, it’s trivial.

And then, I even found my way home without getting lost. (I did have one further scare, however, as the sky darkened and looked terribly threatening. Why didn’t I think to put in a raincoat? Luckily, I beat the storm home. Whew!)

Even after 8 months, it seems that I still regularly find myself in situations that are completely unfamiliar and appear impossible. I thought that I would gradually learn how things work and then I would be able to do whatever I need to without getting stuck. But now I think it will take a very long time to get to that point. In the meantime, however, I find that I am learning something even more valuable: being in a completely unfamiliar situation and not knowing what to do is actually okay. I can just ride the wave of anxiety, slow down, look at the situation, and do whatever I know how to do. I have a cell phone and know how to use the trains, so I can never be completely lost. And I am surprised to find that it’s kind of liberating to be able to face an impossible situation and, in a very normal and mundane way, without any brilliant flashes of insight, work your way out.

Of course, it sure helps to come home to mediocre chocolate ice cream and an episode of Grey’s Anatomy downloaded from iTunes!