Today my friend Shinya taught me the above sentence.In hiragana it reads: わたし の おさいふ を おとしました
English translation - I dropped my wallet.
Simple phrase, right? And not a big deal unless you're living in Japan and you dropped it in the subway station between the train and the platform right into a pool of water beside the tracks - as did I this Monday. True story. Amy, Debbie and I were at Onarimon subway station on our way home. Our train pulled up, people got off, Amy got on, I stepped one foot onto the train and then noticed the weight in my hand had suddenly become lighter and the wallet I had been holding was no longer attached to the zipper and cute monkey cellphone charm still in my hand. As my gaze followed my wallet down into the inauspicious black space between the train and the platform, Debbie gasped causing Amy to turn around and notice we were not following her onto the train. When she too realized the situation at hand, she quickly got off the train and the three of us just stood there as the train doors closed waiting for the train to pull away so something could be done.
Many stations in Japan do not have protective railings to keep people from falling, jumping or being pushed onto the tracks, but of course this station happened to be a little more safety-conscious and as a result we could not just jump down and retrieve the wallet ourselves. The railing itself was not enough to keep us back - Amy tried leaning over the railing only to set off an alarm. It became evident we could not handle this quickly or without the help of a station master, so we walked the length of the platform looking for a uniformed train employee only to find there were none currently on the platform. I went up one exit and there was no one. Tried another exit - still no one (why all exits are not connected to the other exits is beyond me). We finally located the train master's station and managed to get the employee resting on a couch in the back to come with us to the spot on the platform where Debbie had once seen my wallet floating in the water but was no longer visible. 
The next train was approaching so we had to wait for it to make its stop and move on before the train master could do his job. When the train had cleared the station, the train master used his special key to unlock the railing's sliding doors. As he jumped down onto the tracks, Amy, Debbie and I (along with a few other curious commuters) leaned over the side trying to guide his efforts at sticking his hand in the dark, murky water in attempts of recovering my drowned wallet. The wallet had either drifted back in the water's current or been pushed back from it's original dropping point by the wind of the train, and eventually the train master did recover my thoroughly soaked wallet. He handed me back my wallet, locked the sliding doors, and then stayed with us until the next train arrived, we boarded, and departed from the station (it was almost as though he wanted to make sure I didn't drop it again which was only slightly insulting). It was my first time going through the procedure of retrieving items dropped onto the tacks and made for quite an exciting 15 minutes (thanks for tracking with me even if it seemed less than thrilling to you).As with all of life's circumstances, I learned a few things from this experience:
1. Don't hold your wallet by a cellphone charm attached to a zipper - the zipper may break
2. For some reason water runs along the sides of the train tracks - and it's anything but clean
3. How to say "I dropped my wallet" in Japanese - わたしのおさいふをおとしました (watashi no osaifu o otoshimashita)
Wednesday, August 20 - Wild Monkey Loose in Shibuya Station
Ever seen a wild monkey running through a busy train station? Ever seen the mass chaos that ensues? Interested in seeing it? Check out this video of an actual wild monkey chase that occurred at Shibuya Station just 15 minutes from my apartment.Friday, August 22 - Jarod Passed!!!
Friday was a monumental day in the life of Jarod Juriga whom I recently wrote a blog about. After 4 unsuccessful attempts to obtain his Japanese driver's license, Jarod found try #5 to be the lucky one. He was denied the first four times for inconsequential reasons such as waiting less than 3 seconds after signaling to change lanes, chewing gum, then waiting too long (4 seconds) to change lanes after signaling. Although the Japanese man administering the test this time around was the same who had denied him on 3 of the previous attempts, Jarod somehow found favor with the man this special Friday. What was the trick? According to Jarod, apologizing incessantly is all it takes. As the test administrator reviewed his errors, Jarod bowed and apologized profusely for each mistake causing the administrator to feel sorry for and console him telling Jarod it was ok. In the end, Jarod walked away victorious with his new Japanese driver's license in hand. Congratulations, Jarod! We're all so proud of you!
