Accidentally awesome

It's Saturday night and T and I are hanging at a local place with some of my students, my boss, and a friend of his from France. We're chatting about our past travel experiences, and Monsieur Francophone tells us a story about a misadventure that ended up being one of the best experiences of his trip. We all agree that it's often the unplanned adventures that end up being the most rewarding ones.

11:00 comes and it's time for us to catch the last train home. We get to the station with 5 minutes to spare and hurry to catch the train leaving at 11, but in our drunken haste, neglect to check the kanji to make sure we have the right platform. I mean, how many trains can be leaving at the exact same time, right?

In our current state of inebriation, we begin to have a heated discussion about some trivial thing, and do not notice the stops go by. About a half an hour passes, and I suddenly realise that the stop we've just passed is not one of the 11 or 12 stops I pass twice a day going back and forth to work. Panic sets in.

I spy another foreigner sitting across the way, who has not doubt been overhearing our ridiculous conversation since leaving the station. Embarrassed, but understanding the dire nature of our situation, I go to her for help.

"Excuse Me?" I begin timidly "Can you tell me where this train is headed?". She mentions a place I have never heard of, but tell me we have just passed Niitsu, a place I do recognize as being in the opposite direction of home but also being a place which we can reach home from. I thank her for her help and we leap out at the next stop. Another helpful passer-by informs us that we can get the train back to Niitsu on the other side of the platform, but it's coming in a few minutes and we hardly have time. With superhuman skills, fueled by tequila and shochu, we hop across the tracks and climb up the other side, to receive a scolding from the station master, but with plenty of time to make it to safety, and to what is apparently the last train of the night to Niitsu.

We arrive in Niitsu and find out that there are no trains heading home tonight. Dejected, we head outside to ponder our next move. Not seeing any hotels nearby, we briefly consider the benches outside the station or the karaoke place up the street and wonder what the hell to do. As luck would have it, we are about to be rescued by a very unlikely bunch of heroes.

As we sit in front of the conveni contemplating our fate, up saunter a group of Yankee Boys. "What is a Yankee Boy?", you're probably asking yourself. Yankee Boys are an interesting bunch of characters in Japan, but generally sort of crazy haired, crazy outfitted, punk-like wild boys. They're the young guys you'd see hanging around just generally making noise and checking their hair in the shop windows. Unlikely heroes indeed.

They ask us what we are doing, where we're from, and the usual pleasantries. One of them, seeing my obviously impaired and distressed state offers me his cup noodles, and when I decline, absolutely insists I eat them and will not take them back with any amount of insistence on my part. He may just have saved me from a hangover worse than death with his kind gesture.

After much begging of taxi drivers and some discussion later, we learn that a taxi home is not to be had for the 80 dollars in our pockets, however the Boys have a better idea. They pile up into a taxi, pay the driver 2000 yen (or about 20 bucks) for our safe passage, and send us off to a love hotel. We are so astounded by their generosity and try to give them their money back but they are insistent on helping out the 2 stranded foreigners in need of assistance. We wave goodbye and the taxi takes us off into the night and the unknown.

Next stop, the love motel.

For those of you unfamiliar with the love motel, they are usually cheesy, themed rooms that can be rented by the night, or by the hour. But before you start going "EWWWWWWW, SIIIIIICK DUDE!", Japan is known for it's cleanliness and attention to detail. A love motel is just as clean and well kept as any other place in Japan. They just often also have condoms on the nightstand, and a vending machine with various kinds of "love enhancements".

The hotel is amazing!

King size bed, jacuzzi tub, slot machine, karaoke machine, indoor and outdoor shower, and the coup de gras, our own private outdoor onsen, or rodenburo (outdoor hot tub) on an enclosed terrace and lawn beds for enjoying the sun. It's like a luxury suite. Unbelievable!

We quickly take advantage of a nice soak in the outdoor bath to relieve some of the tension of the last hour or so, and drift into a peaceful sleep in our fabulous new digs. We dream about whether it would be possible to just stay here forever. Suddently Niitsu just got a whole lot better.

We spend the better part of the early afternoon enjoying the sunshine outside in the onsen, on the lawn chairs, sipping a few cold ones to ease out of the previous night's hangover before heading out to get the train home, relaxed, refreshed, and content.

Accidental romantic weekends. Accidentally awesome.