July 20 - Where there's a will, there a way. In short, I have a bicycle now.

A heat wave has taken over the bottom half of Japan and the weather is hospitable only for the laundry hung up outside for drying.  The high for today is 35 degrees.  It's the kind of heat that even the most healthy and strong can be caught off guard.  Normally, I'd stay as physically close to the AC as possible and never want to come out in this murderous heat. 

And yet, I have no time to waste.  I must start searching for jobs, but I am out in the boonies and the nearest station is more than an hour's walk.  I'd be covered in sweat by the time I get there no matter what I wear.  Heck, even if I didn't wear anything I'd still be covered in sweat.  In that case though I'd probably be arrested for public indecency before I get to the station.  Before they make walking naked in public illegal though they should first make this heat illegal.

Anyways, the lame joke aside, I thought a bicycle would help me get around and increase my radius of action, so I asked my friend Shun just the other day how much a used bicycle would cost.  He told me it would be around 5000 yen.  That's about 60 dollars Canadian, and I thought it would be a worthy investment even if I don't end up staying long term in Japan.  The next day I went to a nearby bicycle shop, but it did not have used bikes.

This morning my friend Google Mapped (not sure if it has become a verb yet, but I don't see why not) several bicycle places around Sagamihara station, which was about the same distance from home as Hashimoto station I went four days ago.  Another 1 hour and 10 minutes of walking was awaiting me, and this time in the near body heat temperature.  However, I was growing increasingly antsy by the day because I haven't done much in the past 10 days.  Today marks the 11th day in Japan; a short-term traveler would have managed to get a lot done in 10 days.  I was absolutely determined to trudge through this heat wave and get a bike.

Surprisingly, I did not get lost this time. 

It was probably no wonder.  My utter lack of directional sense probably didn't matter in this case because the first couple of turns near my friend's place were all there was to the route to Sagamihara station; the rest was pretty much heading straight with no turns.

However, the heat wave was extremely tolling.  I had to drink a 500ml bottle of water / juice / pop every 20 minutes.  Normally my bladder is so incompetent that if I drank liquid at such a rate, I'd have to take a leak just as often if note more.  This time, however, I was sweating it all out that my bladder remained empty throughout the day.  BTW, you get to spot vending machines more often in the streets of Japan than you'd spot Shawarma places in Ottawa, so you won't have to worry about suddenly running out of the means to hydrate yourself. 

I thought I'd try first the closest bike shop from Sagamihara station.  So I followed the way as specified on the map.  According to Google Maps, the place was right nearby a gas station so I thought it wouldn't be too difficult to find it.  I stopped at where I thought the bike place should be, but the bike place was nowhere to be seen. 

Frustrated and muttering out 'now what?', I looked around and found a big police station across the street.  I thought, ah, they should be able to help me.  A police officer was standing on guard with his red translucent stick (it looked plastic and did not look like a riot baton.  Can anyone tell me what it could be?) in his hand.  I walked up to him, set the gaijin context, and asked whether there were bicycle shops nearby.  He pointed to a yellow canopy across the street.  Hey, that's just about where I had been! so the map was right after all, but it turned out the shop wasn't on the street I was on, but rather just off of it on a smaller intersecting street.  I thanked the officer and headed that way.

The place did not have used bikes.  I asked whether there were some other places nearby that would sell used bikes.  I showed him the map and he pointed to two other places, one supposedly behind a nearby hospital, and another just off of the next station, Yabe.  I followed the shop owner's direction to the first bike shop but the route instead took me straight back to Sagamihara station.  Maybe I misunderstood his directions as to where the hospital was, but my guess is that I probably misunderstood where I was in relation to the map.  If I was correct about where I was, the route should never have taken me to Sagamihara station.  I guess this just means I need a wife with a keen directional sense and good map-reading skills.  Any volunteers?

Since the hospital was not on my map, I decided to skip the first one and try the second shop near the next station.  However, by then I was quite exhausted and did not want to walk anymore so I decided to take the train to Yabe, even though it's just one stop apart.  It was 2 in the afternoon and I needed to eat so I waked up to Sagamihara station's food court and had a late lunch at a supposedly Italian chain restaurant named 'Saizeriya'.  I had a very Japanese 'hamburg,' which was a hamburger patty served on a platter, with what I thought was meat sauce poured on top, and seaweed salad.  It wasn't bad, but for nearly 1000 yen (That's about 12 bucks Canadian) the portion was depressingly small for a man of gluttony like me.  But then perhaps this is the secret behind the renowned longevity of the Japanese.  And it's perhaps time I stopped spending most of my savings / income on food, especially now that I am in Japan and on a limited budget.  More than one person have told me that the money I spend on food can feed an entire family.

Anyways, after a meal and a bit of rest, I took the train to Yabe station.  The bicycle shop "マルエスサイクル" (maru esu cycle) was on the right side just off of the station's exit.  I went there but the owner was absent and the woman who was shopkeeping told me that the owner would know whether they currently have used bikes in stock and that he should be back in an hour.  An hour, eh? I suppose I could use that time to type up a summary of today's journey at a nearby coffeehouse.  So I asked whether a Starbucks was nearby.  She told me that there is a university not too far from the next station, which is only about 10 - 15 minutes of walking distance, and that a coffeehouse should be nearby.

So I walked to the next station and soon found a coffeehouse, but I decided to walk on and visit the university.  Although I had no idea where it was, it wasn't too difficult finding it because a wave of university students was walking towards the same direction and I just had to follow them.

Aoyama Gakuin university was its name.  There were some security guards monitoring incoming and outgoing students.  I was going to take some photos of the university, but I got intimidated by the presence of the guards.  I decided to turn back for the moment but also to visit the university with my resume in the next few days.  I know my chances are small, but that doesn't mean I'm not even going to try.  Working at a university would be sweet.

So I walked back to the coffee place I had passed by.  Since I had already spent 30 minutes, I only needed to kill another 30 minutes; even less considering the trip back to the bike place.  However, I decided I needed some rest.  I ordered a medium mocha ice coffee for 400 yen and spent some time typing on my laptop and dozing off.  The heat wave has been crazy for the past few days and it's been difficult to get a good night sleep, so I was pretty tired.  After alternating between typing and dozing off, I headed back to the bike shop.

The owner was there this time.  It just so happened that he had one used bike for 6000 yen, so it was either take it or go find better deals elsewhere.  However, this marked the fourth attempt to find a used bike and I was running out of options.  Besides, I really wanted to go home with a bike today.  My mind was set.



Sure, it was no mountain bike, but I just needed a bike that would get me to train stations or nearby cities for job hunting, and the price was just right.  It was one of those 'mamachari' bicycles - 'mama' for mother and 'chari' an onomatopoeic word for bicycle.  A mamachari has lowered top tubes so that women in skirts would not have to raise their legs too high to get on the seat.  However, this doesn't mean mamacharis are only for women.  It is pretty much da bicycle of Japan.  I also like mamachari's large saddle.  I've never liked smaller saddles on mountain or speed bikes as they tend to press against my precious baby making apparatus.  I've read articles on the correlation between extensive bike riding and the sperm count, and without going too much into technical details, let me just tell you that the result did not look good.

The store owner also registered my bike for me.  In Japan, you must register your bicycle to the city, first to prove your ownership and second to get your bike back in case it was stolen or taken by a bylaw officer for illegal parking.  I had to explain in broken Japanese that I had not yet received the alien registration card but that I would in a week.  It took me a ridiculously long 'ummmmm' that lasted about 20 seconds to come up with the word 'morau,' which I think means 'to receive' in Japanese.  The shop owner patiently waited through this epic failure and responded 'morau no?' (which in this context means "Yeah? you'll receive it?") In the end, the registration went well.  The bike already had a basic ring lock that loosely wraps around the rear wheel and gets caught in the spokes, but I it didn't look all that secure so I bought a separate lock for additional 1000 yen.

It took me a few tries and disappointments, but in the end I got my own bike.

Ah the bike ride.  It felt good.  I was zipping through what took me an eternity to cover on foot.  I've been enjoying the stay in Japan so far but at the same time feeling quite incapacitated not being able to speak the language and not knowing how the system works here.  The moment I was on the bike I felt more capable.  At least now I have sufficient mobility to get to different places on my own without having to take all day.  I now have the means to start searching for jobs.

Just then I saw a little kid on a bicycle coming from the opposite direction.  Since I was happy about finally having obtained a bike, I felt inclined to be nice and pulled over my bike to get out of his way.  And no, I don't usually do that.

However, instead of going his way he rode up to me and said something in Japanese.  All I heard was "agete" at the end.  Agete? give? huh? give what? give my bike? I was utterly confused and didn't know what to do for a while.  Then I said, "す。。。すまん、外国人だから日本語できないんだ。”　(s...sorry, I'm a foreigner so I can't speak Japanese)  Then he just repeated the 'agete' part.  I then asked, "by 'agete,' you mean you want my bike?" Not that I was going to give my newly bought bike even if he said yes, but in confusion and in part not knowing to how to respond, I had to ask what he meant.

He said いや for no, and pointed to his bike.  I was even more confused.  So you want to give me your bike? Uh, thanks, you are so sweet but I don't think I need it? This possibly can't be what he meant! I mean, what are the chances of a little kid you've never met before suddenly wanting to give you his bike?? is this some sort of a hidden camera prank? However, I ran out of options for interpretation and just said "It's OK, it's OK." (大丈夫だ。大丈夫なんだ。) as I started riding away from him.

That's when i heard him say in passing "Can't you do it?" (できないの？） Only then I remembered 'agete' can also mean 'to raise'.  So could it be that all this while he had been asking me raise his bike saddle?  However, by the time I was considering this very likely possibility, he was long behind.  Sorry kid, but I'm just a gaijin.

I biked back home for the first time in Japan.  Today I felt just a little more confident in myself because I saw my resilience come through.  Now I'll just have to exercise the same resilience for job hunting.  It won't be easy looking for an English teaching job in Japan when I don't look exotic enough to them and English isn't even my native language, but I'll always remember how I got my bike and remind myself that nothing worthwhile can be gained without strong determination and continued effort.  Where there's a will, there is a way.  What I have achieved today may have been of small significance, but I think it was a good starting point, a drill for something bigger to come.

...sorry for the lack of photos.  Given the number of things happened today I should have more photos, but this is the first major traveling I've done in my 27 years of mostly chair-bound life and I'm still not used to taking out my camera and taking photos.  Hopefully I get better at it as I do more traveling.