Crazy Problems that will Magically Work Out

So I’m in the air off the coast of Vancouver without a phone, no internet (despite the cool article I read in Sky Magazine saying that internet was now available in flight) and big blanks on my health questionnaire under “returning flight number” and “contact address and number in Japan.” I know neither.

I don’t have the flight number of my returning plane because I didn’t think I would need it before I landed and left it safely in my email. I don’t have a phone because before I left my house I decided that it would be a good idea to charge it in the corner. I plan to get a Japanese cell phone as soon as I land, but I need the blank filled by then. I don’t have an address in Japan because the apartment I was supposed to move into was probably part of a scam. No keys and probably not getting my deposit or 1st month rent back. At least not very easily. It’s alright. It just means I have to report him to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), file a claim with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which is run in part by the FBI, and get the U.S. and Japanese Embassies involved. Revenge is fun so we’ll see how it all goes. In the mean time, I managed yesterday to find a place for my friend Sam and I to stay for the next 4 days (longer if need be) for only 1750￥a night each, but that is only temporary and I don’t know the address. I only know that it is in Koenji because one of the staff member is going to meet Sam and I at Koenji Station.

A big happy looking blue television monitor is telling me that “congratulations, your flight is scheduled to come in at 4:13 local time instead of at 4:55 as we had predicted earlier. Yay! Your 11 hour and 50 min flight has been shortened by 35 min due to unexpected tailwinds!” which is nice, until you realize that this is going to make meeting up with also cell phone-less Sam that much more difficult.

I’m actually not all that worried though. I found out yesterday that my apartment had fallen through, spent hours yelling carefully chosen and appropriately harsh words to my ex-potential landlord in London, and then got right online and found a place to stay immediately for the first 4 days for cheap, and 3 new potential apartments. I dealt with that pretty well, I can handle the rest. Dare I ask what else could go wrong?
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Now I'm in Koenji which is really cool little area of Western Tokyo. I'm in a tiny little hole in the wall kinda place, but it's really cute! And the beds are the most comfortable things in the world! It's kinda like a futon bed hybrid.

I had ramen for the first time in an authentic Japanese ramen ya. It was sooooo tasty! And the guy who ran the place was really nice. There was another customer there too who understood English really well, but the owner only knew a few words. So they decided to give is "training" as they said in Japanese. Sam and I were actually able to hold a decent conversation for most of it. Except, I was really tired and mixed up right and left. haha. oops. But it was really cheap and tasty, which is why I'm really upset that I can't go back. I'm pretty sure the owner started hitting on me and getting creepy. Offered to show me around and I said something along the lines of "ummndnfidnfosndgosiuhguo" and politely excused myself.

The area is really cool (to me) because it's kinda seedy. I mean, I feel perfectly safe, but the place is legit seedy. haha. It's the Japan that most tourist don't get to see. But it's filled with cute little shops and restaurants and stuff. It was a good first night.
Pictures to come when I stop feeling lazy.

Oh! and there was this CRAZY thunder and lightning storm last night while we were traveling to the guest house we're staying in! It was super insane! Sam got on a train and I didn't make it so we got separated but we both knew to get off at Koenji Station so it was ok. But I called her when I got to the station to find out where on the platform she was and we couldn't hear each other on the phone because it was raining so hard!! So cool.