The Amazing Race...or something like it

Some days, living in Japan feels more like training for a show like “The Amazing Race” or “Survivor,” except that I’m the only competitor in the race. Today was one of those days.

Without a car, getting around in Japan can be tough.  Especially if the weather takes an unexpected turn for the worse, like it did last night.

Today was my first day at a new school, Sawa High School. I was determined to get there as early as possible because it was my first day and punctuality is highly valued in Japanese society. In Japan “on time” usually means 10 or 15 minutes before you are supposed to be somewhere. So this morning I told myself I would make it to my new school on time, even if it killed me, which I feel like it almost did.

Rewind to last night. I couldn’t sleep at all because out of nowhere (the weekend weather was warm and comfortable) it got really windy and cold.  The wind banged against my windows and doors, keeping me up for part of the night.  I knew that getting to school was going to be difficult.

My journey to Sawa began at about 7:00am. I had two options for getting to the train station: biking or walking. It was so windy outside that I thought the wind might blow me off my bike as I rode to the station. But there was no way I was going to walk the 25 or 30 minutes to get there in this weather... or so I thought.