Let me tell you the story of my first off-base outing in Japan. I had gotten a job working as a civilian for the U.S. Military on base in Japan, and I was so excited. By the time I got an opportunity to leave base, I had been in country for over 2 weeks, but because of covid-19, I had been in isolation. This is a blanket policy of both the Japanese government and the US Navy. Once I received a negative covid-19 test and was medically cleared to move about, I went for a walk out the main gate and down the street that leads to the closest train station.
I’d received recommendations from coworkers for dinner options—they’d said to go straight when exiting the base, walk for 20 mins, and when I hit the train station, cut left and there would be plenty of options. I followed their directions, but when I got there, I realized I didn’t have any yen with me. It was safe to assume these places would be cash only, as that’s the norm. I spotted an ATM, but it didn’t work for my card. Disappointed, there was nothing I could do about it but start to head back to the base. Along the way, I stopped at a multi-store shopping center. It looked big enough to have the same type of dollar to yen machine that I remembered from Okinawa, or maybe another ATM.
I ran into some difficult communication with a cashier—I asked for an ATM and she wasn’t getting it; she finally asked me to write it down, and was able to direct me to it. Awesome, apparently I needed to work on my pronunciation. The ATM machine, which had an international cards option, told me that my bank declined my transaction. What? I thought through the possible reasons. Was my bank concerned about the location, thinking it might be fraud? Or were there really not enough funds in my account?
Frustrated, I decided I might as well take a restroom stop. Ture enough, there was a fancy toilette that had the seat warmer turned on—that was a surpise! The actual flush option was completely hidden. I looked at every available button on the seat, even checked the wall for handles or sensors. Dude, that seat can warm your tush, wash your bede, but actually flushing the toilette? Nope, I could not figure that out. So, bingo card check.
I continued my journey down the street and came across a 7-11. I popped inside, hoping to find the elusive dollar to yen machine. Of course, I’m not even certain it can be found in this area, but I was sure hoping, cause I had $20 in my wallet which would do me no good at a ramen stall. Well, the 7-11 doesn’t have the currency machine, but it did have an ATM; I gave it another try. This time the machine said, “I don’t give bills in 1,000 denominations.” That got me thinking about what I’d selected at the last machine. I’d meant to plug in 4,000 yen, or $40, but I hit the 4 and then the 000 button—but what if it was the 0000 button in front of me now? That would mean I tried to pull out four hundred dollars! Good thing Navy Fed was like, “Ya, no.”
If anyone recalls my troubles from Vanuatu, it was a similar situation where 100 vatu = 1 dollar. I have the hardest time with all of those extra zeros. Seriously. They get in my brain, scramble up my grey matter, and the take off. After a year in Vanuatu not that long ago, you’d think I would get the hang of converting 100 = 1. But no, obviously not. Which doesn’t bode well for the next 3 years.
Any who, with 10,000 yen in hand (which I hoped was the intended $100 and not $10, but at this point I could not be sure), I headed into the first food place I found. I got some really good food - see the video of me eating!!
It was super easy to order. The waitress brought me a tablet with the menu already set to English - bless her heart! Sometimes it pays being obviously white and a likely English speaker. I ordered the value option which looked like a meal set. And sure enough, I got a variety of meat, a cabbage slaw, miso soup, and rice. Perfect!
At the end of the meal, I pulled out my phone to look up one of the handouts from the culture class I took earlier in the week containing helpful Japanese phrases. I practiced saying ‘thanks for the meal’ - rough translation - then went to the counter to pay and said 'goshisosama.' I kind of messed it up, but it was close enough—definitely an 'appreciate the effort' moment. One more stop for some pastries for breakfast, through the gate to get on base, and back to my comfy hotel room.
And that was the blow-by-blow story of my 2-hour first-time off-base adventure. Cheers!!
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