Flat3D

JAF

On Wednesday afternoon I packed my books and headed to Hirosaki for a Japanese lesson. I spent half an hour in the morning clearing the little snow that had fallen the previous night to avoid it packing under the wheels of the Subaru (the all wheel drive, mid-mounted engine powerhouse I have to still post photos of…) when I loaded up and headed out into the snow.
Before I left I made sure I had everything: money, drivers licence, alien registration card, emergency mobile phone all present and correct.

The drive to Hirosaki was uneventful and relatively slow. I went over the mountain to avoid the rough roads caused by last weeks warm spell half melting and refreezing some of the snow and ice. It was a good decision despite running into a bit of a small blizzard as restricted visibility is a small price to pay for the smoother ride. I stopped at Lawson’s and bought some onigiri to eat for lunch and arrived without much time to spare. I was going to park in the postoffice carpark, but there was roadworks and I was left a little unsure if I could get in, so I parked in the nextdoor Nakasan multistorey carpark. I parked out the front, not too worried about snow and didn’t think too much more as I left and headed to the information centre to meet Yoshi and study Japanese.

Class went well and I returned at around 4:15 to Nakasan. I put my bag on the passenger seat and put the key in and turned. Nothing happened. I tried again and realised to my horror that I had left the lights on! I had switched them on during the blizzard and due to there not being a beeper to alert you to having them on, it being broad daylight and my total forgetfulness I walked off and left them.

I thought through my options…
1. I could get the train back to Ajigasawa, get some jumpcables and the van, drive to hirosaki, jumpstart the subaru from the van, drive it home, get the train back to hirosaki and get the train back to hirosaki and drive the van back. Good points, everythig gets home safe, bad points, expensive trips on the train, lots of fuel, lots of time and huge carpark bills…
2. I could try asking passers by for help in my basic japanese and see if anyone could help me. Good points, may be less expensive, bad points, chance of success low, high embarrassment factor.
3. I could salvage the vehicle for parts, sell them and live on the streets of Hirosaki. Good points, none, bad points, obvious.
4. I could call JAF! Good points, as a JAF member I could get free on the road help! Bad points, none!

So I got out the emergency keitai (mobile phone) and plugged in the number from my JAF card. Nothing happened. So I called the number to check the balance (pay as you go phone) and was told by the nice person at the other end that the credit expired on the 17th January. Wednesday being the 18th made this a little frustrating…

So I thought again. I am in a commercial carpark, there must be someone around who I can ask for help and more than likely a phone I can use. So I got out my notebook from my japanese class and looked up how to explain that my battery was flat cos I left the lights on. Once I was semi satisfied I went in search of an attendant.

I found one. I tried my japanese. He looked at me. I tried again. He looked at his co-worker then back at me. I gave up and asked him if he would look at my car. He came and saw the non-starting car. So then with some actions I explained that I left the lights on and told him I was a “Jaffu membaa”. We returned to the attendants hut and he used the phone to call JAF.
By the time this had all transpired it had got to 5pm, the Ajigasawa prayer meeting begins at 7:30pm on Wednesdays and I was hoping to get home for 7 as I was due to get picked up for it then.
I remembered breifly when Luke locked his keys in his car at English camp and that JAF promised to be there in 90 minutes to 2 hours. As it takes about an hour and a little bit to get home form Hirosaki I wouldn’t make it in time.
After a little while on the phone the mad told me they would be there by 5:30. So I returned to the car and waited.
Sure enough JAF turned up at 5:30. Jump started me from a batterypack and swiped my card and I was on my way home at 5:35pm. I made it back by 6:45pm just in enough time to gather my things for prayer meeting.

And that is the story of Hirosaki, JAF, expired keitai credit and a lot of praying…