Saishu Densha, Japan

Below is one my most memorable travel experiences from one of my favorite places in the world, Japan.

In June 2002, I visited my good friends Kevbert and Figgy in Kyoto, Japan, who were spending one quarter at the Stanford-Kyoto campus. It is not accidental that their quarter in Japan coincided with the World Cup being held in Japan and Korea that summer. Both of them are futbol nuts!

On a Sunday evening, we headed by train to Osaka and went for the quintessential Japanese experience: karaoke. Karaoke in Japan (and Asia) is very different than in the US. You get your own private room, equipped with a karaoke player, microphones, a enormous library of Japanese and English songs, and food/drinks that you order via an intercom/phone in each room. Our Japanese friends that joined us sang really well, whereas we were miserable, essentially screaming into the microphone. After a few hours of karaoke, Kevbert and Figgy headed back to Kyoto. I stayed longer to catch up with a Japanese friend who I had met during my 3-month stay in Osaka in 2000. I was planning on taking the “saishu densha” (last train) back to Kyoto a bit later.

Around midnight, my friend dropped me to the subway, which I would take to the train station to catch the last train to Kyoto. I was quite surprised to see the subway station completely packed full of loud, cheering Japanese soccer fans. Japan had just beaten Russia 1-0 in the first round of the World Cup! The atmosphere was electric.

Due to the excitement and celebration, I missed the train that I had planned to take. A few minutes later, another train came and I hopped on. In my broken Japanese, I ask the conductor when the train would reach Kyoto, only to find out that I had missed the last train to Kyoto, and this train was a local train stopping at a small town halfway between Osaka and Kyoto. It’s now 1am, early Monday morning. Uh oh!

I started pondering my options: Sleep in the train station at the last stop and take the first train in the morning (safe but uncomfortable). Take a taxi to Kyoto (expensive). Get on another train back to Osaka and stay with my friend (not sure if there are anymore trains to Osaka). Or just wait and see what happens….

A few minutes later, a Japanese guy on the train, approximately 20 years old, comes over and asks me if I needed help. I tell him my situation. He seems to indicate that he is going to Kyoto and can take me. I was thinking how fortunate I am that someone is going to Kyoto at 1am and offers me a ride. We get off at the next stop, and he tells me to wait in the parking lot at the Circle-K. There was no one around, except a taxi with its driver sleeping inside. After about 10 minutes, a car pulls up with two guys, the guy from the train and his friend driving. I get in and we’re off to Kyoto.

Their English was not very good, so we mostly spoke in Japanese (though my Japanese is not much better). We talked about American music, pop culture, etc. After about 30 minutes, I asked them why they were going to Kyoto at 1am on Monday. They replied simply “To take you there”. Say what? From the conversation on the train, I thought that the guy was going to Kyoto and offered to take me along. Lost in translation. After further clarification, it turns out that when we got off the train, he went to his friend’s place, who had a car, woke him up, and told him that they needed to take me to Kyoto. I was stunned!

It was about 3am when we finally reached Kyoto. I thanked them profusely, and insisted on giving them gas money. They would not accept. I asked for their addresses so I can send them CDs of American bands they like. They politely declined. In the end, I took the picture below and they headed back to their home town, probably arriving around 5am, leaving me with a unforgettable experience.

Stories like this are not uncommon in Japan. Japanese people, especially the youth, are incredibly kind, generous, and helpful, to the extent that I have not witnessed anywhere else in the world. Furthermore, Japan is one of the safest places in the world. I never felt unsafe about the possibility of sleeping in a train station, or hopping into a car with total strangers in the middle of the night.

Nihon-jin: I owe you big!

Pics from Japan 2002 trip