I started the day this morning knowing that I had to be in Yokohama for a dance class that was scheduled to start at 1. Since I knew that the dance studio was not near the train station, it would be difficult to find, so I tried to give myself plenty of time to get there, knowing that the train ride would be at least 2 hours long.
The Japanese train system is very interesting. Many people describe it as being quite efficient. (I had a discussion with an economist last year about the descrepencies about the attribution of "efficiency." This economist seemed to believe that efficiency was an objective value that was independent of subjective values. What he meant was that all reasonable people should be able to agree if some process is more efficient than another process. However, it is my claim that efficiency is not a universal value, but rather, a process must be seen from a specific perspective in order to be considered efficient. That implies that if the same process were analyzed from a different perspective, it might not be evaluated as being efficient by a different person. On my first trip to Japan six years ago, I gave a lengthy discussion regarding the Japanese rail system from a perspective such that I did not see it as necessarily efficient. I have already spent too much time talking about this here, so I will move on.)
There are the local trains that serve most stations across Japan. But there are also Shinkansen lines that are super express, and really only service the biggest stations. I do not know much about the history of the development of the Japanese rail system, but it seems that to accomodate the shinkansen service, new train stations had to be built in many places. So in Osaka, there is the central Osaka Station, but there is also the ShinOsaka Station (serviced by Shinkansen), or New Osaka station. This means that there is always an extra step before getting to where I need to go; I had to go from ShinOsaka Station to Osaka Station before I was actually in the city center. This is also the case in Yokohama, where there is a Yokohama Station that basically serves as the city center (at least for train service), and also ShinYokohama Station where the shinkansen arrives.
In Osaka, this was not too much of a problem since my main destination was near Osaka station. However, in Yokohama, my main destination was a bit off the beaten path, and so it was a little difficult to figure out, even after arriving at Yokohama Station (the city center hub). After asking several people at information booths about how to best get where I was going, I am proud to say that I was finally able to make it to my destination, Kamihoshikawa Station.
From Kamihoshikawa station, however, was a whole new bag of worms. I had decided against leaving my backpack in a coin locker at Yokohama station. I figured that I wanted to get a bit of a workout since this would be the first dance class of my life. I did not know what to expect besides having to be in shape, and so maybe carrying a bag through this small town would substitute for my lack of exercise over the past 20 years.
But when I got to Kamihoshikawa Station, the bag was starting to weigh no me, and I had wished that I stored it back at Yokohama. It so turned out that fortune would smile upon me once again, and there were a handful of coin lockers in this small station, and I decided then and there that I would store my backpack.
This would turn out to be a great idea because, even though I had a map, the dance studio was very difficult to find. I got lost and turned around in circles many times. Like I said before, it was a very good thing that I planned to be here a couple hours early. I admit that I have a particularly male character defect such that I do not like to ask for directions to any place. (I like to think such a character flaw is actually a good thing, and that it means that I like to explore.) In any case, I also had to admit that this flaw would not be a failing, and that I would ask the first person I saw for help. Because this was a residential neighborhood (and not a main thoroughfare), I did not see anyone except for an old man that I passed several minutes ago. I decided to run back and try to find the old man and see if he could assist me.
Again, fortune smiled on me, I found him, and he was willing to help. He told me that many Westerners came to this neighborhood looking for the dance studio, and many Westerners got lost. He led me all around the neighborhood, up and down hills and steep stairs, around curves and bends, and finally to the simple home and location of the studio. I felt bad because he was an old man, and I suppose that this extra exertion might not be good for his health. I expressed my profound gratitude for his generosity, and could not thank him enough.
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