A Series of Unfortunate Events
We'll chalk it up to bad luck...So Saturday was the Coco Winery Harvest Festival in Ashikaga; consisted of an afternoon of sitting on a mountainside drinking wine and listening to jazz (and Newfie?) music. On the
way there I had my first glimpses of Mount Fuji!! It was a clear day and we were a little North of Shimodate and low-and-behold, in the distance is that majestic snow-covered peak. Beautiful! Too bad it was just a little too far in the distance to get a decent photograph. :(The Festival was in support of a foundation for physically and mentally challenged people; it was great that many of these people actually participated in the event: selling wine, dressing up as grapes and wine bottles, etc. There were thousands of people at the Festival and two stages: one for music and one for dancing, from what I saw. There were also oodles of vendors selling wine (at a whopping $13/bottle... wine usually sells at 7/11 for under $4) snacks, cheeses, souveniers, and the like. Quite the affair.
We met up with about 35 JETs and ALTs at the Festival, most of whom we had been acquainted with/hung out with previously. I've not seen so many white people congregated in one place since Canada (perhaps excluding Roppongi clubs). The "slope" on which it was situated was quite precarious: inebriated gaijin and Japanese people alike regularly found themselves rolling down it - what is the phrase, "ass over tea kettle?" I ended up meeting a guy. Japanese, from Utsunomiya. Did two years of university in California; speaks English perfectly (even with a Cali accent). We have a date for next weekend.
Alas, aside from a taste, I could not drink really, as I the DD. I was saving myself for the post-party in Utsunomiya (where we'd crash with friends or in the car) but I didn't quite feel up for that by the time we got there...
When the Festival ended around 5pm the streets of Ashikaga were full. Roadblocks were to be expected. We were stopped in a random check; thankfully, apart from Tressa trying to flirt with the (totally kawaii) cop and me asking him for directions, we were dismissed with little hassle.
Then on the highway toward Utsunomiya when I happen to glance out my
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window just in time to see a stray cat get plowed over by another car. OMG! Seriously one of the most awful experiences since I've been here. The cat, though smooshed into the pavement and totally unable to get up, was still moving like it was trying to run away. The worst part is that it was destined to be plowed over again and again until it was merely a mound of fur as Japan has no roadkill clean-up service. I ended up bursting into tears and practically having to pull over to regain my composure. AWFUL!So traffic is bumper-to-bumper (as it always is on Route 50) and we are
stopping and starting monotonously. The girls, having consumed copious amounts of wine, are givin' 'er dancing and singing to my stereo. We are stopped for some time when a woman from the car ahead of us gets out of her car and knocks on my window. She is speaking Japanese and I can understand little of what she is saying; she is gesturing to the front of my car. I get out to examine, thinking perhaps I have a burnt out headlight... she is gesturing that our cars have collided, though there is at least three feet between them (presumably they pulled their car up after the alleged "collision"). I ask the girls if they felt a collision and it is agreed that there was none. I check for evidence in the form of scrapes or dents on either vehicle and there are none. I try to ask if the woman is okay, and for what I can tell (although hit by the bitchmobile) she is fine. After approximately 10 minutes of holding up traffic on an already busy road, I leave.
Approximately five hours later my boss phones me and asks if I've been in an accident!! I explain the aforementioned events and tell her that if I thought there had been a legitimate problem I certainly would have notified the police and my employers. I agree to meet Hiro at the police station in Tochigi City (where the alleged "accident" was reported) on Monday afternoon. As we are moving chronologically here, I will breifly digress.
After dealing with the crazy woman, I continue on to Utsunomiya where a SUBWAY dinner awaits us. How exciting! We gobble our subs and carry on to the pub area of
town, where we have hung out several times before... unfortunately, when backing out of the Subway parking lot the blankets and backpacks in the back window block my view and I nudge a poll. I was rattled, okay!?!?! Thankfully, no damage... apart from my nerves.So we park at the pub. It is about 8:30pm. I confess that I am not really in the mood for partying after all this. Not wanting to disappoint the girls (some of whom had never been to party in Uts), I volunteer to hang out in the car instead. They club hop... for 5 hours. We later go home.
You're wondering what happened with my car... Well, I went to Tochigi today. Apparently my licence plate was bent a smidgen and there was some totally disputable smudge on their bumper. Disputable because I, nor my boss, couldn even se
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e it. Honestly. It must have been one of those smudges where you had to be looking at it from the right angle, at the right time of day, in the right lighting, with the right microscope. I still contest that there was ever IMPACT for crying out loud! The worst case scenario was that I unwittingly rolled into her car from my stop position... even this is highly contestable. Unfortunately their car is brand new, and Japanese people are way too polite; Hiro ended up giving the owners approximately $300 (which I have to pay) as a courtesy, even though the police and insurance people wouldn't file a claim (they agreed that there was no damage). I wasn't interviewed or anything. Apparently no one cares what the silly gaijin has to say.
Anyhow, I should count myself lucky, I suppose.
what a rotten thing to have happen especially after the trauma of seeing the cat accident,I wouldn't be suprised if the car in front ran over a rock which sounded like a loud impact. I'm really sorry,but an oriental driver in Vancouver might not come off well either, without enough engrish language