Crossing Japan

It was an innocent enough request. 

I asked if he understood English.

 He was twenty something and selling tickets at the station in Yonago.  This is a small town in southwest Japan. I was here after a short train ride from the ferry boat dock. 

So I showed him the address and the name of the train station I wanted to go to. He said it did not exist. Which confirmed what mi Internet research had told me (even though it was right there in the hostel directions!!!

Anyway, we worked at it a while and it turned out that he was going to get me close, and then let another local railroad try to get me there. 

So, I rode a real nice train for a couple of hours, and then had a 45 minute layover before my next train. Great. Enough time to get more money. I had swapped a $20 bill for some yen when I jumped off the boat, but that would not last long. 

 I could not get the two at atm's in the station to work, and there was no money changer. So I went down the street looking for something. Nothing. This after six weeks with three ATM machines on every corner in Russia and even Mongolia. I finally found a bank of three machines. None worked. I went to a bank. Neither of theirs accepted my card. AND they did not change dollars. IN A BANK!!!

I found a hotel (whose ATM would accept none of my three cards) and they directed me across the street to the post office. They had two machines. But neither would talk to me. But, they would change money. 

I had 14 minutes till train time. I was across the square from the station. I handed her the two hundreds. She gave me some forms to fill out. I did my best. But I was sweating so much, and had gotten so sloppy, she wanted me to redo them. I gave up. I grabbed my bucks ( not yen) and ran for the station, where I made my train with four minutes to spare. 

Then three hours on the bullet train and a whole adventure later. 

I did get my money eventually, at a hotel a in Tokyo. But, even here I screwed it up. Turns out I misplaced a decimal point   and got $500 instead of fifty dollars worth of yen. Well, that is a bit understandable after being in two countries with exchange rates of 1000 and 1500 to the dollar. At least the yen is an international currency. Or maybe I'll just spend it. 

Oh, and the guy I asked if he understood English? Judging by the route he took me-- I doubt it.