Today was intended to be a “take it easy” day. You know, the kind of day where it’s like “Okay, I know I’m in a new country, and I know I only have so much time to do everything I want to do, but darn it let’s rest.” So normally there wouldn’t be anything to really write about…except it seems my body was agreeing that I needed rest because I got sick. So now I’m writing about what it’s like to have a cold in Japan. Now, obviously, in a technical sense there is nothing different. When you’ve got a cold you sneeze a lot, have a runny/stuffy nose, and tend to be a bit of a grouch. However the Japanese are a working society, so you work when your healthy or sick. If you are sick though it’s considered rude to share your germs, which is why…

…the Japanese wear doctors masks when their sick. This is to help prevent sharing the sickness around. And judging from how many people I see with these masks everyday I’m figuring this is probably a good thing. Sometimes a couple of these people will be on a cramped train with me, and I’m thankful they are at least taking my health into consideration (even if they aren’t taking my personal space into consideration). I didn’t wear a mask because I simply didn’t have one. Not that it mattered much anyway; I couldn’t leave the apartment complex. See, my friend had to run some errends because he’s going to China after I leave, and there’s a lot of paperwork to fill out. Course, he has the key, so I’m stuck at home, falling in and out of sleep.

With the TV on. One of the strange things you will witness in the world is Japanese TV. And I’m not singling out a specific genre like anime, I’m singling it ALL out! Game shows, kids shows, soap operas, commercials, you name it, it’s weird. Chances are watching Japanese TV with a fever threatening to burst will go down as one of the strangest things I’ll ever experience. It’s so surreal, so bizarre, and such an acid trip, that words can’t possibly describe it. For example, here’s an average Japanese commercial…

…now imagine watching that while you, yourself, are feeling a little bit loopy. It would certainly be a one-of-a-kind experience. When my friend gets back I let him know that we need to go get some medicine. Sadly, convience stores don’t sell medicine, so we have to find an actual pharmacy. The second problem is that there is no NyQuil or Tylonal in Japan, so the brands are forgein to us. We ask the pharmisist what he would recommend and he gives me some pills. Y1350 gone down the drain. I don’t want to spend the money but what choice to I have? He has the advantage of knowing his way around a product that makes my head spin in my own country (no pun intended). This is not the worst of it though. No, the worst of it is that tonight is the night where we leave the apartment to go to Kyoko.

And this is where the trip turns sour for the first time.

The medicine is already starting to kick in, so as far as I’m concerned this is a good investment. The problem is my body is still weak, and we need to carry luggage to the bus station. Five suite cases worth. All of it very heavy. I carry two of the shoulder carriers and a roller, but five minutes into the trek my body is starting to hate me. We take breaks but the dilemma is clear: I’m sick. Carrying around so much weight is making me sicker. We can take breaks, but take too many breaks and we’ll miss the bus. Taxi’s are way too expensive (almost the cost of the bus fare). I push on though. We finally switch up some of the luggage and, while I’m not in a much better position, I’m at least in a position where I can safely carry the luggage the rest of the way.

When we finally get to the bus stop we have no time to rest as the bus is just pulling up. The driver loads the luggage while I look around for a nearby cooler to get some water or orange juice. For once none of these wonderful, glorious machines are around. I guess Newton’s Law has no boundries. We get on the bus and it leaves. By now I’m about to collapse and I feel a fever coming on. My first thought is that I may have potentially ruined the rest of my own trip. I certainly wouldn’t die from this experience, but did I just make my sickness so bad it could ban me to my bed for the rest of the trip? Would I ever get my orange juice? Tune in tomorrow to find the answers. Same bat time, same bat channel.