The Return (The Trip: Epilogue)

After my first trip to Japan, I wasn't in any rush to return. I had just been there, afterall. I spent way too much money when I went. And I was having to shell out an extra couple hundred dollars to return. But I needed my work visa.

I had come back to Korea on a tourist visa, which is all well and good, but I couldn't work using that. It would be illegal. My new school, Busan National University, had hit a few snags getting the paperwork together. They missed the chance to get it to me while I was in the US. And then they missed the chance to get it to me while I was in Japan. You can't get a work visa in the country you're planning on working in, so I wasn't left with much choice: Japan's the closest country.

I returned to Japan the same way I came to Korea, by ferry, but the return trip was much faster. I was on a hydrofoil instead of a regular ferry, which cut the travel time from over five hours to just about three. Honestly, though, I preferred the longer trip. On the longer trip, you could get up and walk around, lay down, and most importantly, go outside and soak in all the sunshine and wildlife. On the shorter trip, all you could do was sit.

But I was back in Japan in no time. In the ferry terminal, I noticed some other foreigners who were on the boat milling around and asked if they, too, were on visa runs. All of them were, eight in total. We split up into two groups and shared two taxis over to the Korean consulate. Of the group, five people were brand new to Korea, getting their visas for the first time. We old hands told them what to expect and kind of led the expedition through Japan.

Oddly, we all booked our trip through the same travel agency, so we were also all staying at the same hotel. After dropping off our passports at the consulate, we headed all steamed over to the hotel and checked in. We agreed to meet up later and see what there was in the way of night life around the hotel.

The night before, I had stayed in a sauna, so I slept on a tile floor without a blanket (this isn't that weird in Korea; just look through my blog, I've done it before). This meant that I didn't really sleep at all, so I was dog tired. I took a quick nap, grabbed some food, and bumped into some more people on their visa runs on the way back up to my room. They invited me over to their room for some drinks, and I accepted the invite.

Somehow, one by one my former group caught up with my new group. By the time we headed out to look for some night life, there were about 12 of us.

We got out on to the street and realized that none of us really knew where to go, so we wandered. Within a few minutes, we met a french woman who spoke perfect English and, oddly, worked at a Japanese food vendor. This doesn't happen over here. Foreigners are generally teachers, soldiers, or businesspeople in Asia. While we were talking to her, a rather hip-hop looking white guy rode by on a bmx bicycle. That was weird. But what was weirder was his story when he pulled back around to meet up with us.

This guy was in Japan with (I swear I'm not making this up) Disney Ice-capades. He was one of the guys that helps to set up for the ice-skaters. He wanted to get away from his girlfriend, an ice-skater, for a bit and decided to cruise the town. He was already visibly druck when he ran into us, and I still have no idea where he got that bike. Do they bring bikes on ice-capades tours?

After a little while longer, we found a bar too enticing to pass up. It was called (I'm not making this up either) the Happy Cock, and it was 1000 yen (about $10) all-you-can-drink. They do this at Korean bars on weekdays too, but it's not this cheap, usually around 20,000 won (about $20). Only in Asia. It was odd to find that there actually was something cheap in Japan: alcohol.

Anyway, the group headed upstairs, but we couldn't all fit into the elevator. I was stuck downstairs with bicycle-guy while the others went up. Glassy-eyed and stumbly, he turned to me after a minute or so and asked if I liked Jack Johnson. This was kind of funny, because I had only recently discovered the musician. When I told him that, he took out one of his earphones and shoved it in my ear.

"Check this out, man," he said and nodded.

It was Jack Johnson, alright. I tried not to be too creeped out that I had another persons earphone in my ear and just enjoyed the music. When the elevator came, I tried to give the earphone back, but he insisted I keep it in, which made the enterance into the elevator (bike and all) quite awkward since I couldn't move more than a couple feet away from him without the earphone popping out. Good times.

When we reached the bar, he looked around for a place to ditch his bike, and I looked around for a place to get away from him. I went up to the bar with all the other Korean visa-run folks and paid for my arm band. All-you-can-drink is a bit of a waste on me usually. Usually, I don't even drink enough to justify the cost, but tonight I did. Odd things happen in Japan, I guess.

Bicycle-guy found me after just a few minutes. "Can you spot me the cover?" he asked. I couldn't. I was just sliding by with barely enough money as it was. I didn't have $10 to spare, especially for a guy that I never even learned his name. I have him a buck and told him to ask the other folks for change too, but before he got a chance, one of the other foreigners covered his bill. I'm glad he did, because the already drunk bicycle-guy got his money's worth and put on quite a show for us.

The rest of us jumped on the free buffet (which was surprisingly good) and bicycle-guy started right to drinking and picking up girls (that's right, with the girlfriend waiting back at the hotel). His only success was this a woman that must have been in her forties but was dressed like she was 19. Weird. Anyway, he danced quite provacatively with her, and then tried to take her into the bathroom with him. She'd have none of that.

The best part of the evening is when one of the other guys asked him if he had game. He said, "hell yeah!" and then did the worm awkwardly across the dance floor. Classic.

As all this was happening, I was drinking free beer, chatting with the others in the bar, and watching one of my new friends try and fail over and over with this Japanese girl. Eventually (after enough beer), I tried to step in and help. I didn't leave the dance floor after that. Good exercise, I guess. See, this is why I don't drink often. Drinking leads to dancing leads to me looking like a fool.

In any case, the group of us shut down the bar at three in the morning. I woke up the next morning with quite a hangover, got my visa, walked around with the group until our ferry showed up and then went back to Korea. I made some new friends, almost all of whom live in Busan, my new home.

Even with the hangover, it was the best time I had in Japan. Odd it happened at the Happy Cock.

R