I've usually had good experiences in Japan when sharing the road with other drivers. Everyone gives each other distance, and uses their blinkers, and avoids doing any sudden maneuvers. I thought that I'd finally escaped that mind of hell that America was really good at offering. Well, folks, I was wrong. Apparently there are asshole drivers here, too. Not as many, but I had to use more than one hand today to count, which is a first. As a matter of fact, while on the Tohoku Expressway this morning, I almost wound up succumbing to one. I was in the outside lane, and a car in front of me signaled onto a local exit ramp while another car was coming up in the passing lane. Because the car in front of me was getting off, I decided to speed up. Then, the driver going to get off the highway decided not to get off, turned off their blinker, and without warning, swerved back into the outside lane past the point where the exit ramp and highway divide. I had to brake and swerve towards the passing lane, but that other car was still coming up and went around me. I was very close to crashing Tackawanna.
I pulled up about 15 miles outside of Sendai to the Zao PA, a small rest stop where I could get out and stretch. A lot of people were on the highways today because of the holiday weekend, so the PA was so crowded that traffic cops were guiding people to where the buses usually park to accommodate more people. I ended up getting directed right next to a bus, where I stopped and got out to stretch and drink some water. At that moment, the occupants of said bus were coming back to board it. They were all college-aged girls.
This is a piece of advice for all the guys reading this. If you're looking to get some with the ladies, you have to get a convertible. It doesn't have to be pretty; in fact, Tackawanna could definitely use a paint job. The convertible will make you look 1000% more attractive, guaranteed. The girls would not stop waving at me and trying to get my attention, even after they got on the bus. One girl opened up one of the windows and stuck her head and arm out, constantly trying to get my attention. I tried to play it off by saying 「俺はカッコいいじゃない。」, but that just made them even more excited. As I pulled out of my space to get back onto the highway, I heard the girl, at this point her torso sticking out the window, yell "I LOVE YOU," in English.
"Love you, too," I yelled as I pulled around the bus.
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| "Ah, settle down now, maybe if you lucky and everythang..." |
Anyways, back to the route. The Tohoku and Sanriku Expressways are connected by a mostly single-lane expressway called the Sendai-Nanbu Road. After that, the Sanriku Expressway is a partial toll road, so I ended up saving some money on the tolls. (Still came to about $51 from the Aizu area.) The Sanriku was also not thoroughly connected to itself. Five years and five months ago, a major tsunami hit this area of Japan, killing 15,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damages. Even after the storm, they were still rebuilding some of the infrastructure. Therefore, I had to get off where the southern portion of the Sanriku ended, which was not where Google Maps thought I should've gotten off. I took another break at a Lawson, where I reformatted my larger SD card to work with my dashcam. Then, I set off again.
As I went down the mountain towards National Route 45, I noticed the construction area for the expressway, which was in the middle of a vast, clear plain, which was a very uncommon sight in Japan for me. As I moved on, I started seeing temporary buildings set up, with businesses running inside them. Once I noticed that even the convenience stores were in temporary housing, I knew exactly where I was.
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| Even five years later, they're still rebuilding here |
Route 45 had plenty of sign markers that would say "Past Tsunami Inundation Area," which represented the areas in which the tsunami swept inland over what little protection that the Japanese coastline had. Driving through it would go like this. You'd see the sign. Then you'd see the piles of wood or steel. Then you'd see some new construction. And finally, an unobstructed view of the harbor. Every tributary, and every river, no matter how small or thin, helped the tsunami work its way inland. It definitely showed in the surrounding landscape.
The August summer day was warm and the sun was intensively beating down on me in Tackawanna. But the Pacific Ocean was a surprisingly darker blue. It was a spectacle with a tragic type of beauty. As I passed through each area, I couldn't stop thinking the same dark thoughts. How many people died in this area? I would think to myself. How much longer will the people here have to rebuild to make everything seem normal again? The saddest part of this area, however, was in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. Right next to Route 45 was the hollowed-out foundation of a middle school. Hanging off various parts of the building were blue motivational banners with black text. One banner read "We will connect our hopes and dreams to the future." Another read "We live here, in this hometown."
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| Tragedy is not a temporary guest. It is a permanent reminder. |
Along the way, I was being tailgated on the shoulder by a man riding a 50cc moped. It looked and sounded like a mini-Harley, and especially had the chopper-like sound to it. Even when there was room for him to get around Tackawanna and the traffic in front of her, Moped Man didn't ride the shoulder, and even let pending traffic onto the road. Moped Man is the type of man who other moped drivers should aspire to be. I bet he also pays his bills on time and helps out with the household chores without his spouse having to nag him. He had black checkered side mirrors.
As I was admiring the sheer brilliance of Moped Man, I realized that the route sign was a different number from the one was that I was originally supposed to be taking. I took another wrong turn. Again. I was beside myself. I was checking my route at every break, and I looked up the route at least four times yesterday, and three before I left. I even switched over to Google Maps, and I still got lost. Luckily, I had only travelled a few miles away from Route 45. Unluckily, I stopped at about ten stoplights on the way back.
I arrived at my hotel, which is also in a Past Tsunami Inundation Area and was rebuilt after the tsunami, and checked in, feeling spent. I was also getty pretty tan, even though I reapplied sunblock on various parts of my body at least twice. I'll have to get more serious from now on with the sunblock. I'll have to practically smear it on every few hours, because that's apparently as long as it works for. SPF 50, my ass.
Dinner was at a local Italian restaurant a few miles up the road. When I got back to the hotel, I couldn't find my camera bag, which also had my camera in it. I fiddled my way around the dark car trying to look for it, but then I remembered that I might have brought it into the restaurant with me. I immediately got back in the car and drove back towards the restaurant. About a mile away from the restaurant, while waiting at a stoplight underneath a street light, I turned to look at my passenger seat.
My camera bag was right there.
JUST.
I need to be way more careful. If I keep getting lost and misplacing things, I may end up in some hot soup somewhere someday. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have more of my act together. It'll be a shorter drive; this one will be three hours of total driving. I may stop somewhere along the way tomorrow, though I don't know where yet.
Time for bed. おやすみなさい。
-wp
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