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Spoiler: everything goes wrong in this post. I don’t want to spoil it here in this intro summary, but today is filled with new and unique embarrassments.

Monday April 20th, 2026

Today’s goal: Get a Costco membership for less than it costs in the U.S.

But first, konbini (convenience store) breakfast.

Check out the sweet Attack on Titan acrylic keychain I got with my name on it.

I want to get out of the city again, so this time I’ll head West to Yamanishi.

I had planned to go North, but I was unable to buy a seat for the trains going in that direction.

I lost several hours of my day figuring this out.

But I can head West. Yamanishi will be great.

I wonder if I can see Mount Fuji from the bus?

Love this at a train station.

And this is delightful to see.

If you have a kid with an ugly hat, the folks at the train station can lower the hat down into a pit.

Or rescue a lost hat from the train tracks.

One of those things.

Image unclear.

Today I’ll be taking my first bus ride in Japan.

Wish me luck!

Success! I have made it onto the bus.

It’s nice to watch the Japanese countryside from a bus window while traveling along the highway.

Lots of orchards around here.

It’s like being back home in NYC.

My notes for this day say “I definitely paid for the bus wrong, but I’m not sure how or by how much.”

I tried to buy a ticket at a machine, but just-in-case, I checked with a worker to make sure I had the correct ticket and I did not.

My ticket was corrected and I was able to board to my assigned seat for an extremely reasonable fee (about $15).

What is not pictured

First things first, we wander.

There’s a book and video store here in town, so I’ll work my way in that direction and see what I see along the way.

I’m waiting at a crosswalk for the walk light to change, and it’s not changing.

I don’t see a button to press immediately, but I do see this one low to the ground…

I’ll take a photo to see if Google can translate it for me.

And a lady presses the button to get across the street.

It is the crosswalk button.

I make it to the store!

Book Off, show me your CDs!

Okay, maybe show me a little bit less.

I don’t have much time left in the day and I haven’t completed my side-quest of getting a Costco card in Japan, so I’ll take a bus there now.

Google maps tells me the total and I check to make sure I have enough money.

I do.

I suspect the rural bus will take exact change and not tap-to-pay for a credit card.

Google maps tells me how much it will be, but I’m not sure how the bus system works, so I use Google translate how to say “Will this bus cost me 450 yen?” (or however much the total was) to a lady who is waiting for the same bus and she says “Hai.” so I am relieved that I won’t mess this one up.

Foreshadowing: I mess this one up.

Here’s where I waited for the bus.

I watched the grocery store prepare to close for the day.

When the bus arrives, it’s not like New York busses.

Here when you get on a bus, you’re expected to wait for anyone to exit, then enter from the front, pay on the way in, then exit from the middle door when leaving.

This bus is entered from the center and I had a difficult time trying to get to the front of the bus to pay.

I throw in a 500 yen coin expecting 50 yen to pop out, or non change to pop out, but instead it shoots out all kinds of change and I realize that I have messed up.

I leave the change in the tray and I sit down on the back of the bus.

As more people are picked up I see them tapping a card at the middle entrance, and when they exit later, they tap again at the front of the bus when they get off.

Well… Too late for me to do that, I didn’t tap on the way in.

So when we get to my stop I fumble with my translator to explain that I have not paid correctly and the bus driver asks me where I got on and he does the manual math to determine the fee.

I took this picture of the stop lists.

It takes a long time and I feel so bad for making everyone wait for me, but it’s over now.

I’m off the bus.

It gets dark early here.

Here in the rural orchard farms of Japan.

But I make it to the Costco!

Now.

Several things happen here which I will summarize for you.

1. No one wants to deal with the American, so they bring in a young woman who speaks good English. I later learn that she lived in Canada for several years.
2. Not many people speak English or want to speak with me, so this is a nice change.
3. I am not able to get the membership card because I do not have a Japanese address.
4. I ask if I can use my hotel address, and am told “no” and so I accept defeat.
5. The young woman says “You should move to this city. I could make you okonomiyaki.”
6. Why is she offering to make me okonomiyaki?
7. She’s avoiding eye contact and offering to walk me out of the store… I think she’s hitting on me.
8. I pretend not to notice and I quickly leave.
9. It’s dark out now.
10. There is no bus back to the station.
11. There is no bus or train back to Tokyo tonight.
12. My phone’s battery is very low.

So here I am walking in the dark in rural Japan with no way back to my hotel and a phone that’s about to die.

First things first, let’s get supplies.

If the phone dies, I’m going to have a hard time.

I find the nearest 7-11 and I buy a phone charger and some food.

If I need to I can just wait around at the bus terminal until the first bus arrives in the morning and get back.

Not ideal, but not awful either.

On the walk to the 7-11 I look at Air BnBs and pick the nearest one and request a room.

I forgot that it’s not like a hotel, you don’t just pay and show up.

The host needs to approve.

It’s late at night and I’m not sure if my request will be approved, so my plan is to walk towards a hotel and if I make it to the hotel before I get a response, I’ll stay at the hotel.

Luckily, just as I leave the 7-11 I get a response from the Air BnB hoste.

I will be staying at an orchard farmer’s home, tonight.

A young man meets me at the Air BnB and gives me a quick tour.

At one point I think he says “Are you Christian?” but after using a translator I realize he is saying “Do you have any questions?”

No questions. I need to charge my phone, sleep, and remember that I was warned about busses and trains not operating at night.

This is my own damn fault.

I made it.

I found a place to sleep.

I’ll rest well tonight.

I am thankful for the kindness of the people in Japan.

And I got hit on by someone half of my age.

That’s an ego boost.

(To my partner who will certainly read this: It wasn’t that big of an ego boost. In fact, not an ego boost at all, really. I should offended! I wish I had said “Ma’am! I’m married and I must not eat okonomiyaki prepared by another woman!”)

All kidding aside, everything about today is awkward.

But I have a place to sleep, and that is enough.

What do you do?

Eat sweet bean buns from the 7-11 and drink some water, then go to sleep, I suppose.

I was able to find some Namie Amuro CDs, so that’s awesome.

Let me show you around this place a little bit.

Luckily tonight being a Monday night, it is not a popular evening for travelers and I suspect I may have been the only guest.

This hallway like many things in Japan is for people shorter than myself (I’m 6′ 3″).

This item in my room made me smile.

It uses the English onomatopoeia for cats “meow,” but spelled with Japanese pronunciation.

I sleep.

Tuesday April 21st, 2026

Here’s that short hallway door from the other side.

The entrance where I came in from the back of the house is at the bottom of these stairs.

Here’s the rooms on the first floor.

I was told that I could eat items in the fridge in the morning, so I put what tastes like a marmalade on a piece of bread for breakfast.

Here’s a Google translate:

I carefully wash my dishes after my small meal and take care of my garbage.

Remove plastic bottle wrappers, rinse the bottle, place the bottle in recycling, and the other items into the garbage.

This cottage is delightful.

Oh, and I took off my shoes when I arrived.

I didn’t botch that and add it to the list of embarrassments from yesterday.

Back to the town center.

Back to the bus terminal.

Back to the subways of Tokyo.

Back to the hotel.

With a drink from a vending machine.

Why does this one coin not have English on it?

Had to look it up.

It’s a 5 yen coin.

I’ll stop at one store on the way back to the hotel.

I’ll get a nice passport book for my wife Lauri.

And some laundry detergent.

Today I will recuperate.

I can’t figure out the food on the television, so I order Pizza Hut.

And then I pass out.

I still haven’t adjusted to the jet lag, but at least I wasn’t riddled with embarrassment after embarrassment today.

I’ll take the small win.

Cheers.