Life in Japan 2003/2004

Mt. Hinode

On Saturday I rode the famed Mt. Hinode. For months I read about the trails on Mt. Hinode but never had the time to get there. It was a great set of trails. A mixture of steep climbing, techincial root riding and fast downhill. The weather was nice for a my solo trek and I am planning to ride it again next weekend.

BUT, On the train ride home...

I was only 2 stops from my house and It wasn't a full train, Joban Line around 5PM. I was sitting next to my bike which was in a bike bag and reading a book. A older japanese guy boarded the train and stood over my seat. He looked like he was in his 50's and started asking me what is in the bag. I told him it was a jidensha. I returned to reading my book. He asked again what is that in the bag and again I said. "JI-DEN-SHA." I slowed it down because sometimes I speak Japanese and English too fast for people to understand. Again I return to my book.

This is where it gets good...

He started tapping my book and started speaking rapid fire japanese. I could only make out every other word. He was saying something like "I shouldn't bring that on the train, it was too big, I should get a smaller folding bike, I was messing up the train...just stupid things like that." I put my book down and almost stood up to tower over this little man but a just stared at him and let him vent. I really want to cut into him but my Japanese isn't good enough so I just continued to stare at him, Jedi mind trick style. But he wasn't letting up. Finally, there was a younger guy standing behind him and he leaned in and pointed out a seat on the other side of the train and that he could have a seat. But it wasn't about him sitting down because there were plenty of empty seats. The old guy continued his ranting now directing it at the younger guy. That was the older guys mistake.

The younger guy got in his face and his voice got REALLY low and started gunting at the older guy. I think he said, "Just shut up. Its ok to bring a bike on the train." This kinda surprised me because I wasn't worried about the old guy but now the whole situation was escalated. The old guy won't drop it now he was fully addressing the younger guy who had turned his back to him. But when the old guy opened his month again, the younger guy turned around and pressed his forehead up against the older guy, grabbed the back of his collar and started really gunting. I was like DAMN! you only see that kind of stuff in the yakuza films. When the reformed guy gets pushed the wrong way. Because the younger guy look like your average Japanese person.

Well now it was serious, I said. "It's OK don't worry about it" The younger guy let go of him and threw in some curses. The old man shut up then! But get this, he apologized to me! and he had to get of at the same stop as the younger guy, which was one before mine.

You can see the pictures I took here Posted by brian at December 12, 2003 11:55 PM