Kobe Part Two

AKA "The exhausting and horrible part"

After leaving Kobe, we reached Akashi, where Piotr had parked. We find the car, but... no power. Piotr had left the lights on. This led to me butchering Japanese in an effort to find help. Of course, I didn't know any of the useful words, so it went kinda like this: [Uh, excuse me? My friend's car is ...broken. Ba-ta-ri is broken/dead. Do you have ja-m-paa kay-ba-ru-su?] Not surprisingly, this did not find us any help. One person actually understood this, but didn't have cables. He directed us to the koban [police box]. But, of course, there were no cops to be found. We returned to the car and to flagging down people. By this point, it's around 11 pm.

Then Piotr decides to call his pal Yukiko, who we'd just been hanging out w' in Kobe. She rounds up her dad and they come to help us. Weeeelllll, Yukiko's dad was groovin', doin' his own thing, being helpful... Once the connection was secured, Piotr got a bit of power. Great, right? Just chill a bit, let the battery get charged. Weeellll, Y's dad was fiddling around w' stuff, and all of a sudden, the car just dies. No lights, no power, no nothing. A bit of exploring reveals that Y's dad decided "Hmmm, some power with this connection. Maybe if I CROSS THE CABLES I'll get more power faster." GAH!! It is now quite late. And Y's dad either is embarrassed or oblivious to "Don't cross the streams" rule, so he's talking about how Piotr's shaken [shah-ken: a manditory car inspection that every car must have every 2 years] must be old or his battery is faulty. We finally call up JAF [Japanese version of AAA]. The repairman arrives, asks if we crossed the cables, and roots about for awhile. Decides he needs to look at the fusebox [which is in the engine in Japanese cars, BTW].

This is all taking awhile, so Aaron and I dash to a konbini for snacks and a bathroom. We entertain ourselves with "Never cross the streams" "What happens if you cross the streams" "Imagine the end of the universe" "You said crossing the streams was bad" Feeling relieved and vented, we return to the car. It is now almost 1 am. The fusebox is finally opened [seems the box had been ... fused shut], the fuse replaced, so we are ready to be on our way. Much thanking of Y's dad [he did have the best intentions], Yukiko, and the JAF man.

On our way home, we manage to get lost in Himeji. Roads in Japan are horrible; if you miss your exit off the highway, you are screwed. Which is, of course, what we did, and what we were for a good 45 minutes. We finally figure out how to reach the expressway, where we are greeted with a neon sign reading "Snow" "Fukusaki" "Wadayama". We optimistically reduce this to a snow advisory. Well, two towns later, the expressway is closed, and we're on packed-snow, driving up the back roads.

Thanks to Piotr's amazing snow-driving, a bit of pushing [courtesy of me and Aaron at Ikuno Pass], and general perseverence, we arrive in Wadayama at 5 am. Thankful to be alive and home, we slept til noon.