The lights...All the pretty lights. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat driving south in the back of a taxi cab at 10:30 at night through a city that is sparkling with neon. Then I remember a story from a friend back home about a taxi ride from Narita airport to downtown Tokyo...He said the fair was $500. My eyes flash from the neon lights outside to the red lights of the taxi meter. 4,000 yen so far. "OK" I think. I have enough cash to pay that but how much will it cost to get me to Daikokucho? The conversation with the taxi driver went something like this:
Me: "Daikokucho"
Driver: "Daikokucho!"
Me:"Money."
Driver:"Money?"
Me:"How much money?"
Driver:"How.....英語わからへん!”
Me:"Moooney?"*shrug**point at meter*
At this point the driver got it. He gave me some reply that I couldn't understand. I gave him my best, over-exaggerated shrug and he tried again. "seven hundred eight hundred." I rechecked with "seven thousand?" and he confirmed it with "seven zero, zero, zero."
Alright. I could now relax. The trip would be about $100 but I could handle that. I sat back and enjoyed the neon light show as the city zipped by.
After another 20 minutes or so the driver pulled over and said "Daikokucho". I paid him with a 10,000 yen bill and he gave me the exact change. I remembered that I didn't have to tip him but felt a little guilty.
Before attempting to take the subway I thought I'd call the dormitory and get further instructions from my Aussie guide.
I found a phone and called the number again. Thankfully the Aussie answered. I told him I was at Daikokucho. He told me to get on the blue train and head towards "Suminoekoen", two stops.
I hung up the phone, took a T-shirt out of my bag (to mop up the sweat from my face) and headed down the stairs to the trains.
