First of all we need to apologies for lack of posts. As our trip is winding down, we are entering the phase that we have planned very little for. Most of it we just figured would work itself out. Well, it is working itself out but the mystery of each step and the wish to check off the last few “Things to Do While In Japan” items on our list while doing so has left us with very little free time to write and keep you all updated. So these next couple days will be short and to the point.

On October 26th, Meghan and I spent a good bit of the day lazing about and preparing our bags for the upcoming trip to Tokyo. Since Hiromi had the day off of work, we watched another one of the movies we bought in Korea and then continued to make sure our things were in order. Then we bought our but tickets – two on the overnight bus from Osaka to Tokyo with the Willer Bus Company.

Once Liam got back from work, we all decided to share the last couple beers from the fridge and head out to dinner. We marched out onto busy Route 30 and headed to a little restaurant right next to the drunken pig themed bar we had been to the first night. This restaurant, an izakaya or Japanese style pub, had a different theme however: baby strippers. As in, babies who strip. Not regular live babies – don’t work. The stripper babies were modeled after the 3D Dancing Babies of a while back. Now that I write this, I believe I mentioned it a couple days ago. Well, here are some pictures. And his dance moves are awesome.

After eating some delicious fried things on sticks, we headed to the bike garage, checked out our bikes and began ferrying all of our bags from Liam and Hiromi’s 5th floor apartment down to the ground floor. With bikes and bags together again, we hurried down to the main road to meet the bus.

When we finally arrived at the bus stop, we were met by a tall, lean representative of the Willer Bus Company wearing a too-small suit, tiny red apron and a hell of an attitude. Right away, he let us know that we were not allowed to take our bikes on the bus. We knew this. You can’t ever take bikes on buses and train – unless they are wrapped up in a special bag as we always do. We told him not to worry. That the bikes would become quite small. He persisted: no matter what size the bikes became, the bus would not accept the bicycles. We ignored him, wrapped up our bikes and placed them in the underside storage of the bus as he checked in other people riding the bus.

After a bit, he returned to us and told us he would not allow the bus to leave unless the bikes and bags were removed. We continued to tell him that it wasn’t a problem – that the bikes were the same size as moderately large air-travel luggage. (We even asked the bus driver and luggage handler what they thought and they seemed to agree with us that not only were the bags ok to travel but that there was plenty of room under the bus – SINCE IT WAS EMPTY.) No go. We told him we would buy another ticket for the larger luggage. No go. Then I asked for the phone number for his manager, called him up, and was essentially told that as long as we didn’t hold the company responsible for damages to our bikes, they could ride. He asked to talk to his manager on my phone, hung it up, handed it back to me, and said, “This bus willl not leave with those bikes. You’re making the rest of the bus riders angry.” The bus’ departure time came and went. Finally, 10 minutes after the bus was supposed to leave, I quickly removed all the luggage and Meghan, in an English rage fueled by the guy’s awful attitude, the rain and possibly a couple beers, exploded at him. The bus left, Meghan’s rage subsided, I casually tore into him a bit in Japanese and he left.

Wonderful people that they are, Liam and Hiromi stood by us during the encounter and even helped us to haul our incredibly heavy bags and wrapped-up bikes back to their place where we grumbled about the guy in the red apron and found out that, indeed, there was no mention of a restriction on bikes on their website. Very grumpy, we went to sleep; not knowing how we would get to Tokyo.

We have encountered so much kindness during this trip. So many people have helped us out, slightly bent the rules for us, or let us slide in situations simply because we were kind to them and they were excited by our travels. Only a few times, very few times, did we encounter people like the guy from Willer Bus Company – people that just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and seemed to want to make things as difficult as is physically possible. Thankfully, and I’m certain it’s this way throughout most of the world, people like him are the exception as opposed to the rule.