Rebel without a Cause

This is definitely not what I wanted to see in my rear view mirror the other day. Yes, you guessed it. To top off my crummy week, I had my first run-in with the Japanese Police. Totally my fault. Oh how my mother (who works at Department of Motor Vehicles back home) will beam with pride when she reads this story.

As I stated above, last week started out pretty crummy. It wasn't really an official week, but rather an equivalent of 7 days that started on Friday at Chiba Mother Farm when I lost Josh, only to find him joyfully playing at the top of a hill in the farm sprinklers. Squealing with delight, he asked if we could get some ice cream. After I ran up the hill after him in the ruthless heat, I hugged him and of course told him he could have whatever he wanted. I suppose it came with the guilt of losing him and relief of finding him.

The next day, I smash the top of my foot under the leg of our computer chair, crunching the nerves right above my toes and leaving a heart shaped bruise right where my sandals rub against. As if anything else could go wrong...... and, it did.

For several days, I thought that I got away scott-free, forgetting the golden rule about how all bad things happen in life..... they happen in sets of three. I'm going to start this Japanese Police story by making shamelessly lame excuses for myself. It was raining that day. The rainy season it seems has shown up late this year. Disappointing for the public pool across the street, however, very nice for the general public seeing that it cools down what would be the extremely hot months of summer. Anyway, I was driving to base slowly tailing a delivery truck. I couldn't see past him, and trailed him way too long in frustration before thinking to pass him. I finally decided to pass him when we were about to head through a yellow light. It changed to red and I drove right through it. Not an unusual occurrence in this country. Unlike in America, there is something like a 5-10 second delay before the light turns green for oncoming traffic. This in turn leads many drivers to jump red lights (meaning go before the light turns green) and just run right through the ones that just turn red (like I did). Also, the yellow lights are extremely short causing many gaijin to slam on the brakes when a yellow light flashes. So I thought, "this time, when in Rome.... right?" Wrong. No sooner had I driven through the light (relieved that I finally passed the truck) that I heard the sirens and saw the lights. 'Oh gosh, where in the heck to I pull over?', I thought. I was almost to base. I stopped at the next red light with my hazards on. The police officer jumped out of his car and in the best English he could muster said, "Please pull left". I assumed after I made the right turn that I should pull over on the non-busy highway. After pulling over, I parked and left my hazards on. I handed the police officer my Mommy "business" card with my name in katikana and a little slip of paper with my address on it in kanji, which he very much appreciated. He also asked me for my ID and drivers license. He in turn handed me a piece of paper in English with a circled reason as to why he was pulling me over. He was very efficient and considerate; thanking me for providing everything and bowing. Josh, of course, was shrieking in the back, handing me his bowl of carrots, demanding that I take it because he was all done...... I had to tell him, "Wait. Mommy is getting a ticket and not the fun kind like on the train." The only stickler of it all was that I couldn't try to talk or cry my way out of it.

The fine ended up being 9000 yen (about $90.00). I was just praying that no one that I know drove by. After all was done and the police officer requested that I please go ahead (he also double checked to make sure he gave me my military ID card back), I had to smile at the whole experience. Even though I wasn't proud of myself, I couldn't help but think.... wow, how many gaijin can say they got a traffic ticket in Japan? Once I got on base, I stopped by Mike's work (also where SushiJeff works) to do the walk of shame. Mike went to the post office the next day to pay the fine and all was back to normal in the world. Jeff explained that certain times during the year, the police frequent places right outside of base to catch some "Y" plates (foreign driver plates). My lesson was learned..... don't run red lights near base during the summer. Just kiddin', Mom!