Difficult to go home

One junior woman at work told me,
I’m looking for my boyfriend,
so can you introduce me to a single guy that you recommend, Tomotaro?

So, I set up a party for her.

It was a dinner party, but it was also a cross-cultural exchange
and information gathering, or to put it simply, a Matching date.

Since tomotaro is a married man, I was the organizer of the party,
and I had already informed my junior female friends.

Also, I’ve already given my family prior consent.
(My wife commented, “You can keep going,”
but the truth of her words is unknown. It’s scary in a way.

Anyway, I’m not sure why I am going.
Am I just a guardian?

I wondered if I should just say, “Let the young people do the rest…” and leave.
In the first place, it’s difficult to hold a drinking party when someone asks you to.

Like this time.

“I want a boyfriend.”
“Recommended men.”

I can’t introduce strange people.
As you may know, it’s a credibility issue for me.

What kind of man can a man recommend?
This is a difficult question.

The first thing that comes to my mind
when I think of “men I can recommend” are all married men.

If I say, “All the men I can recommend are already married,”
then the drinking party itself will not be possible.
I had to think about it.

However, since the keyword for this event was “single”,
So, I removed married people from the list of candidates
and invited my friends from school and colleagues from work.

We met in Ginza at 8:00 p.m. after work.

We met at a certain dining bar in Ginza.
On the course menu, there is a “Matching Party Pack”.

The naming was too straightforward to be funny,
but the price was 4,000 yen and included all-you-can-drink.

All you can drink.

I’m always weak at the word “all you can drink” and “all you can eat”.

Starting with beer, it was followed by shochu, like a Japanese vodoka, and wine.
It’s a good saying, “Sake is the best of all medicines”.

I was unexpectedly excited and forgot to leave the party.

We all decided to go to the after party.
The second meeting was at an izakaya in Ginza.

As the organizer, I was happy as long as everyone enjoyed themselves.
In the end, we ended up drinking until past the last train.

Everyone was going home by cab, so I lined up with the ladies at the cab stand to see them off.

The time was 24:30. As I mentioned before, there was no last train.

My classmates from school were also going home because they had to work tomorrow.

My colleagues and I decided to go out for a drink since it was still early.
We went to a club in Shinbashi, but it wasn’t a dancing club.

I should have left at this point, while the wounds were still fresh.

This club closes at 26:00, so we had to drink for an hour.
In a way, I thought it would be nice to have a fixed time to leave the restaurant.
But just before closing time, the store’s mom came up to me.

She said, “Our Akihabara branch is open until 28:00, so why don’t you come with us?

tomotaro said “Yes? What did you say?”

I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

She said, “Our staff will drive you to the store”.

Really?
To Akihabara?
A Staff, you mean black suit men?

I confirmed my intention with my colleague, and we decided to go.

Final answer?

We paid the bill and left the restaurant in Shinbashi.
36,000 yen for the two of us.

It was a good price because we had a bottle to keep, but we just drank.
If I start complaining about the market price here, there’s no end to it.

A canned cola costs around 120 yen at a vending machine, but if you drink it in the lobby of a luxury hotel, it will cost you almost 1,000 yen.
Curry and rice, which costs around 600 yen at a curry shop in town, costs around 1,500 yen at a ski resort.

The same goes for alcohol.
It’s not about what’s inside, it’s about the space and the price you pay for it.

Yes, that’s my excuse.

I was starting to get a little drunk at this point, wasn’t I?
My lack of judgment is beginning to show.

We went to Akihabara in a car driven by a black suit staff.

We ended up drinking until 28:00.

By the way, this is 50,000 yen for the two of us.
I heard that we were so excited that we had kept a new bottle for whisky.


The contents of our wallets were completely empty.

We had no money to take a cab home,
so we went to a ramen shop in front of Akihabara station to have a real review meeting.

I had to spend our time until the first train.

The first train leaves at 29:00 and heads for home.

From Akihabara, I transferred to the Chuo Line at Ochanomizu and headed for Shinjuku.
I will arrive at the my nearest station in 30 minutes.

・・・・・・・・・・・・.

The sun is shining, and passengers are carrying backpacks.

I wake up to an unusual atmosphere.

Where?

Or rather, a dream?

It seems I’ve arrived at some station.

I see a sign that says “Hachioji Station”.

I realized my stupidity.
This is the moment when I feel like I’m going crazy with my own stupidity.

At any rate, I got off and headed for the uphill direction.
As I head up, I still can’t grasp the current situation.

In less than a minute, an up train enters the line.
I was troubled, but I sat down in my seat to think slowly.

The option of standing up if I had something to think about was not an option at this time.
Deep sleep again.

・・・・・・・.

When I wake up again, I see a sign saying “Shinjuku Station”.

I hope there’s been a mistake.

The thought that I might not be able to go home for ever crosses my mind.

I can’t learn, can I?

When this happens, I’m too scared to sit or sleep at the train anymore.

I stand up and head for the my nearest station, surrendering myself to the hanging straps.

I made it home safely.

The time was just before 32:00. (Just before 8:00 a.m. the next day)

It took me less than three hours to get home from Akihabara.

With less than three hours, I could take the Shinkansen to Osaka.

If I flew, I could go to Taiwan from Tokyo.

Drunken refugees.

Although it is said that I am responsible for my own actions,
it is also true that several misfortunes have come together.

Oh, I’m so unhappy… I thought as I went to bed.

Three hours later, I woke up.

My condition was not good.

I need to be accountable to my wife for my “morning trip”.

No problem with the drinking party,
as I had already agreed to it (rather than promoting it).

She said that she doesn’t understand the two restaurants at night, the ramen at the end of the night, and the two missed trains.

I’m sorry, but I don’t neither understand.

You are right.
Tomotaro doesn’t understand it either.

I could not argue with her at all.

I told her passionately that I was glad to be back home safely,
but she didn’t listen to me at all.

Then, I received a text message from my colleague.

It was titled “Incident issue”.

What?
What?
I thought, and opened the mail…

The following is the original text.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
Good morning!
I took the first train for my home,
but I overslept and fell asleep on a bench
in Sakuragi-cho instead of Sakura-shinmachi.
It’s okay if that’s all, but my wallet was also stolen.
I’m going to stop drinking for a while.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

My misfortune has been blown away.

Sakurashinmachi is in Setagaya Ward of Tokyo.
Sakuragicho is in Yokohama of Kanagawa.

The “Sakura” name is same, but second half letter is difference.
It’s the complete opposite direction and quite a distance away.

It’s beyond the level of oversleeping.
I don’t know what to say, but I also went to Hachioji.

And he said that his wallet was stolen.
It’s not funny.
I’m about to burst into tears.

It was a weekend that made me think for a moment that I should declare myself sober.

Reflections on this time
Don’t take the train if you are drunk.
If you’re really drunk, don’t hesitate to take a cab.

Don’t move from restaurant to restaurant at midnight.
You’ll lose money.

Keep your wallet in a safe place.

It’s a drinking party until you get home safely.