Saved by Chance

February 18

There I was about to think that I would have an eventless weekend, when chance struck and things got interesting. My original plan was to fool around with various entertainment devices in the dorm and eventually get to studying the words that I had a test on the next day. As time passed, I decided that I had best study before I forgot. Almost immediately after I finished studying, my friend Nabil appeared in my room (via doorway) and asked if I wanted to go to Osaka to look at the electronics store. Since I had been considering buying something from there, I went along for the ride.

As we walked to the bus stop, I began to feel the irony of the situation. I was an American walking with an Arab in a foreign country, which seemed to be a misrepresentation of the American view of Arab people. As subtle as it was, I was still entertained by the circumstance.

Once we reached Osaka, we made our way to Yodobashi Camera which, despite the name, sells much, much more than cameras. In fact, those of you attentive readers may recall me mentioning a department store that was about eight stories. This was that.

We made our way up to the game section to look at the Nintendo DS, which, through various sources, we were informed had a dictionary-type game that could be useful in deciphering what the people in Japan were saying/writing to us. I was having some pre-purchase dissonance about the whole idea since it was quite difficult to determine whether the device would perform as expected or not. Instead, I insisted that we go back downstairs to look at the actual electronic dictionaries before deciding anything.

Before we found the dictionaries, Nabil wanted to look at the laptops we passed by since his current one was falling apart. There were some decent deals and some indecent deals. All of the laptops featured the recently released Windows Vista, while some also featured some hardware that surely wouldn't run it. The most interesting laptop was a disgustingly expensive one laced with some type of leather that looked like a crocodile. Nabil seemed impressed, but I thought that it was quite ugly and probably had slow hardware that was deferred by the outer design.

Once we found the dictionaries, we asked one of the store employees which one could look up words and kanji (Chinese characters). We were shown a model made by Casio that could look up words and have kanji written on a touch screen with a stylus pen. At this point, I wanted to get something to help me with Japanese, so I had to choose between the Nintendo DS for approximately ¥17,000 which may not do what I hope that it would or the dictionary for ¥31,800 which I could physically prove would do what I wanted ($170 or $310). After careful consideration and the knowledge that I could use my credit card in this particular store so to not cut into my living money, I decided to get the dictionary. Nabil also wanted to get something, but he was not yet sure that he wanted the dictionary over the Nintendo DS, so he went to think about it while he looked for a bathroom.

As expected, purchasing an item in a foreign country was an adventure. First, I discovered that in order to get the ¥2,000 discount that they were offering for the dictionary, I had to have a members point card. At some point, it started to sound like she was asking about having an alien registration card, but I later discovered that she was referring to the members card again. After explaining that I did not know my local address, she decided to drop the whole card thing and get on with the purchase. It became apparent that she allowed me the discount anyway when the register rang up ¥29,800. After completing the transaction, she asked me to wait and she went to look for something. She came back with a little pouch for the dictionary and said that it was a present (from the store). A free discount and a free carrying pouch - now that's employee empowerment!

When Nabil came back, we went to look at the Nintendo DS one more time before he decided what to do. Ultimately, he decided to get the dictionary. When we went back down, the girl who helped me wasn't there, so Nabil was helped by another person. The guy went through the same routine about the card. After he was given the same answers that I gave, he noticed that I had purchased an item already. He asked if it was the same thing to which I answered affirmatively. After checking the receipt, he found that I was given the discount and proceded to give Nabil the discount as well. I discovered that he did not give Nabil a free pouch though, which shows that such gift giving is purely a decision of the employee. We made our way back home after that.

On the train, I decided to check out my new toy. It was all in Japanese, so I had to use the click-and-see method. As we played around with it, we noticed that there was no stylus with the dictionary. Though it was a bit disappointing, it seemed that we had to purchase one separately.

Once we reached our destination, we went to the ¥500 restaurant with lots of food to eat. Nabil had not been there before and was impressed with the amount of food that you receive for so little money. He decided to pay for both of us since I showed him such a great place. As we were walking back to the dorm, he called his father and I got to hear some Arabic.

Upon arriving at the dorm, I stopped by to talk to Okaa san. We showed her our new gadgets and she showed us that she had one of the exact kind (though she paid more for it). Then I showed her the before and after pictures of my room and she almost fell out of her seat. From there, she started going on about how neat and organized I was. Soon, Otoo san came in and I showed him the pictures as well. He produced the English word "Surprise!" which meant 'that's surprising.' After that, Nabil and I headed upstairs.

In the dorm unit, we talked with Will and showed him our new investments. After looking at it for a little while, Will discovered that the dictionaries did in fact come with a stylus. It seemed that every doubt about the dictionary was removed after a little exploration. I would say that it was well worth it, especially since I later found that the more accurate translation of ¥29,800 was $250 instead of $300. After that, I spent the night studying my words and figuring out how to use the dictionary.