Return of the King

Man, I kinda screwed up bad on Thursday (the 9th). The problem dates back about a month actually.
One of the Oita JETs had invited me to a nomikai on Wednesday, the night of our arrival and I'd heard that there was going to be a two day Oita orientation at sometime. I put the two together thinking there was a link and made plans with my friend Mayumi (one of my English students from last time) for the second night of the orientation. Just wanted to kick it, grab a drink or two and catch up. But there was no connection between the two events: the nomikai was aimed only at the Oita City JETs; and the orientation isn't until the last week of the month.
Well, missing the party was a bummer, sure, but I got my bike reassembled and running true, got myself settled into the apartment, so that day was a victory in my books. But I'll be damned if I'm going to reneg on a second commitment, especially with Mayumi who was a blast to hang out with and helped me so much before. She had also taken a special vacation day already just for the occasion. The catch for me is that the last train back towards Kusu leaves Oita just before 8PM. Do I take a vacation day tomorrow? No, too short of notice. Can Mayumi drive me back? Waaaaay too far to drive late at night. Stay at Mayumi's place? I haven't much talked to her in three years, for all I know she's married.
No, this was a one-way trip
So I was ready to catch the 5:00PM train to Oita City when my coworker, Hiramatsu-san, knowing the intrinsic problem with my journey as any Japanese would, offered to drive me to Oita Station and pick me up around 6:45 the next morning at the Mukainoharu Station in Minami Oita City, near where he lives and about four stations into the train line that leads back to Kusu. How I spend the night in Oita City is my problem. It's a deal I can't pass up and snatch it as quickly and politely as I can. On a side note, my goal this first month language-wise is to get good at thanking people for stuff and politely asking for favors. In this move-in phase it's a valuable coin to use with those around my office helping me out, among other things.
Hiramatsu-san is a very nice fellow, but he's incredibly quiet and our trip to Oita City is mostly a void of conversation and jokes. I'm going to work on him once I master the art of oyaji gaggu and other owarai styles (thank you, Willis, for turning me on to this stuff. It's been gold so far. Dondake~!).
Now something a little mellow:

Some things
you know all your life. They are so simple and true
they must be said without elegance, meter and rhyme,
they must be laid on the table beside the salt shaker,
the glass of water, the absence of light gathering
in the shadows of picture frames, they must be
naked and alone, they must stand for themselves.

excerpt from The Simple Truth, by Philip Levine

I was introduced to Levine and his poem The Simple Truth in just this last semester of university, during my English 214 class, and its verses have proved to be apt to so much in my recent life, especially my previous Oita experience. A lot of this will sound incredibly corny so please bear with me.
Check out the rest of the poem online if you have the time. I think we, each and every one of us, has a distinct Simple Truth in our lives and hopefully we've found the drawsting that will pull down the obscuring curtain on it. In my case Oita City is the embodiment of that Truth, it's like the crucible in which my current heart and mind was forged. To the layman it's just some funky, out-of-the-way Japanese coastal city, to me it stands noble and strong, needing no qualification whatsoever. From the second I entered its wings last time I knew I'd arrived. You know, arrived. Delusional as it may sound, the place may have just been calling me telepathically for about a decade. I mean, I could have studied abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo, one of the nation's most prestigous colleges, I could have attended Kyoto University, a city-sized museum and the heart of Japanese traditional culture. I chose Oita. The most common response I get when I tell people that is "you're shitting me..."
Now I'm slipping into Oita City again from Beppu, cruising past a Naruto Udon, spotting a Book-Off on my right, noticing the remodeled Sushi Meijin, the Macross Bridge Building (not its real name) is coming into view, as is the Docomo transmission tower. Finally Oita Station. I fucking love this city.

I met Mayumi about thirty minutes after arriving. Willis and Emily, you'll be happy to know that the first thing I did was eat two slices of cheese toast from Trandor. We hung out until about midnight, hitting up Don Quixote for shits and giggles, walking up and down the Centoporto mall, Mos Burger for drinks and a place to rest our bones. I cued her in on my haiku rampage and wrote one for out night out. Then I got a cheap and very shady business hotel room and retired until 6AM. Hiramatsu was at the station exactly when he said he'd be, the punctual superhero that he is.
So everything worked out, if not with a hefty burden of anxiety early on. Mayumi invited me to Kumamoto Prefecture on Saturday with her sister's family to visit the family elders there, so until then...

--Matt