Stress Relief

I must admit, our job is pretty easy. Usually the most stressful part of my day is catching the train. Trains in Japan are rarely late, and if they are it is hardly ever by more than a minute or two – it’s just the way things are in Japan. I am reminded daily how un-Japanese I am. No matter how much time I seem to have, I constantly find myself running for the train. Whether I lose track of time, or am told by one of the numerous uniformed bike patrollers not to park in my normal spot on the street, the result is the same: me running. As good of exercise as this may be, it is somewhat stressful, because I know that if I miss my train, it means that I will have to wait for the next one, a local, which takes longer than the express I have been running for. 5 seconds too late for my train means a 20 minute delay in arriving. Two days ago I began to realize the satisfaction that I receive from catching the train at the last minute. As usual I was running for my train. I arrived on the platform just at the doors were sliding shut, and in a split second decision I dove in, forcing my body through the closing doors. “I made it!” I triumphed. As I looked up I saw a hundred Japanese faces staring at me, and I realized that I didn’t just think those words, but I yelled them. Nobody said a word – alas, I had just given them their crazy foreigner fix for the day.