posted
So. My buddy Nescho Dimov has been biking through Japan since the end of May. At first, we heard from him fairly frequently-- postcards, emails and such. Not so much when he was exploring Hokaido, but we expected fewer internet cafes, etc. would make it harder to email.
We even tried to find our old friend in Kyoto (this isn't the first time we've tried over the years) around the first of the year. I guess we were hoping we could give him the name of somebody to look up if he got in trouble or something, but our old friend has been hard to find (he has a common name, though we thought that the fact that he's Christian might narrow it down a bit).
Anyway, here's the latest missive from Nescho (Nash):
quote: Subject: Tokyo
Hi Ron, I will be short cause it is a friends computer. Made to Tokyo. Taking lots of pictures. Ran out of money so I borrowed from Doug and thank you for giving him a check strip. Unreal as it may seem I
slept several nights in a park here in Tokyo, pennyless, hungry but strong. I used my last money to get on a Shinkansen from Fuji to Tokyo because other wise I could not access my bank account. International ATM here are rare. It is an Adventure. I am still waiting for the money, maybe they are deposited and the check will clear Today-your Saturday or Monday. I had to sell something to a friend I met in order to survive. He invited me to his home and I have taken some pictures from the 29th floor above a truly amazing city. No Godzila but me. Hope you are well! Love and Light to all! Nesho
So what I'd like to know is,
are there any 'Rackers in Japan who would be willing to help him out? He should have the money from his bank by now, but his Japanese is nowhere as good as his Bulgarian, Russian or English. I don't think his flight to Europe is until the end of August. I admit, I'm just a bit worried about him. (It's silly to worry. I mean, he's 43, a 4th queue black belt in Aikido, tall and scary-looking. I don't think anyone would be fool enough to hurt him. But he's impulsive and... I've always felt he needed just a bit of looking after. We used to call him out forty-year-old teenager.)
My Google-foo is weak. Anybody out there think they could find a way to contact Tadashi Takahashi? He's probably in Kyoto, last known address was at the Kansai Seminar House in Kyoto. It's a very common name, but he's a PRESBYTERIAN for crying out loud. Shouldn't that narrow it down a bit? I think THIS may have been written by him. He may be involved in the Nippon Christian Academy, too. I have emailed the Kansai Seminar House, but have never gotten any response, despite repeated attempts. Maybe the email I had was wrong.
I just want to be able to help Nescho if there's an emergency. Anybody have any ideas? Help!
posted
A very dear friend of mine lives in Tokyo. She is a very helpful down-to-earth person that speaks both English and Japanese fluently. I can speak to her about your situation and I'm sure she would be ok with helping out a kind stranger.
Email me if you are interested.
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Isn't aretee in Japan? Or wait, no, who is it? I know that we do have at least one hatracker in Japan. A woman, I think. She hasn't posted anything in the forums in a long time though.
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I lost her email addy when my comp got kissed by a magnet. I'll do a search and see if I can find a post of hers that hasn't dropped off yet
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Olivetta - I went ahead and emailed my friend with information from this thread and your email. I'll let you know as soon as she responds.
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I'm going to Japan at the end of Sept and beginning of Oct. I'm scared that I'm going to get lost! Anyone have ideas of things I can do around Sendai.
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Hi, enjeeo! Good to e-see you:) Hope life's treatin' you well these days-well enough to the point that you'll post more often Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Olivia - Aya hasn't responded to my email yet. I know she has been under the gun at work off and on so she just might have not had a chance to. Some weeks she works 14 hour days and by the time she gets home she just passes out. This may be one of those weeks. I'll try to give her a call this weekend when she isn't working.
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Enjeeo! Welcome back, even if you're just popping in temporarily (hope you're here to stay a while though). I promise not to misspell your name anymore. Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Just got a call from him, and the deposit has not gone through yet. I guess we'll have to try Western Union or some such to get him his money. He's been without money for 5 days, basically living in his tent.. Poor guy.
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm you checked back in to , enjeeo. Been reminded of you when mention was made of topics Japanese, Australian, or EasternPacific, as well as VictorianEra literature. Especially missed your contributions inre geopolitics, and peacemaking as opposed to war. It's enlightening when Hatrack has some nonAmerican viewpoints represented.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Um. Turns out the guy who was supposed to deposit the money tried to do it by wire, and the wire bounced. So he wrote a check, but didn't havethe bank's address. So, it's been sitting on his desk in an envelop with the deposit slip for a week, while Nash has been hungry and penniless in Tokyo. *grumbles at Nash's rich friend*
In any case, he's going to get him money through American Express Traveller's services, hopefully tonight.
My emails and continued attemptsto thank Enjeeo keep bouncing, and she hasn't posted here again. I'm sure she thinks I'm snubbing her. *fret*
Anyway, Nash had a longish talk with Ron, and he is well. he spent most of his time biking in Hokaido, and people would buy him water bottles and such and just give it to him if he looked tired. He had painted several postcard sized watercolors, which he gave in thanks whenever someone offered him a kindness. And that was when he still had money. Only was called 'gaijin' once. A public bathroom attendant in Hokaido (responsible for locking the public restrooms at night so people don't sleep in them) politely approached him and said, "Gaijin-san, if you like to stay, I will not lock." Probably because it was about to storm. But he had his tent so shelter wasn't an issue.
Still, it was nice.
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Have you tried contacting her at a different hour? There's about a 180degree/12hour difference between the EastCoast's time and Japan's time. You may have been bouncing off their "wee hours of the morning" server-down-for-regular-maintenance schedule.
She's been home for a few months now. In her email to me, she mentioned that she called the Kansai Seminar House for me, because she "speaks some Japanese" and thought it would be easier for her than for me (which is utterly true and I am prostrate with gratitude for that).
Trouble is, I'd like to pay her back for the call and stuff, but I can't get hold of her.
BTW, I'm pretty sure she's NOT Japanese, she just lived there for a while. I am a little fuzzy on where she hails from originally, though, so I'm not assuming she's American.
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Thanks for the info that enjeeo's back home. The way she just dropped off the Hatrack map made me wonder if she'd been enslaved to work in a yakuza mochi factory malleting rice night&day, or somethin'.
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She told me that when she left Japan she got a job with 'real hours' and less time to play online. She's doing fine, though. If anybody has luck contacting her (it's the hotmail account that keeps bouncing my emails back) PLEASE let her know I wasn't snubbing her! I break out in a sweat at the thought she might think I took her kindness for granted! Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Good Lord some people worry over nothing. I wasn't growling at the computer cursing you for not running back to thank me. I figured you were busy sorting out all this stuff for your friend and I've also been pretty busy at work the last couple of days.
Sorry about my hotmail being full. I've emptied it now. I'm glad things are slowly working out for your friend.
quote: Thanks for the info that enjeeo's back home. The way she just dropped off the Hatrack map made me wonder if she'd been enslaved to work in a yakuza mochi factory malleting rice night&day, or somethin'.
Okay, that was the funniest thing I've read in a month. That would be a pretty terrible fate. Not as terrible as ending up in the places the yakuza really do run, but bad, haha.
Yes I'm Australian and back in Australia. It's very nice that some people missed me - I hadn't really thought they noticed to be honest - and I will try to post a bit more.
Posts: 2451 | Registered: Aug 2001
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He gave his tent away to a friend who admired it. Then, because there was only one international ATM in Kyoto that he could find, he spent his last $50.00 on the bullet train to Tokyo.
THat's where it became really inconvenient that his friend hadn't deposited the money in his account. He spent five days living like a homeless person in Tokyo. Everyone was nice to him. Another homeless guy even bought him some noodles once. Last we heard from him, we had gotten the guy to get Nash some Travellers checks through his AMEX Travellers assistance program. We gave him the address to go to pick them up, and he never called back.
*bites lip* I hope it went okay. *shrug*
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Pity he spent $50 on the shinkansen. The normal trains would have taken longer but he would have had about $30 left for food.
I wish I knew more people in Tokyo. If he'd been in Osaka I could have been more help. Anyway, hopefully no news is good news (but I hope he contacts you soon.)
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I'll do a search and see if I can find a post of hers that hasn't dropped off yet
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