Happy Father's D'OH! SCREECH! CRASH! BANG!

June 15



Car accidents do happen in Japan, folks, and I was in a pretty horrific one on Sunday.



I wasn't sitting in that one, thank God. Here's what happened: after spending a quiet Father's Day morning looking at the great cards my sweet wife and daughter sent with me, I boarded the charter bus with my group. We were bound for Chiba prefecture, and the ride seemed quiet and quick across the fine freeways of Tokyo. We had just gotten to the bottom of an exit ramp when I noticed that we didn't seem to be stopping for the red light that was right in front of us. Then all of a sudden the driver let out a loud Homer Simpson "D'oh!" hit the brakes and destroyed a car that had already pulled into the intersection. I don't think I've described how small passenger cars are in Japan-- take the smallest Honda you can think of, and now cut a third off of it, and you have a Japanese car. The tour buses are the same size as those in the States. When there two things meet, it's never good.



We had the opportunity to see firsthand how Japanese first responders operate, and I want to break this down for you here. Immediately after the accident, people were coming out of the woodwork with brooms to clear debris from the road. Even a Buddhist monk came down from the local temple with a handbroom and was sweeping glass and car parts out of the path of the other vehicles. Some people were pulling over to offer first aid to the driver and passenger of the other car. The fire truck was the first one that came. They made sure that neither vehicle was about to explode and began working with the two injured from the other car. One of them came on our bus and asked through our translator if anyone was hurt. Kendra from Massachusetts and Artis from Mississippi both raised their hands. Kendra said her neck was bothering her, and Artis said she hurt her back. Kendra got off the bus with the firefighter and they old Artis to stay put. Sawamoto-san, our guide, hit her head but refused to be looked at, instead worrying about all of us. We could not convince her to let the paramedics check her out. The fire truck was followed by three ambulances, who took the people who were in the car to the hospital. The cops showed up and came on our bus, and when they saw that we were all Americans they looked at each other and I guess they figured thay wouldn't be able to communicate well enough with us to get any statements, because all they did was mark on a diagram who was sitting where on the bus. They were followed by paramedics, who came on board and had a book that had questions written on a big in Japanese and English. They pointed to a place on the card that said "Please tell us where you have the pain." Artis pointed to the word "Back pain" out of a list of about 40 choices. The paramedic then pointed to a place on the card that said, "We are going to transport you to the nearest hospital. Please don't resist as we assist you into the ambulance." They drove Artis to the hospital and left the rest of us there. Kendra decided she was okay, in spite of the insistence of the firefighters and paramedics that she go to the hospital as well. While all of this was going on, the police were measuring and taking photos of every aspect of the accident scene, and the local Chiba City news was beginning to roll tape on what must have been the traffic story of the century for that area. After about an hour or so of this a bunch of taxis pulled up and took the rest of us to the hotel, which was literally less than two minutes away from the crash scene. Just for good measure, the taxis made sure to run every possible red light on the way there.



Artis was back by evening after having been examined and released. She's in pain but it's not enough to keep her from participating in the program. Kendra's neck hasn't really bothered her since we left the accident scene. This morning when we met in the lobby, the president of the bus company showed up personally to apologize to Artis and Kendra for the whole situation. He was bowing very deeply and seemed very ashamed over the whole incident. The two accident victims in the car were walking and as far as I know survived with minor injuries, and if they hadn't I wouldn't have even posted this. As you leave the house today, PLEASE make sure you're paying attention to the traffic signals AND THE TRAFFIC and not daydreaming. If you look at the car at the top, you car see how the outcome of this collision could have easily been much worse. On our first day on Tokyo, were we told on the charter bus that we had to wear seatbelts because the was a new nationwide regulation in Japan. I never wear sealtbelts on charter buses. In fact I'd never work a seatbelt on a bus EVER before setting foot in this country. With the force that we hit that car and were thrown forward, there would have been a heck of a lot more injuries if we hadn't all decided to follow the request of our guide on that first day.



Tomorrow I'll post about doing laundry in Japan, Japanese supermarkets, Tokyo DisneySea, my major clothing blunder, the sake brewery, the visit to the famous handicraft artist, and the visit to Chiba University's College of Education, which has been far and away the best part of the trip. But not today. This post will stand on its own.



Happy Father's Day, everybody. Please be safe.