My Lovely Japan Car Accident (Part 3: The Wrap)

It's been over two weeks now, and the dust has settled.  I've had plenty of time to reflect, which, in hind-sight, I guess gets at the heart of some of the public shaming I went through.  To be honest, all of the frustration with work - the reports, the speeches, the safety videos, the funny yellow hats and signs we stood with at the scene of the accident, etc etc - were hard, but not overbearing.  As funny as it sounds, I was okay with it.  In fact, it gave me a chance to brush up on my public speaking.

The hardest part was the waiting and worrying that came with the week between the accident and the policeman's verdict.  His verdict would determine if my wife and I could leave the country as planned on April 29th, or if we would have to wait around for a court case.  You see, a week after the accident, I had to meet with the policeman, the person I hit, and my bosses at the sight of the accident.  There, the policeman gathered both of our stories, to make sure there was no dispute of fault and the exact severity of the accident, before making a judgment on the case.

We drew chalk lines, and discussed the details of the accident, as well as the extent of the whiplash sustained by the man I hit.  Luckily for me, the police judged that the injury was not that severe based on the doctor's official note.  Also, the policeman mentioned that he appreciated my efforts to learn and speak Japanese.  Although I didn't follow a lot of the details of the conversation, he did mention that he would look kindly on my situation because of my efforts to understand Japanese.  'Phew,' I thought at that moment, 'What a relief.'  I couldn't help but think that finally I had a solid reason for waking up at 5am every morning during this Japan adventure to spend an hour studying the language before work.  It was going to get my wife and me home as originally scheduled!

Since the accident, I have lost the privilege of driving my car to work.  Although there was no rule, and despite mine and my colleague's comments from back in America, there is no changing the mind of the department head.  This is also part of the unspoken social rule - don't disturb the balance, and in this case, don't undermine the authority.

But it's okay, actually.  I have a longer commute now - bus and train - which I've come to enjoy.  Plenty of time to read.  Plenty of time to relax and listen to music I haven't listened to in ages.  Plenty of time to properly reflect.  No, not reflect on the accident.  Time for reflection and worrying about that is over.  I'm going home in a few weeks.  It's about time I reflect on the time spent seeing a beautiful country, time spent meeting interesting people from all over the world, and time spent learning an amazingly complex, sometimes stressful, but always intriguing culture.  Time that I will always treasure.