Deleted Scene: 2009

On Friday August 29th, Joe and I rode the metro to CSULB. Joe had a graduate studies orientation and wanted to ride the metro to familiarize himself with the system. Our intention was to ride the train and then buy the monthly pass on our way back. I came along because he wanted some company and I wanted to take a look around the campus.
My parents dropped us off at the Union station and we took the red line to the blue line. I thought the red line looked pretty shady but once we got to the blue line I actually felt in imminent danger. There were a lot of suspicious looking characters on the train. Some passengers had prison tattoos (I imagine they were prison tattoos) and dead eyes. Some looked like they had a couple of screws loose. Not 5 minutes passed from riding the train when two ex convicts began talking about being on parole and they started arguing with each other about their worth. One told the other to “jump off a bridge” because he was worthless. I am glad they didn’t argue for too long. The other one brushed off the criticism and laughed about it, kind of, well he made fun of the other guy. It was like watching a kid tell another “you suck” and the other replying “nuh uh, you suck”. They got off the train half way through our trip. Then the next crazy steps up.
An old man was sitting across from me scribbling in his sketch book. I didn’t really notice what he was drawing, but Joe said it was a couple of words with little scribbles connecting them. I knew he was crazy when he started a conversation with a lady sitting behind me. She was reading a book and he told her that the book was really good and that he read in while he was in the Army. At that time he got up and the train was slowing down so he ran to the back of the train laughing. Then he just stayed back there. When most of the people got off the train when it connected with the green line, he came towards the front to sit in front of Joe and I. First he started reading some religious literature in Spanish then proceeded to say “Fucken, Mexicans”. He looked towards me and I felt my body turn hot. I was so upset, my first time riding public transportation in America since coming back from Japan, and I am already hearing racism. Then when the Compton stop came up he said “Fuck, coloreds”. I would usually say something to people being openly racist, but he was old and obviously crazy, nothing I could say could ever change his mind. Then at one point a passenger got kicked off the train and the crazy old man was looking at me and said “you will be next”. I was just sitting on the train minding my own business. I was so upset that Joe didn’t notice him saying that stuff to me, or that he wasn’t bothered by him saying those racists’ things. I started getting teary because I hate racism and I hate how uncomfortable he made me feel. It isn’t the first time I’ve heard anything like that either. So he got off when we got off and that was that of him.
The school visit was great, everyone was nice on campus and the campus is very beautiful. We decided (mostly me) that he was not going to take the train to school. We bought a parking pass because I didn’t want to worry about Joe getting mugged on the way to school or on the way home. He couldn’t even hear his Ipod because I am sure they would take it from him. The people on the train looked like they had nothing to lose. It also takes longer to travel on the train and buying monthly passes is more expensive than buying a parking pass.
On our way home we were waiting for the train to come and we saw a lot of young guys, who looked like they were gang members. They came up to the platform to wait for the train too. I was afraid rival gang members were going to see them and start shooting. I did not want them to stand close to me, because I was afraid I would get caught in the crossfire. <-- Too many movies or news programs.
We finally got on the train and Joe and I sat amongst old ladies with their children, towards the back of one compartment. Towards the front there were a lot of young men who were screaming things and laughing. They kept screaming “respect” and laughing. When two young ladies were getting off the train they screamed “respect” and one of the ladies replied “I have respect, at least I know how to behave on the train.” The young man told her to shut up and she said “fuck you”. Then after the ladies were gone a young couple moved from the front towards the back, where we were sitting. They sat right behind Joe and I. They began talking about the men in the front, complaining about the noise. Then the man started talking about pills (not sure what kind, but I assume he was talking about drugs). The lady then started to talk about her 15 year old little sister, how she wanted to move in with her. The guy said “Tell her I can make her rich by the time she is 20.” She said, “You will not do to her what you did to me.” He said, “I didn’t do anything to you but make your insides bleed.” My jaw dropped. Then they began talking about prostitution and stripping. They were going to a strip club to audition. He was really loud and I think she started getting embarrassed because she told him that all his talking was making her head hurt. Still the men in the front were still loud and yelling things; at this point the prostitute said “This never happens on the red line, only on the hood (blue) line.”
For the rest of the day I was still nervous from the experience. Most of these people riding the train looked like they had nothing to lose. Overall it was a horrible experience because I felt like someone could just crack at any minute and we could be stuck in the middle of their meltdown.

Before leaving Japan, Joe and I decided that we wanted to spend some time vacationing. We decided to visit the southernmost island of the four main islands of Japan. We rented hotel rooms in each prefecture of the island and rented a car to take us there. We left Tsuchiyama with four large suitcases, two computer bags, a backpack and a duffel bag; there was no way we were going to lug all of that stuff on the train.

Fukuoka- We took the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Fukuoka. The first night we checked in to our hotel room and took the train to the airport to pick up our car. The next morning we left Fukuoka on our way to Nagasaki. The days before it was raining really hard in Kyushu so there were a couple landslides. We had to alter our route a couple of times because several roads were closed.