I’m sure we’ve all been there: you go out for a few drinks after work and end up having a few more, followed by a few more, followed by a bottle of tequila. Next thing you know, the alarm goes off and you drag yourself from under the covers like a zombie clawing its way out of a grave, except the zombie smells better and has better motor skills. You know you have to be at work and all you can think is “Where are the typhoons when you need them?”

View from my balcony near Kashii Station in Fukuoka
Of course, when you work in Japan, a typhoon or any other natural disaster is rarely seen as sufficient cause for canceling a day of work. In my three years in Japan, I saw several typhoons and countless earthquakes, including one that measured over 7 on the Richter Scale, but we worked through every last one of them.
Then one day, a weak typhoon hit—really little more than a strong rainstorm—and we got a day off work. I had even gone out the night before, so you can imagine how happy this made me. Or would have made me, had I noticed….
View from the other side of my balcony
I was working in Fukuoka at the time, where my workweek ran from Tuesday to Saturday. Most days I had to be at work bright and early at 1 pm; Saturday was our busiest day and we started at 10am, which is practically still the night before. Needless to say, I generally tried to avoid going out on Friday nights, but that didn’t happen as often as I would have liked.
On the Friday night in question, I enjoyed more beers than minutes of sleep and woke up early on Saturday feeling appropriately excited about the coming day. I’m going to assume I took a shower and got dressed before heading to the train station, but I can’t be sure.
At the station, I noticed—but failed to register—a lack of people. Usually the platform is full of passengers heading out on a weekend trip (10%) or heading to work (90%; it’s Japan, remember). On this day, the platform was mostly empty and the signboards showed that every single train was delayed. Trains are NEVER delayed in Japan, so this in itself should have told me something was wrong. But it didn’t.
Chihaya Station in the Kashii area of Fukuoka
Instead, I just brainlessly took in the information that my train would be late and would arrive in 12 minutes and 31.23 seconds. When it finally did roll into the station 12 minutes and 31.25 seconds later, it was accompanied by announcements apologizing profusely for the additional two hundredths of a second delay. I got on and actually got a seat for once; I can’t believe THAT didn’t strike me as odd.
I probably would have finally realized that something was not right if I’d only looked out the window, but the windows on Japanese trains are virtually impossible to see out of when your face is pressed flat against your tray table in a puddle of your own drool. Somehow I still managed to get off at Hakata Station, which was coincidentally even the exact station I needed.
As I was climbing down the stairs from the platform into the station, I remember noticing—but again not registering—that the station was pitch black. When I stepped off the final step and landed in several centimeters of water, I stopped in my tracks. This definitely wasn’t normal.
I heard a few people chattering excitedly around me, but I paid them no attention. I was too busy trying to make sense of the situation: why was I standing in a lake inside a completely dark train station; and not just any station, but the main station for the whole island of Kyushu. Finally it hit me: this was all way too complicated for me.
A view of the Hakata district of Fukuoka
So I just waded my way through the dark, mostly deserted and completely flooded Hakata Station and headed to the bus station building next door. My office was located on the ninth floor, but when I got to the entrance, I discovered that the whole building was locked. That had definitely never happened before.
Undaunted, I walked around the side and eventually found an unlocked service entrance. Naturally, the elevators were all out of commission, so I had to climb nine flights of stairs. When I finally reached my workplace, it was locked. I don’t really know why I was expecting anything else. That was when I finally decided to take a look at my phone.
I had three emails from my boss, all of them excitedly letting me know that I didn’t have to come in to work and telling me to thoroughly enjoy the disaster-related day off I’d been wanting for so long. It was a nice sentiment, but the excitement didn’t quite translate when read outside the office at 10 am on a Saturday in soaked shoes.
Taking solace in the fact that I could soon fall back into my bed, I walked back downstairs and to the train station, where a nice Japan Railways employee informed me that the station had just been closed and would remain closed indefinitely as all trains had been cancelled. Perfect.
As I was riding a combination of buses and private trains on an alternate—and much, much longer—route home, I realized something. While I had always made fun of those foreigners who come to Japan and attempt to fit in by wearing a kimono or eating their noodles with a ridiculously exaggerated slurp or doing some other thing no actual Japanese person outside a period drama or a comedy ever does, I had just spent a morning doing the most Japanese thing imaginable.
I had stubbornly and mindlessly made my way to work despite all the obstacles in my way and all the fairly obvious signs telling me to stay home, including three emails explicitly informing me I could stay in bed. Obviously the country was beginning to rub off on me. The only other possible explanation is the beer and I’m certainly not willing to blame the beer.
Haha, you sure were on a mission to get there! I got a typhoon day off in Korea, but it just drizzled that day….hmmm
Audrey | That Backpacker recently contributed to world literature by posting..There’s A Place In…Amristar, India
You got a day off in Korea?!? For a little typhoon?!? I figured they would make kids go to school–and to academies after school–even if the North was launching an attack.
Daniel recently contributed to world literature by posting..This Bad English Sign Has Saved Many Lives
Amazing story! Reads more like one of this movies, where you are constantly like: “No WAY anyone would ever do this in real life – come on!!”:) It can’t have been the beer, cos if you’d been hungover, you totally would not have wasted more than three excuses not to show up at work – never! I’m really sorry, but I tend to agree with you that you possibly have a serious infection of Japanese work ethics – truly sorry for you, but hey: guess who I will hire if I’m ever in the position:D Anyway, great read!
Vera recently contributed to world literature by posting..Swinging through the tree tops with @GetYourGuide
Don’t feel bad for me. Even if I was once infected by the Japanese work ethic, that was a long time ago. I’ve since been cured of that horrible affliction and have made a complete recovery–I’m lazier than ever…
Daniel recently contributed to world literature by posting..Japanese Gothic Lolita Dungeon Dining With a Christian Twist
Enjoyed it! So true about zombies 🙂
Here in Atlanta everything stops working when a snowflake falls. It may happen once in a year… So I am looking forward to January 🙂
Like your pictures. Surprised how clean Chihaya Station is.
memographer recently contributed to world literature by posting..Sapa Vietnam and its tribes (Part 2)
I remember that from living in Las Vegas. One snowflake can shut down the city (and cause hundreds of accidents). Actually, in Vegas, one rain drop was enough to cause chaos.
Daniel recently contributed to world literature by posting..Climbing the Great Wall of China Is Not For Drunkards
This post has
1) had me in shreds, laughing
2) made me very thankful that in my 3 years in Japan, not once did I ever have to commute by train. but seriously.
I was just in Hakata Stn a little over a month ago- I’m pretty sure if that place was pitch black and flooded, I’d just assume that I’d somehow missed the apocalypse.
Erica recently contributed to world literature by posting..From the Beginning…
Thank you…….for laughing at my misfortune….
Actually, I kind of liked commuting by train. Usually. Not so much when I accidentally did it on a day off.
And yes, most people would have probably taken a little more notice of a dark and flooded train station. I like to think I would have too, on any other day.
1> why are you not more famous?
2>why don’t you write for major comedy websites: they can certainly use your awesome humorous way of writing.
3> trust me if you put a bit more effort in self promotion , your site will definitely be one of the most visited travel websites because your content quality is good.
BEST of luck
Anshul
Thank you and I hope you’re right. And yes, I am terrible at self-promotion….
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..6 Steps to Becoming a True Backpacker
Your posts are hilarious!
This one is no exception, loved the opening paragraph about drinking on a work night. Story of my life.
It’s bizzare how Japan will never cancel work–except for a typhoon.
I lived in snow country, and it literally was snow country considering that some days the snow would pile up higher than I was tall. Consdering that I couldn’t even open my door due to the amount of snowfall, I called the school assuming classes had been cancelled–but no. I had to literally dig a snow tunnel to get to work that day.
But when there was a *potential* typhoon on the way, the school called me bright and early and told me all classes had been cancelled. Later that day it drizzled a little, but that was the extent of the impending doom that was the typhoon.
It’s a shame that you couldn’t fully enjoy the typhoon day! But I admire your Japanese spirit to get to the office no matter what! (even if not intentional!)
Shanghai Ronin recently contributed to world literature by posting..The Language Plateau
I love snow and always thought I would really enjoy living in Niigata, although a few months there might cure me of my love for snow. We didn’t get any of that in Fukuoka, but we did get hit by a lot of typhoons, which is probably why they generally didn’t cancel work unless the actual train station was flooded. I bet if we had gotten a centimeter or two of snow, the whole city would have shut down. Certainly no one in Fukuoka would be tunneling their way to work.
Daniel McBane recently contributed to world literature by posting..Tal to Chame: Falling into a Trekking Routine