Don’t Come Around Here No More

My BOE has a fairly unique way of dealing with ALTs; we're taxi-d to school everyday. We've got a lot of theories regarding why they've decided that taxis are the way to go. One theory is that it keeps the various taxi companies afloat. The island needs a larger than usual number of taxis because there's a larger than usual number of elderly, non-driving citizens out here. Unfortunately, 600 yen (US 7$) fares to and from the supermarket probably aren't enough to maintain numbers. The 14,000 yen (US 170$) round-trip fares to get us ALTs to and from schools on the other end of the island really help keep things running smoothly. Another theory is that there's some scandal in the past where an ALT was either chronically late all the time or got in a car accident, thus motivating the BOE to have us taxi-d instead of responsible for our own transportation.

    In a lot of ways it's a really nice system. I've got relationships with an entire group of people that I wouldn't have any connection with otherwise, and there are some pretty interesting characters driving taxis on this little island. One taxi driver is a former magazine editor from Tokyo. He's a major conspiracy theorist who is convinced that he knows who assassinated President Kennedy. The last time I rode with him he ranted to me about how 90% of Japanese crimes go unsolved because Japanese people don't report suspicious behavior because it's "not their business." Another driver is really into photography and always brings his latest photos with him. I love seeing his shots, but I kind of wish he wouldn't show them to me while he's driving. A third driver is absolutely obsessed with what I make for dinner and asks me every time we ride together what I'm going to make that night. Usually it's a really nice, friendly atmosphere.

    Unfortunately, not all of the drivers are as fun to ride with. Sometimes drivers can cross the line. There was one company that we had to stop using because the main driver would give us cakes and candy no matter how many times we refused, and ask us what we were doing that weekend, where were we going, what time, creepy mccreeperson and so on. Lately, some of the drivers have been crossing other lines. A couple of drivers show up ten minutes early and start banging on our doors, honking repeatedly, or standing outside of our apartments yelling "good morning" at the top of their lungs. Just the other day a taxi driver stood on the stairs outside of my apartment yelling "sumimasen" until I came out to find out what the problem was. He then told me to hurry up! He was early, and he was telling me to hurry up. There's a baby living upstairs, I don't want her woken up because the taxi driver has decided that I'm messing up his schedule! I also don't want my neighbors to think that it's my fault and that I need to get up and out earlier when it's the driver who is showing up early and not waiting.

    I asked my coworkers, and this isn't a Japanese custom where taxi drivers are allowed to yell at you because they showed up early. They aren't even supposed to yell at you if you're late! My coworkers were horrified that someone was being so unprofessional and rude.

    It's very frustrating because I don't really know how to fix it. I've tried getting out earlier, but that's damaging relations with the other sane taxi drivers because they think that they've kept me waiting. Also, I don't want to encourage this rude behavior. It feels like if they treat me like a child and bang on my door to make sure I'm awake and I respond by getting out even earlier than their earliness then I'm signing off on their methods. I don't even understand why these two drivers are acting like this, because it's only two out the entire group. I overslept once two years ago when my alarm didn't go off, and it made me 15 minutes late. At the time I owned up to it, apologized, and listened to my teacher's advice about getting a second alarm clock so if the first one doesn't go off the second one will anyway. End of story. Every other day I've been on time, and I've been here for two and a half years.

    The thing is, even if I was late every single day it's still inappropriate to be knocking on my door or yelling at me especially when it's happening before the scheduled time. It would be my BOE's job to scold me and make sure I was getting to school on time, not the taxi driver's. This isn't a carpool or bus situation where other customers or coworkers would be inconvenienced if I were even a little bit late. This is a service that the BOE pays for. After doing some subtle asking around it's pretty clear that these two drivers aren't acting like this towards any of their Japanese customers. There is no excuse for targeting foreigners, treating us rudely for your own mistakes, and trying to rush us so you can get back and watch some more sumo. Sometimes it becomes very clear that this isn't actually the land of politeness.