Ranger Keeps Trying to Find Sweepers
It's only fair to warn you in advance that this sweeper chase story doesn't have a happy ending. There's no real sweeper information, let alone a picture of one, anywhere in it. That said, I feel it's only appropriate to reward you if you read through this entire story. However, if you're truly impatient, you're welcome to just scroll down to the last three paragraphs.
As you previously read in part of my China adventures, I was successful in catching up with a sweeper I'd seen go by my hotel window, even though I'd left my room with little hope of actually finding it. This time, however, I felt I had all my ducks in a row.
Although their company didn't have any of their own sweepers in the vicinity of my hotel, the good folks at Kyoei had called around to see who did have. They learned that two routes, from two different agencies, would be in our general part of town. Based on what they were told, they drew the sweeper routes on a map. Sweepers under contract with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation were to be operating in the pink area, and machines from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in the yellow.
The day had been a long one, and it was all I could do to roust myself a short time after midnight for the adventure. In the hotel lobby, armed with the map and a copy of American Sweeper, I explained to one of the bellhops what I wanted to do. Although his English was good, and he understood what I was after, he just couldn't bring himself to believe it. So, instead of going out to the taxi with me, he insisted we should "make sure I know your plan" with someone from the Imperial Hotel's information desk.
There, the helpful attendant listened attentively, and asked me several questions in English that showed she fully understood my mission. However, like the bellhop, she simply wouldn't believe it, so she called to her manager who was at the other end of the service desk. By this time, I was getting somewhat impatient with the whole thing. To my chagrin, I had to tell my story again, this time with both of the previous helpers punctuating my dialogue with rapid-fire exchanges of Japanese. At the end, the manager said something in Japanese, which I'm guessing would translate into "So, go take this guy to a taxi already and explain what he want." Finally, the first individual I'd talked to led me toward the door, now armed with the map.
At this point, I wondered if this scenario might continue, so I pulled out my camera, just in case. Sure enough, instead of going to the waiting taxi driver, the bellhop went over to confer with the outside bellman, who kept looking back over his shoulder at me as he received the instructions. Then, there was a map tradeoff and, motioning for me to follow, he headed for the 'up' taxi. By now, I was reminded of the kids' party game where each child whispers a phrase in the next one's ear and it moves around the circle to where the phrase started, with often hilarious results. I was wishing I could understand what the taxi driver was actually being told. I can only tell you his response, which was to fire rapid questions to the bellman, point at the map, and then look back over his shoulder at me, now sitting in the back of his cab determined to, at least, drive away from the hotel.
Finally, the cab driver seemed satisfied he wouldn't be driving off with the equivalent of a looney bin fugitive, and we roared off with that astonishing merger into oncoming traffic that only taxi drivers the world over seem to be able to accomplish without accident.
The plan was actually a simple one. As you can see on the map picture, the supposed sweeper routes formed a sort of rectangle around the hotel. My idea was to traverse the rectangle. Then, in the event we hadn't found one or both sweepers by that time, we would then travel along the outer legs. With the map securely positioned on his lap, it was if the driver thought we had entered a road race. He went so fast that I wondered if I could get him to slow down and stop in time for pictures once I saw the sweepers. I needn't have worried.
Although we drove for the better part of an hour -- to the tune of $5,000 Yen, or over $40 US -- we never once saw a sweeper. However, I did discover something previously unknown to me about that area of Tokyo, which was a host of public works projects. These were taking place on what seemed to be about every other block, sensibly being done in the relative quiet of night. But, no sign of a sweeper.
To curb your understandable disappointment -- though you can't say I didn't warn you -- I'll now reveal the promised reward. During my stay in Japan, I was intrigued by the differences in the truck styles being used for transport and delivery. They are quite a contrast to the relatively larger machines used in the United States. Because I thought our readers might also enjoy seeing some of them, I took a number of pictures and have been looking for a place to show them off. This seems like as good a place as any.
For those who aren't interested in the trucks of Japan, you might want to take a look at some of the advertising on the Tokyo train system walls. Can you figure out what they're trying to sell?
