Rushing to Tokyo During Rush Hour
At a moment's notice, Sydney and I found ourselves on the train to Tokyo yesterday morning. I had received a call from a modeling agency the day before. Last week I had heard through the Navy grapevine they were looking for a blond baby about 6 to 10 months old. Not sure they would want a walker, I had submitted a photo of my 14 month old anyway! (In case you haven't heard, Sydney is rather petite, which you can't really get from the lifesize photos we have of her on the blog. But then look at her parents. BTW, this photo of her on the train isn't from the same day; I didn't dress her in overalls for her audition!) After checking my schedule for the week--a playgroup, a fun lunch out in town, and a conversational English class for some Japanese ladies--I decided we were wide open on Tuesday for such an adventure. Ah, the life of a lady of leisure!

So, we ventured to Tokyo alone. Although in all honesty, I did try to get a friend to come with me, but she couldn't make it. Instead, I made sure I brought along my (well, Brian's, because I lost mine the first month we were here) "I'm lost, please help me get back to Yokosuka" card written in Japanese. Luckily, I didn't have to use it.

The modeling agency contact person asked me to choose a convenient time to schedule the audition, so considering Sydney's naptimes, I chose 10am--not thinking that meant we'd be on the trains traveling through Yokohama, a rather large city, to Tokyo, the most populous city in the world, at rush hour!

We left home at 8am and, needless to say, the train was jammed. I got many dirty looks since my tiny umbrella stroller took up the floor space of at least 3 people, but only because we were standing that close. I regretted having brought it. However, I suspect the trains weren't as crowded as they are capable of being, if you can believe it. Although I saw several train station employees wearing white gloves, I didn't see them resort to literally packing people into the trains like sardines. Don't think I'm kidding! In Japan, it's seriously someone's job to do just that. I guess the white gloves somehow make it more polite...and easier to deny any wrong doing should there be a mishap.

If we were smart, Sydney and I would've taken the time to walk down to the last car of the train, to see if it was a "women-only car" during rush hour. Apparently in Japan, some men feel being "up close" is a license to get "personal" and then blame it on the crowd. So, in retrospect, I suppose the stroller served us well afterall.

Anyway, you're probably wondering how the audition went. I wish I could say Sydney was her adorable self, but things didn't go as planned. She was tired of being in the stroller on the train for 2 hours and only wanted to walk. Of course, they wanted me to hold her for the photos. She wouldn't smile much as a result and struggled to get down. They let her run around to try to get some photos of her, but she wanted to play with all the camera equipment. My favorite part was when she decided to use the conference room as a bathroom and proceeded to back herself into a corner of the room to poop, which was rather obvious from the look on her face. They insisted I change her in the conference room, even though I tried to ask to use the bathroom. So, let's just say we aren't expecting to get the job!