There was a man!

On the train ride back from Hakone, a man sat next to me. I was half-asleep, and he thrust his umbrella in my face. In a state of delirium, I assumed he was offering me the umbrella to keep. After an awkward, "no thanks," I finally realized what he actually wanted was for me to hook the umbrella to the side of the seat (people often do this with their umbrellas).

I did so.

The man was kind of creepy-looking. I continued listening to my music and looking in other directions in an attempt to ignore. At first I presumed that perhaps I was just judging the book by its cover. Maybe he wasn't so bad. But as time went on...

Every time the train stopped and new people entered our car, I'd spy in my peripherals this creature patting the seat next to him, cheerily inviting the newcomers to join him. Very rarely did people take him up on this offer. The two times someone did sit down, he accosted them with his words of wisdom and they immediately stood back up and moved to another seat. The first woman actually moved to another car! I found this amusing, and also sad. For me.

Eventually we got off the train at the same stop. He smiled at me and nodded and we went our separate ways.

The next day -- today! -- I went to a Thai Festival.

(The Thai Festival was a wondrous cacophony of sounds and sights and smells... and Tastes. I am so glad I have taste buds! Pad Thai, dragon fruit, tapioca milk! I love it all!)

At the Thai Festival, as me and two buddies were wandering around, we encountered a man. He seemed to have an odd fascination with me, but I kept walking as if I had not seen or heard him. I just figured it was another crazy dude.

Later!

As we go for a second trip around the grounds, we see a trio of cops escorting the previously mentioned man out of the park. He points at me excitedly and shouts something in an utterly incomprehensible slur, the kind even native Japanese speakers could not understand.

It is at this point I recognize the man. It is the same creature from the train the night before! I of course am further amused and thus have chosen to share it with the world.

I should have taken a picture. But I decided it was probably not a wise thing to do.