All aboard

Next stop: Osaka.

After a few days of walking and sightseeing in Tokyo, we said sayonara to Japan's capital city and bought a ticket on the bullet train heading south to Osaka.

Osaka is the second largest city in Japan. It's more challenging because it's more traditional and there isn't nearly as many signs in English to help language challenged travelers like us. It's great because it has a lot of international flavor, including German, since it is sister cities with Hamburg.

We had a great ride on the train. But when we arrived at Shin Osaka station we ran into a bit of a snag. We couldn't figure out how to get to our hotel. Our map of the area did NOT look the same as the maps that were posted at the train station exits. So we walked in circles for a while before a very nice gentleman who had lived in Europe for a time, helped us by saying that we needed to take a train to Osaka train station. Common mistake, he said.

When we got to the Osaka main train station, I still couldn't figure out which direction was the correct direction for our hotel. My map said it was only a 15 minute walk. But nothing was looking similar to my map.

Thinking that this exercise in patience is preparing me for my great win on the Amazing Race someday, I called the hotel to get directions. The hotel had one employee who could speak English and this woman from Korea tried to talk me through it by first asking me to describe where I was standing. I described my surroundings and luckily she knew exactly where I was standing. First we needed to cross the street and head to the underground market.

I personally find that I am more likely to get lost in a tunnel underground than being outside looking at Japanese signs. But she said there was no other way. So we walked into the underground market.

Once there we needed to follow signs heading in the direction of a certain place that she spelled out for me. I swear it was the longest word ever ... some 15 letters. After my cell phone cut out a few times and I tried to spell this crossword puzzle word back to her and didn't think it was right. This worried me greatly. I asked if there was a different sign we could look for. Something a bit shorter, perhaps? Nope, she said. "I'll wait for your arrival," she said.

Armed with these directions, my map printed off the Internet and this long word, we continued to walk forward.

Then we got to a crossroads in the market and I didn't have any instruction about if I needed to turn. So I asked a clothing store clerk for help. She looked at my map and shrugged. I remembered one of the keys to survival in Japan: bilingual maps.

English maps are great for me. English maps mean as much to a Japanese woman on the street as a Kanji map means to me. My map was worthless.

I was beginning to wonder if we were going to sleep in the train station that night.

Then my guardian angel showed up in the form of a tiny middle-aged Japanese woman carrying a small bouquet of pink flowers. I noticed that she was watching me ask for help. I asked her for assistance. She could speak a little English and read my map. She motioned for me to follow her and we did. Through twists and turns in that underground market, this woman lead us through the crowds all the time attempting to talk to me in Japanese. I would answer best I could and nod as she pointed to landmarks on our path.

We walked and walked and suddenly I saw that word the English-speaking hotel woman spelled for me on the phone. We were heading in the right direction. My brain was fried, but my heart was singing this good Samaritan's praises.

She continued to lead us to a water fountain and then pointed to stairs. She looked at our luggage and then helped us carry our luggage up those stairs. Once above ground, she again pointed to the street signs and landmarks. We could see the sign for our hotel.

She could have left us there. I mean, didn't she have places to be? Wasn't she heading in the opposite directions when she stopped to help us?

Instead she walked us to our hotel and delivered us to the front lobby.

That's where we thanked her over and over again. I tried to give her money for her trouble. She refused to take it.

I asked if I could take her photo or get her business card, so I could write her a thank you card later. Again, she refused.

She simply smiled and bowed and walked out the door.