I leave work early (6pm) on an ordinary Thursday night, then change clothes and head out again for a short run up towards the local convenience store to buy some bread. Since I'm running on the left hand side of the road and the pavement is very narrow, I decide to cross to the right hand side to better see the oncoming traffic. Having checked that there are no cars behind me, I get to halfway across the road before hearing the sound of an engine revving from behind, but continue to cross to the other side rather than turn around in the middle of the road.
The next thing I am (only vaguely) conscious of is being hit from behind and flying into the air, bouyed by a second hit to the head.
I come to my senses on the right hand side of the road where I have landed. The car which has hit me has swerved right across the road and off the other side, effectively hitting me on the "wrong" side of the road. The driver mutters something akin to "Oh @$%#, it's a gaijin". He makes no effort to help me, just makes a call on his mobile phone. Maybe he is calling an ambulance?
I pick myself up and, conscious of blood seeping through my clothes, say "I think I should go to a hospital". My
I think about this: "I'm kind of hurt. I really think I should go to a hospital.
Aite: It's difficult (Japanese for "no"). You have to wait for my insurance company to arrive.
The aite's wife/girlfriend/female associate arrives on the scene. She proceeds to berate me in some strange dialect (probably Osakan) which I don't understand too well. I feel that having just been injured in an accident where her husband was driving on the wrong side of the road, this is uncalled for.
Aite's wife: No you stupid @$%#! You have to @%*#ing wait for the @$*# insurance company to arrive, or are you too @*%#ing stupid to @$ understand simple Japanese! (okay, that may not be 100% accurate, but I caught the tone).
Nick: Okay, well I think i need to go to a hospital.
Aite's wife: Well you can't @#*$ing go to a @#*%ing hospital until the @*#&ing insurance man arrives! Where the @$ are you from anyway? What the @#*% are you doing here?
Nick: I was jogging.
Aite's wife: No, @%head, I mean what the @*%# are you doing here in Youkaichi? Who are you staying with?
Nick: I LIVE just over there.
Aite's wife: But your a @$*#ing gaijin aren't you, $@*#head. You don't $@*#ing belong here, do you? So what the $@*# are you doing here?
Nick: Look, I don't have to take this. I know where the hospital is, so i'm going there now.
Aite's wife: You're not $@*#ing going anywhere until the insurance man arrives. Who's responsible for you here? I'm not going to waste words on a @*$#ing stupid gaijin like you! Who's responsible for you while you're here in Youkaichi?
All present defer to Director Maeda.
Director Maeda: Hmmmmmm. Alright, we'll take your kind suggestion into consideration. In the meantime, don't you think we should be getting this boy to a hospital?