I tried to get the Cross Culture Question out today, but I had a bunch of classes and some planning to do and ended up in a few conversations with people. Now it's late and I don't have energy to come up with a specific topic, but something bit happened and I want to get it out and process it.
I was in a fire.
Not IN exactly, but I was standing close enough to feel the heat gush over my body to the point where I had to step back, and I tried to help a man who was inside the building.
I was sitting at a cafe, an old wooden building that serves vegetarian curry and attracts a lot of fans of Japanese folk fusion music. I was talking to the manager, a little younger than me, about the music festival I went to this summer and some upcoming events in town and an older woman who designs clothing and accessories came in.
I like how close people in the late 20's and late 60's are in this shop.
The manager went into the back and I thought she was cooking something. Suddenly I hear her voice, faint and far away "Yabai!" which means something between "Shit!" and "Oh My God!".
I ran back to the tiny garden out back to find flames blasting through the wall of the building next door.
She was trying to gather water in a bucket and help an old man who had knocked down the plastic wall (a very old building) so he could get some air and escape if he had to.
I was almost certain this was hopeless and we should get him out of there first, but he insisted on trying to put the fire out with tiny cups of water....
Thank god for him the manager of the cafe had a water hose. She handed it to him and he managed to keep the fire from spreading while me and the other customer systematically brought water to the manager so she could help him put out the fire.
The old man seemed a bit senile. He didn't seem to notice his hand leaning on a burning countertop.
The room was about 3 meters square with a 2 square meter hallway, and the room itself was nothing but flames while the hallway was where the old man was standing. The manager stood on an air conditioner unit in her garden to get water in through the window with buckets.
I was a little worried about whether or not there was any gas that could cause an explosion, but everyone was panicking and so there was no chance to ask.
We ran back and forth for about 5 minutes and finally the ceiling cracked and water started leaking which put out the fire.
Phew.
The man was unharmed, amazingly though I think he may have had some first degree burns and didn't want to worry us. I was also worried about how much smoke he inhaled.
They all started to take a break, but I noticed flames in the cracks in the ceiling, it seemed to have spread upstairs.
Luckily a bunch of firefighters showed up at that exact moment, and when I say a bunch I mean 40-60. Japan doesn't fuck around with fires.
I always laugh at the overkill when it comes to managing problems in Japan...I've seen 15 fire fighters show up for a candle lit in the road.....
But when there is actually an emergency, you can't really complain even if half of the firefighters have nothing to do. I'm impressed with the 10 minute response time, either way.
I helped to clear the steps of some bottles and bags so the firefighters could get upstairs and watched them go back and forth trying to get to the upstairs from multiple angles.
I was surprised they didn't kick me out of the shop as they ran back and forth. I stayed as long as I could to support the owner who I had just seen save a mans life.
Outside was the old man holding a cat whose head had a burn injury. The cat looked hurt but not so bad that it wouldn't survive and nothing permanent other than a nasty scar.
I hope the cat and the old man are doing well today. I've got to go check in on the manager this weekend, I hope the shop didn't have any structural damage, though the bar next door most certainly did....
Most importantly I hope no one inhaled too much smoke.
After the whole event I walked home laughing and kind of giddy because no one had been severely injured and I had just witnessed something amazing. I didn't lack any empathy for the old man or the cat, but something about the adrenaline rush and avoiding utter disaster is exciting. If the building with the fire didn't have to close for repair and if the cat and man had 0 physical harm, I could even say the whole thing was fun.
I don't know if that sounds crazy or not, but I definitely would never wish this on anyone and the most important thing is still avoiding suffering. Maybe that's why it feels fun, because there could have potentially been a whole lot more suffering and together we all managed to prevent that, the manager more than anyone, she was a total hero.
Despite feeling giddy, tears came to my eyes. I realized that I was feeling the emotions of the manager who was terrified of losing her little slice of heaven, and her fear of watching a man die right in front of her. I would be devastated if the worst case scenario played out too.
I'm not sure who the old man is, I think he was the chef of the bar next door and I guess maybe the fire was caused by some old equipment or maybe some negligence on his part although I'm not pointing fingers because I have no idea what happened. Maybe I will find out when I visit.