the night before hong kong and its lingering effects...

so last week i finally got my gaijin [foreigner’s] card. it was the last official i.d. that needed replacing after my wallet got stolen. i say stolen because it’s been 2 months since it went missing without so much as a trace, which is a very rare occurrence in this uber-safe country. all my japanese friends are in absolute disbelief…except maybe the ones who took it. so the story goes…i was out to dinner with carrie and 2 male japanese friends. i’d known these guys for a couple of months and had been spending quite a bit of time with them; they'd even been over for dinner and spent the night at my place. when we went to each pay our share of the check at the sushi bar they both exclaimed ‘okane mochi’ or ‘you’re rich’. i laughed it off, telling them it was my trip money. they knew we were leaving the next morning for hong kong. afterwards, we all retired to carrie's place for a few more beers before they finally departed about 4:30 am. so the following day, as we’re heading out, i’m doing a last check and my wallet is nowhere to be found. neither was the $1,400 cash that had been tucked inside. i called the sushi chef at the restaurant, called the guys, searched the house, the car and the chef searched all over too. nothing. i had 10 minutes to decide what to do…i had to catch the next train in order to make it to tokyo on time to make the flight. i set off. en route i was in constant communication with one of the guys and the sushi chef. they helped me file a police report and call the airport to make sure i could depart with no i.d. except my passport [which luckily had been in my suitcase]. i arrived in hong kong with 140 yen, not even enough to buy lunch. carrie so graciously agreed to spot me, not just any old loan, we’re talking enough money to do hong kong. cash advances on credit cards can be great when you need ‘em. we lived it up; shopping, eating and playing. and i continued to dig myself a financial hole… we managed to miss our plane on the way home. united airlines was so unhelpful [boycott united!!] and told us there was nothing to do but buy another ticket for the following day. after much cross-checking, coordinating, stress, standing-by and begging we managed to find a flight home that day for the bargain price of $500. just what i needed! after i returned to japan i struggled through getting my license, bank account cards, i.d. card, video store cards, american bank and credit cards, etc. replaced. a task that is annoying in any language, especially when it’s not your own. and in the land of bureaucracy and red tape, you must go to this office to buy a stamp and carry that stamp to the police station [no, not this one, the other one 35 minutes away] to get a report to take to this building to get signed before they can issue anything. this was nothing short of an amazing accomplishment, one that i was actually proud to have done on my own, although it probably took a decade off of my life span. so now, 8 weeks later... the guys have ceased calling me and they act really strangely when i see them out. i owe carrie my first born child plus a ton of money. i’ve got no inkling what happened to my wallet. but what’s worse is that i have to suspect people i thought were my friends. i’ve rolled the situation over and over in my mind and i’ve decided the logical conclusion is theft, although i’d rather not think these guys took me for my cash. i asked them point-blank, they replied ‘no’ and that was that. i hate to think i’m gullible. these guys were really interesting and super fun. i’ll make more money. finding real friends here is proving to be the toughest part of life.