In Which Mr. TF Gets His First Flat Tire.

I actually have no idea if this actually was Mr. TF's first flat tire or not- I keep joking that this one was entirely his fault. I just want to hear him sputter when he gets home from work and reads the title.  Hehe.

We had (gently) used tires put on our car in February, which was necessary in order to pass the base's vehicle inspection.  Too bad we didn't have the presence of mind to keep one of the old tires as a spare.  (but you will when you get new tires, now that you've read this post).  Last week, Mr. TF rode his bike to work and I rode my bike to run errands.  Returning later that afternoon, i spotted a left rear tire that was flatter than a pancake.

"Hooray," I cheered.  "Mr. TF isn't deployed!  This is not yet my problem!"  (Stay tuned for the guaranteed, upcoming post where he is deployed and the whole car breaks down.)  So I called the squadron to let him know, and then sat back to puzzle out just how we were going to fix this situation.  If we lived on base, we could sloooowly drive a half mile to the Auto-port and have them fix it.  Since we live about three miles from base, driving that far on a flat tire would be bad. Lacking a spare tire, we would still need a friend to drive us to the Auto-port to purchase one, and then drive us and the tire to our apartment (I can balance many things on my bicycle.  A car tire is not one of them).  Since we don't have a jack, we'd need to borrow or buy one of those, too.  Deployment being imminent, I was reluctant ask for help and cut into anyone's family time.

Suddenly, common sense slapped me in the face.  Japanese vehicle owners get flat tires, too.  And there's no base Auto-port for them to use.  Hello, this problem is suddenly very easy to fix!  We live only a block away from a gas station/auto center!  So, the next morning, Mr. TF very carefully drove our limping car around the corner, to the gas station.  Not knowing how much fixing or buying a new tire costs in Japan, I followed on my bicycle, just in case we needed to pay in cash and I had to make an ATM run (remember that whole cash system thing).

We parked our car and walked into the service center.  Mr. TF said, "Good thing you've been taking Japanese lessons."  Right, because tires are such a popular lesson topic.  Actually, the Japanese word for tire is taiya, so all I said was taiya and pointed apologetically outside.  We were immediately asked for the car key and directed to seats in the waiting area.

Our little car!

The lounge area was neat and clean, with little baskets of toys to entertain kids.

For the adults, the morning TV program!  We watched a segment on a burger chain's new burger, and how the factory creates its special sauce.  Not sure what the segment was actually trying to accomplish, but learning about the factory-created sauce completely turned me off the burger.  So...fail?  I did get a kanji lesson out of it and can now recognize the burger's name on a sign, so it wasn't a complete loss for the company. I guess.

Here's the fun part about kanji...one symbol can have many
readings.  Or one reading can have many symbols.  You
know it can get confusing when the local TV show  has lessons!

Forty minutes later, we were out of the gas station with a newly plugged tire (darn that stray nail) and a bill of only 3150 yen (no new tire purchase!) that we were able to put on our debit card.  Mr. TF biked off to work, and I drove off to Costco.  Couldn't have possibly been easier!

Many gas stations have little auto-ports.  Convenient!

Out of curiosity, I called the base Auto-port a few days later.  "If I have a flat tire, can I bring it in today to get repaired or replaced?"
"Well, our schedule is already full, today.  We might be able to help you tomorrow.  Actually, it's kind of full tomorrow, too."
"I see.  Well, how much does a tire plug cost?"
"$11.00, which includes labor."

So, there you have it.  Immediate, Japanese service for about $40.00, or who-knows-when base Auto-port service for $11.00.  Of course, if you own a jack, a spare tire, and know how to change your own tire, that's probably the best way to go.

Ganbatte!

-The Tofu Fox