I'm a believer in the problem solving powers of Starbucks

I never frequented Starbucks while at home, but have found myself there quite a bit since arriving in Japan. There seems to be one on every block in the city center (just like home) and it's become a super convenient meeting place. The workers at one particular Starbucks also seem to have the ability to solve a variety of problems—even though they barely speak English and most of my friends and I barely speak Japanese.

I went to a furniture store last weekend to buy a few things so I wouldn't feel like I was living in some guy's apartment, which I basically am since the last couple teachers in my position were men, and the apartment and the crap in it have been passed down with the job. (By crap, I do mean crap, but will get to that in another post.)

My friends and I do not have cars and are at the mercy of public transportation or our bikes. This can be a problem when purchasing large objects or just a lot of stuff, which we did at this place. One friend can speak Japanese fairly well, so she was able to arrange to have our stuff delivered. Amazingly I only had to pay $9 for that service! It was worth it, except for the hassle a couple days later when all of my stuff was delivered except for a large mirror. I was able to speak enough Japanese to communicate that the mirror was missing and understand that I had to call a number the next day to sort it out.

So I left my apartment to meet friends for dinner. We were meeting at Starbucks, of course, and I received a phone call from a man who did not speak English right before I arrived. I told him in Japanese that I did not speak Japanese and he, in turn, told me in English that he did not speak English. We weren't able to communicate anything else, but he would not hang up. I arrived at Starbucks while on the phone with him, passed the phone to my friend who does not speak Japanese either, then started asking everyone there if they spoke English. One high school student said he spoke a little, but wasn't able to help after I passed him the phone.

Finally a Starbucks employee who spoke a "little English" came over. I gave him the phone and hallelujah! he was able to translate enough to tell me that another driver had shown up at my apartment with the mirror and wanted to know when I would be home. We sorted out a time and I was able to get my mirror that night.

The moral of the story is that not being able to speak the language of the country you're living in stinks, but fear not! Starbucks may be an evil organization in some ways, but can help with much more than coffee. This is not the first time Starbucks has saved the day. And I'm sure it won't be the last.