I wouldn't say that this was an adventure exactly but I was put on the bus (for the first time) home today and while reading the new manga I had bought (Darling wa gaikokujin...it's not as trashy as it sounds. I swear. zettai shoujo manga jya nai) I managed to miss my stop. It was the stop before the very last one, so I thought I would walk but first I asked the bus driver for directions to the last stop. He advised me to take a taxi because it was dangerous. I, of course, thought of muggings and such but really what he was thinking was getting hit by a car because of the lack of sidewalks where I am. But it was late, and I was tired so I thought I would just take the taxi, but there were none apparently they close down fairly early around here. He asked me if I could contact any of friends (not knowing of course that I don't have a cell phone...and even if I did, I know so few people right here that it wouldn't help at all) and then offered to take me home. He told me to sit on a bench to wait while he packed up, and as I sat I considered all the things I shouldn't say...like where I worked or (if I could help it) my foreigner status. Perhaps it was an American thing kicking in, but if somebody told me they were getting into a car with a stranger back home I would have told them it was a stupid idea. But I did it, and in the five or so minute drive (it would have been a half hour walk...) it came out that he noticed as soon as I opened my mouth that I was a foreigner. I had been hoping that I could trick people longer than that. And then when he asked me how many years I had been in Japan for...I replied two months...instead of perhaps making up a lie. I must have said sumimasen 15 times in the 5 minutes we talked. I said arigatougozaimashita at least 10 times. Gomeiwakuninarimashita once. I wasn't sure how appropriate that phrase was to the situation so I didn't want to overuse it in the event that it was completely wrong. Must needs study more.
It's funny I think that when he said it was abunai, I thought of getting mugged and thrown in a ditch (over-active imagination I know) when really he was referring to the fact that there isn't a pedestrian walkway. Trains from now on.