Gakusei Travels

不審者がいます！

Disclaimer before anyone reads this, so that I do not cause any widespread panic, first and foremost I am safe. My friends and I are okay.

Today….was a day, to say the least. Around 5 PM, it was reported that two suspicious men entered the campus.

This afternoon, Sam and I were hanging out in the lobby area by the elevator on the 3rd floor. We have a research paper to do and sitting in our dorm rooms leads to us falling asleep. We worked for about an hour and a half when we got a message in the dormitory group chat. This is how the conversation played out:

Student 1: I just saw two suspicious men enter the school. Please be careful of automatic doors, locks, etc. I think the police are chasing them now.

Student 2: What do you mean you saw it? Does that mean there’s a suspicious person in the school now?

Student 1: I just passed by the dorm mother so there may be a broadcast soon. What I saw was a man being chased by the police and he forced his way on to school grounds.

As I’m finally looking at my phone and trying to Google translate what was said, the Dorm Mother comes on to the PA and makes an announcement. I didn’t catch what she said, but immediately, Sam has a panicked look on her face and says “we need to go.” I’m like huh, as I’m quickly gathering my things. Sam then says, “2 suspicious people entered the dorm. We need to get to safety.”

So now, I’m scrambling. I literally had my entire study set up on the table, so I’m picking up my iPad, laptop, phone, charger, backpack, water bottle, and lunch I was eating in one go. Sam’s dorm is the closest, so we run into her room and lock the door. Another PA announcement soon follows and it’s a male voice. At first, I’m panicking, because I thought it was the intruder, but it turned out to be the police. They said something along the lines of, “We have just received information that a suspicious person has broken into our premises. Please be careful.”

Now, the whole time, I’m genuinely on the verge of tears but I’m trying to laugh off the situation. Unfortunately, the sad reality is, stuff like this happens all the time in America. We have intruder drills and lockdown drills. I honestly thought in Japan I would not have to go through the same ordeal, because it’s such a safe country. It was more of “I can’t believe this is happening now” type of laughter.

We hadn’t received much details at this point about what was going on outside, but we did hear some police sirens in the distance. Sam and I texted all of our friends to just check and make sure they were okay, including our roommates who weren’t in the dorm. I’m also trying to text and update my family back home even though it was the middle of the night. Most people, in fact, were out and about, so they had no idea what was going on. We later found out, no one actually broke into the dormitory. The suspicious men just got on to campus and were hiding in one of the buildings, or that’s what I heard. What I don’t understand though, is the campus has a security guard and a gate. How did this person get past the security guard? What was the security guard doing? Any other time, he be looking at me funny when I’m running in last minute to make curfew.

Still, despite this newfound information, Sam and I were too scared to leave the room. We spent the hour trying to cope in different ways. I decided to write on my blog and watch anime to keep from stress crying. Sam literally made a sandwich and several memes about the situation. It was so not a funny situation but the memes did make me laugh. Sam literally said, “you can leave the America but the America can’t leave you.”

As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, the Center for International Exchange then texted us on LINE about the intruders, telling those in the dorm not to leave. Mind you, the CIE Office NEVER messages us. The fact that they did meant it was a serious situation. I think the worst part is that I was literally out and about earlier today. I should’ve just stayed out longer instead of coming back to the dorm T^T.

Around 18:30 the only update we had gotten was from the Dorm Mother that students were still not to leave the dorm. I think that if there were students returning to the dorm, they were going to be escorted from the gate by police to ensure their safety.

We heard nothing for another hour and finally at about 20:00, we got an update from Student Affairs. It seems like the suspects fled from campus, so the police have retreated for the time being. They’re still going to escort students to the dorm for the rest of the evening. They also advise us for the time being not to go out unnecessarily. They definitely don’t have to worry about me. I’m not going anywhere for the rest of the evening! I’m also probably going to avoid walking around at night and by myself for the next few days. I think I got a little too comfortable being in Japan.

I write this not to cause panic. It was 1. a way for me to cope with a stressful and confusing situation but also a reminder to 2. always keep your head on a swivel, as my stepdad says. Bad things can happen anytime, anywhere, even in a country that is praised for being one of the safest in the world. It is illegal to carry pepper spray/mace or self defense weapons in Japan, so I can’t really defend myself like how I would back in America. I also can’t physically fight back without the risk of being deported. It’s really important to always be aware of your surroundings and be careful regardless of where you are in the world. This incident will hopefully be a one time thing, and going forward, everything will be alright

Anyway, enjoy the memes Sam made about the situation. I’m going to play Pokemon, because the events of the afternoon have me too stressed to finish any homework.