Something very unexpected happened to me in Japan.
It all began when I decided to explore the area of Akihabara on Sunday. In this region, I got to experience a different side of Japanese culture: there were girls dressed as maids standing on every street, inviting people to come with them to cafes and restaurants. There were also huge billboards displaying anime characters and brightly colored advertisements – the whole space was fascinating to be in. I ended up eating at a local restaurant that served a type of raw meat rice bowl.
You may be wondering: why would I eat a raw meat rice bowl? Well, I have always had a very open mind when it comes to new culinary experiences. Growing up in a Korean household, I have definitely fallen in love with dishes that sounded a little weird and daunting at first. So, my attitude toward food is that I will always say yes to trying something new before deciding whether or not I like it.
To be honest, I am not sure if I have this mindset anymore…
That same night after I came back to my Airbnb, I started to feel a bit strange and had a pounding headache. I went to sleep with a low grade fever, and I hoped that by the next morning, I would feel better.
Unfortunately, this was not the case.
I had an interview scheduled the next day with a psychologist in Japan. I had taken Tylenol that morning but continued to have a low grade fever, so I asked my interviewee if we could switch the interview to online in case I had contracted something contagious. I am glad that I made that change because during the interview, I grew increasingly sick. My head felt like it was getting hotter, and I struggled to stay focused on our conversation because I began to have severe body aches. When my interview finished, I found that I had a temperature of 102°F.
So, I took more Tylenol and tried to rest/sleep, but my temperature refused to go down. I attempted to go to bed early that night, but I woke up around 2 in the morning because my body was overheating and in pain. My fever had risen to 104°F even though I had been continuously taking acetaminophen throughout the day.
I tried to drink water and wait for my fever to break, but I was in a lot of pain; my fever would not go down. I did not have any other medication, and all of the pharmacies nearby were closed. I called Aoi (the friend that I had luckily made a few days before) and asked her for help because I didn’t know what to do. She researched hospitals in Tokyo that were open, but none of them spoke English. I couldn’t even call a taxi because the taxi apps in Japan require a Japanese credit card when making an account.
Eventually, Aoi called me an ambulance. She and her mother went with me to the emergency room so that they could translate for me. The doctors ran some tests and told me that I had contracted a serious virus (most likely from something that I ate 😅). My fever finally broke once they gave me an IV drip, and they prescribed me medication to take for the next 2 weeks.
So all in all, I learned a few lessons from this experience.
First, if you can, you should try to make a very kind friend in Japan who speaks Japanese just in case you experience a medical emergency. Second, you should be careful when trying raw foods when traveling around the world.
Thanks for reading 🤍
P.S. I do not have any pictures from this incident because I was not in a state to take pictures. I also deleted the pictures of the raw meat rice bowl I ate because it was traumatizing to see in my camera roll 😂