Day 7: Rest day

Nagoya isn’t exactly a tourist Mecca, but having lived there for a couple of years in the 1990s I'd grown to like it and I was looking forward to spending my day off looking around the city. Unfortunately circumstances were such that I got to see very little of Nagoya during the two nights and one full day I was there. In fact my movements over that time were confined to the immediate vicinity of my hotel, the farthest I ventured being the hospital on the other side of the station.

My day began as usual at six, when I was woken by my watch alarm. After breakfast I went to withdraw some more money from a nearby ATM. I had no idea how much my hospital visit would cost, and didn’t want to suffer the indignity of not having enough cash to pay my bill. I then walked to the Nagoya Central Hospital, arriving shortly after the opening time of 8.30am.

Nagoya Central Hospital

I explained my predicament to a receptionist and after filling out a form was given a number and told to wait. There weren't many patients around, so I was hopeful that I'd be seen by a doctor before too long. A while later I was called back and given another number and told to report to the surgery department. There I filled out another form and waited some more. I was then given a third number and told to wait outside one of a row of about half a dozen small examination rooms. I was informed that as I hadn’t made an appointment I would be at the end of the waiting list for that morning. I sat and read while patient after patient was called in to be diagnosed by one of the doctors on duty that morning.

At about 11am my number finally came up. I entered my cubicle and was greeted by a friendly young doctor by the name of Dr Ono. On the desk in front of him were two huge computer screens, one of which displayed a blowup of one of the forms I'd filled out a couple of hours earlier, which included a diagram of a human body on which I'd circled the left big toe.

I showed Dr Ono my toe and told him of my desire to continue walking if possible. He seemed skeptical, but on the positive side he told me the toe wasn't actually infected. I decided that as long as the infection didn't return, and as long I could put up with the pain and discomfort, there was nothing to stop me continuing on to Tokyo. Dr Ono prescribed some antibiotics which I was instructed to take if the toe showed any signs of infection again. He was going to subscribe some painkillers, but I was worried about the cost and told him I'd make do with the medication I'd brought from New Zealand (Nurofen and Panadol).

I paid the hospital bill (3549 yen) and went to a pharmacy to pick up the prescription (2646 yen). I then had lunch at a curry place in the underground mall by the station followed by coffee and cheesecake at a Tulley's coffee shop. After looking around Tower Records for a bit (I'd left my iPod in New Zealand and was starting to miss my jazz music), I went back to my hotel room and slept for a couple of hours.

Later I went to the big Meitetsu department store across from the hotel and bought some sushi, yoghurt, and beer. Back in my room, I ate the sushi and drank the beer. I left the yoghurt for the morning. I watched TV for a bit then went to bed.