The police came for my neighbor today. He had been eating my food, washed the computers (not mine, luckily) with water, and even more than that had soaked floor in his own room in water and seaweed and used his garbage as a toilet.
The whole thing has been a travesty, and it isn't over yet. I guess the cops came for him earlier today. However, the stupid Swedish embassy (he's from Sweden) is actually closed today, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. So the police left him at Ueno station! Unbelievable. The guy has very obvious mental problems, no money and no food, and their solution is to leave him at a fucking train station. Sorry for the language, I haven't slept much and this whole thing has made me really angry.
In fact, I didn't sleep at all last night - both because the guy was running his water all night long and because I drank too much coffee. I finally gave up at 8 this morning and went to Meiji jingu in the hopes that would calm me down. It did, and I actually had a great day despite the fact I was so tired.
When I came home he was gone. The manager said he was going to call the cops today so I expected that. But I had a feeling it wasn't over. Exhausted, I went to sleep.
I woke up a couple of hours ago and heard his distinctive voice in the kitchen. I couldn't believe it, but there he was, back at the computer and back at making weird mixes of my food. Though I don't have any claims on this common room, I felt as though a robber had broken in and was messing with my stuff. I immediately went to see the manager, who was as shocked as I was to hear he was back.
We had the manager's Japanese roommate call the police and once again they came. The police said that since the embassy was closed there wasn't much they could do - understandably they didn't want to arrest a foreign national when no real crime had been committed. What makes me sick is that there is nothing else that can be done - psychiatric hospitals here appear to be reluctant to take foreign patients. But the cops took him again, told us to lock the door and call if he came back again - because, like before they were going to leave him at Ueno station! Absolutely absurd.
It is raining outside and cold, he doesn't have a place to stay and he doesn't have any money and isn't carrying a passport. I don't think he has eaten a real meal in days and, while he is fairly coherent, he is definitely having a psychotic episode. Who wouldn't be frightened and angry in such a case. On top of that, he doesn't speak Japanese.
I don't even want to know why he is here, alone, without any support , when it is quite obvious this is not the first time he has had an episode. I don't want to know how he was able to continue to live in Japan even despite the fact he only has a student's visa and quit his classes after what sounds like a previous episode over a month ago. What I want to know is why there is absolutely no help for someone who is a danger to himself and others on a cold and rainy night. And why the Swedish embassy can't handle an emergency situation on a Sunday. It makes me absolutely furious.
I just want things to return to normal. I've had such a great time here, but this last week, having been sick and with the slowly growing insanity of my neighbor, a cold that is only now getting better and difficulty sleeping, I'm feeling a bit frantic at the moment. I want this guy to be taken care of, not treated like an animal, but I don't want to take responsibility for him myself.
I'm leaving this apartment for the one in Morishita on Friday. Oddly enough, the person who showed me around said there weren't any "strange people" (she said it in Japanese and the word has several meanings - not all of which I'm sure of - but one, I believe, is "crazy"). So that's a comforting thought. But I really want to get back to the job search as soon as possible, as last week was an almost complete wash while I recovered from my cold. Hopefully I'll get a good rest tonight and everything will get taken care of tomorrow.
I wish luck to Misha, where ever he is.