I got lost in

I got lost in my own train station yesterday.

When the Odeo subway line opened last month, Kasuga station was enlarged to include access to the new line. In fact, the Oedo line forms a perpendicular bridge between the parallel Kasuga and Korakuen stations.

So when I got off the Odeo line yesterday on my way back from Shinjuku, I headed for the nearest Up escalator to get to ground level and home. I put my pass card through the wicket to exit and continued walking through the maze of hallways and ever-ascending escalators, following the signs pointing towards the exit I wanted to use.

Six or seven minutes later (it's a very deep subway line), I spied sky. And another set of exit wickets. Huh? I'd gone through the exit procedure several levels below.

Daunted, but wishing to be truly exited, I tried passing my card through the wicket. *Ding Dong* You are not a winner. Please see the attendant.

I struggled to pull up the right vocabulary to explain my predicament. I had apparently gone though some "tranfer only" exit point and had a further 50 yen decucted from my pass card. I was expected to ride another line only I had no intention of doing that. So the the attendant returned my 50 yen and I was allowed to leave.

Next time I'm in that part of the station, I'll have to be more careful.