Japanese Service With A Smile

Posted on October 19, 2006 by tokyofox

“How many Japanese workmen does it take to change a lightbulb? Ten – one to change it and nine others to stand around watching him doing it!!”

That may be a cr*p joke but at times it seems like Japan has zero unemployment as those businesses in the service sector are characterised by half a dozen people doing the work which one would probably do elsewhere in the world. This is particularly the case in shops and restaurants where each and every one will utter “irasshamase” as you walk in. This welcome, though occasionally over the top,  was something I missed when I went back to England nearly two years ago where the service is just not a match compared to here.

The same can also be said of some of the foreign bars in Japan too where a few times I have had my change just slapped down on the counter without the usual running commentary that takes place during each checkout transaction. Service with a smile is important and you certainly get that in Japan especially from the cuties who are the predominant figures in the service industry or maybe it just seems that way as they are the ones I remember!

It may also have something to do with Japan being a society where theres still a strong sense that women are here to serve which is further reinforced by the weekly magazines including the womens ones. I shouldn’t forget about the men though, especially my mate Keisuke who has been in Tokyo selling Mango juice this last week which he constantly did with a joyful smile.

However, one of the most mesmerizing parts of Japanese service has to be in ensuring that you don’t have an accident of sorts when construction work is being done. A cone or no entry/danger sign is usually sufficient overseas and they have them here but on top of that they also have what is usually an old man (ojiisan). He waves a fluorescent baton type lightsaber at you thereby shepherding you in the most obvious of directions which more often than not is just the direction you’re walking in anyway! These most unnecessary employees have even been stood in a corner ushering pedstrians along in the one possible direction!

As for controlling the traffic, a one armed flashing mannequin is employed to direct traffic but it seems these mechanical 2D robots can’t be trusted fully so the 24 hour ojiisan is employed to watch that and assist too and just to be safe a colleague or two are usually just a few yards away doing the same pointless job. Nevertheless it is these kind of things that make living in Tokyo so different and memorable compared to what we may consider more “normal” in the western world.

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I Am The ‘Spokes’ Person Against Japanese Cyclists!

Posted on October 10, 2006 by tokyofox

This may be a case of ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ but what the hell. These things happen as we grow up I guess. I spent most of the first 23 years of my life cycling to and from school and work and often riding fairly recklessly annoying pedestrians on the pavements but now the boot appears to be on the other foot.

Tokyo has more people in less space than London but a big difference is that the Japanese ride predominantly on the paths. That is not such a problem but what really gets on my nerves is that some of them just seem to think they rule and can just mow everyone down who gets in their way or ring their bells which I consider so rude. Whether or not pedestrians have the rights of the paths and the cyclists are doing anything wrong is something I’m not too sure about to be honest.

Whereas UK law, for example, may stipulate that both hands must be on the handlebars at all times the same can definitely not be said in Japan’s capital. In fact it seems that to see such a thing here is unlikely as the Japanese are more often than not chattering away or even writing e-mails on the ubiquitous mobile phones. Smoking or holding an umbrella are two other popular activities done while trying to dodge in and out of the pedestrians and it’s far from common to see someone doing a combination of two or even three of the aforementioned acts!

Add on top of this, the fact that lights are not used so often and that there is a tendency to ride (in a wobbly fashion which is almost crying out for them to be hit by something or someone) on the wrong side of the road pressed up against the curb.

Of course I understand that bicycles need to be used more in order to protect the environment and one immediate benefit of these crappy bicycles with the baskets on the front is that they often provide a useful bin for many people due to a huge lack of public bins.

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Losing Track Of Time

Posted on October 6, 2006 by tokyofox

One of the great things about Japan is the amazing punctuality of its trains. They are timed to the very precise second. However, when there is even the sligtest of delays it becomes frustrating but why? When I used to get the train to work in England the trains were more often than not late but I was used to that situation where I expected them to be about 5 minutes late.

However, having become accustomed to Japan Railways network being on time its bl**dy annoying when they’re late as you don’t usually need to plan for such things. Anyway, yesterday there was a 35 minute delay while I travlled on the Joban (not so) rapid line. Still, no-one seemed to be getting angry with anyone else, particularly the JR staff. Definitely a case of higher expectations leading to bigger disappointments.

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Living Under An English Umbrella

Posted on October 2, 2006 by tokyofox

Was in a British bar on Sunday night for a works leaving party and who should walk in but Liverpool indie band ‘The Zutons‘ who were playing a gig the following night. Thought it was a bit sad that they ended up in such a place when they’re probably only in the country for a week. I think I can get away with it as I’ve been here a long time now and feel that they are far more convenient than the Japanese izakaya’s where you always have to pay a small sum for a starter dish that I don’t want and also being sat down at a table the whole time and not being able to move about is not something I am always too keen on.

It also got me thinking that maybe the reason I like Japan is not because I’m living a full Japanese lifestyle but because I’m living in the comfort of a very English existence or “Under an English umbrella” as a wise-man once said to me. Sorry to ruin the illusion some of you may have but I’m not sat at a low table in my room eating sushi in my kimono with a geisha sharpening my samurai sword while watching the sumo on TV. Well not always anyway!!

Instead I read English in terms of books and magazines, I listen to English via BBC radio on-line and downloadable podcasts, I watch English satelite TV and download the stuff from back home and of course I speak English both in my job and predominantly in my social life too. I speak English to my Japanese friends who I met in Australia mostly out of habit not that I’m capable of having a decent Japanese conversation anyway. My other Japanese friends are keen to learn and practise their English

In fact it’s only really when I leave my house that I know I’m really in Japan. I do eat Japanese food most of the time but of course the golden arches are always in sight should I want a bit more of an international taste though even then I tend to choose the teriyaki burger which is only available in Japan. Nothing better than the ‘real’ taste of a country!!

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I-Podge!!

Posted on September 26, 2006 by tokyofox

This is the follow up to the ‘A Lot of dieting is wishful shrinking’ article which I wrote a couple of months back and the title refers to ‘The Sun’s’ headline when the comedian Ricky Gervais was papped running with his i-pod. Amazingly my training is still on-going and its fair to say I am now quite hooked and enjoy the time jogging around the backstreets of my area with just my i-pod for company. That keeps me going as the shuffle option keeps me motivated to hear whats coming up next.

However, I have been getting very frustrated lately with all the rainy weather which has denied me a few times. I am now running for 45 minutes each time but I may have to put a cap on that as I really can’t find it in me to dedicate any more time as the warm up, cooling down afterwards and subsequent shower all add up.

I don’t really want to be one of those guys who dedicates so much time to keeping fit but i am still running five or six times most weeks which is less than when I started but more than the three or four times I think ok. I am impressed that I have been sweating a nice triangle pattern on my t-shirt which they always used to (and no doubt still do) get in the aussie soap ‘Home and Away‘ after running in Summer Bay aka Palm Beach.

Sadly I can’t complete the standard routine as I have no ‘Surf Club’ to enter after my run where I can then just grab a drink which I don’t appear to have to pay for before potting a ball that is hanging right over the pocket and leaving the club with someone I meet and leaving the aforementioned drink in the process

As far as the eating part is going, I am still refraining from snacks but I have been eating a bit of junk food lately in the knowledge that it will get burned off….hopefully! Whether that actually happens I really don’t know as I have no scales. Anyway, two months gone but for how long will I continue as the Winter approaches?

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The Kids Are All Right…

Posted on September 22, 2006 by tokyofox

Its been a very busy September for most of the teachers in my company with lots of cover shifts and last Sunday was no exception. My job was to go to a party but before you think that sounds a bit easy I should add that this was for kids only between the ages of four and seven. There were four of us teachers on hand to ‘entertain’ the 40 children with two hours of games.

The hall we were in was divided into four zones with one corner for a story, one for hopscotch, one for bowling and the other for drawing a monster picture. Now I know that may sound quite organised but given that most kids have a short attention span and that very little planning and thought had gone into the games it was left to us teachers to effectively ‘wing it’ and milk every bit for all it was worth….and then some!!

Though I regularly teach a class of ten kids (big by my schools standards) trying to keep each group of 10 children for the allotted time was a little taxing. By the end of the two hours I was shattered but its all in days work.

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Tokyo Daytripper: Tokyo Bay Cruise

Posted on September 17, 2006 by tokyofox

My English school organised for us to go on a ‘Tokyo Bay Cruise‘ last Sunday night. I went on the huge party boat last year but not with my company and the weather back then was fine as it luckily was this year too. A few thousand people crammed on to the boat with very little space as is customary in Tokyo. The boat travelled from Takeshiba down the Sumida-gawa river to the ocean and back going under Rainbow Bridge along the way which seemed to cause great excitement among the Japanese for some reason.

It was nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) for the two hour duration and the great thing was that you never ever had to queue for beers or whatever as the servers just constantly poured drinks into paper cups which were put on the counter for people to just take willy nilly.

This event was also a night when many girls (and some men too) were clad in their traditional yukata (a kind of summer kimono) with their hair up which is a very sophisticated and classy, yet sexy look which just goes to show that you don’t need to be showing lots of flesh to be appealing.

On top of this there was also a stage and dancefloor inside featuring dancing yukata girls strutting their stuff to the cheesiest of disco tunes. Apart from those cr*ppy songs it was a nice way for me to spend my evening having done cover work during the day. With the company discount it cost me 1500 yen which is only about seven or eight quid. A cheap way of getting sozzled amid a setting a little different to usual.

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No Sleep Tonight

Posted on September 12, 2006 by tokyofox

It is often said to be a good idea to follow the local customs when you’re not in your own country. Something along the lines of ‘when in Rome do as many Romans as you can!’

Sleeping seems to be the favourite past-time of the Japanese but they do very little of it in their own homes due to punishing work schedules. It is so so common for Japanese people to sleep on the trains every day and anywhere. It is also not unusual to regularly see people sleeping in restaurants such as McDonalds, their cars by the side of a road and generally in any shops which provides seats. In fact the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno actually has an area for people to rest in comfortable chairs where they inevitably fall into a sleep. Can’t imagine that ever happening at the more popular and bigger British Museum in London!!

Lately, I have been quite tired at times (thats the effect of not doing much I guess!) and have started having naps during breaks between lessons at my schools but not during the lessons of course! I leave that part to the students!!

Of course, falling asleep on the trains can prove costly if you miss your stop though not finacially. On the whole the Japanese people seem to be trained to instinctively wake up at excatly the moment the train pulls into their station. I usually do too but not when I’m drunk and taking an early morning train home. On a couple of occasions I have missed my stop four times which just becomes so frustrating as by that stage I am desparate for my bed.

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Keeping Up Appearances

Posted on September 8, 2006 by tokyofox

No this is not about the BBC comedy of the same name but an observation (with a heavy reliance on generalisations and stereotypes of course!) about the millions of kawaii (cute) Japanese girls for whom it seems appearance is everything. Nothing wrong with that of course but one of the downsides is seeing them putting on their make up in public on the trains. Slapplication and vanity are not problems here whereas if we get caught looking in the mirror back home we get embarrassed and ridiculed for being vain.

Japanese girls spend hours on their make up and of course they look good for it. This is obviously welcome news for us men who get to see so many cute slim girls everyday walking (though wobbling slightly and often dragging their heels) the streets in their delicate, strappy high heels, skirts and cute outfits while more often that not playing with their hair (not a tell tale sign that they fancy you though).

Hopefully I don’t sound too old when I say that appearance comes before practicality. This species of J-girl is one that is very different from the more clued up Japanese girls who you see in the UK or the USA or wherever.

They are obsessed with all things cute, particularly Disney and ‘Hello Kitty’, and dress up in ways which would probably be deemed not suitable in other countries. Maybe another sign that Japan is a safe place where these kawaii girls can dress in a way which would see them get harassed, whistled at and no doubt called sluts elsewhere. Having said that though there are a fair amount of gropers around by all accounts. In the UK girls tend to mostly just dress up to go to a pub or club but here they get dressed up to go out anywhere, particularly to do their favourite pastime of shopping and the temperature seems to have no bearing on whether skirts are worn or not.

Picture club stickers, many accessories hanging from their mobile phones and the high pitched whining voices also characterise the hordes of these fine specimens who certainly brighten up my day.

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A Breath Of Fresh Air

Posted on September 6, 2006 by tokyofox

While walking through Shibuya on Sunday evening a few of us encountered an Oxygen bar. These have been becoming more common of late and so we thought we should sample it and so proceeded to sit in front of bubbling bottles of coloured liquid with tubes up our noses.

oyygen1  oxygen2

It’s supposed to be good for hangovers, help beautify your skin, reduce weight and fatigue, purify blood, increase metabolism and no doubt increase your manhood, make you a nicer person and turn your sh*t into gold!!. Call me sceptical but the only thing that i am sure it did for me was lighten my wallet to the tune of 300 yen for the tube thingy and a further 600 yen for the minimum 10 minutes time.

There were 24 kinds of aromatic liquid of which four were available to each person and you could use and mix them as you wished. I have to say that I did enjoy the novelty factor of it all but don’t think that it benefitted me too much.

oxygen5  oxygen4  untitled  untitled
Posted in Japan Life, Quirky Japan | Tagged , , | 2 Comments