So, we've been in Japan for almost 3 months now. As some of you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging very much lately (yeah, sorry about that). It's mostly because we're a bit more plugged in to society now, and because I'm spending my time trying to explore, clean, watch anime (without subtitles, because we have no choice) or learn Japanese. We have been taking many photographs however, and I hope to add some more content to this blog soon.
Status Check
So, how do we feel after 3 months?
In truth, I think we're doing quite well. We're over the initial "shock" of being out of our comfort zones. To be honest, it's been a bit of a relief for me personally, because I've been forced to relinquish any ideas of me being in control of my own life. I'm actually being quite serious though; it's wonderfully refreshing to know that I simply cannot control my environment. So now, if I'm served chicken instead of pork, then so be it... I just have to try to enjoy the chicken, because saying something like "You've given me chicken and I asked for pork" is still way above my ability to communicate without Google Translate on hand.
True Tales about Japanese People
So, as you may have picked up already, Japanese people are generally very polite and hospitable, which makes living in this environment very easy for us. (Remember I'm here with my wife, so the deep loneliness that some JETs experience is not something with which I can identify.) Here are some of the highlights of their friendliness so far...
Transport
So on Mondays I have to travel about 30kms to get to work. This Monday I took a bus from a nearby bus-stop to the closest train station. I didn't realise it at the time, but I only had 10 000 yen with me, which is more than the change dispenser in the bus can digest. So I tried in extremely broken Japanese to explain that I didn't have the 280 yen necessary to pay the travel fare. At first he seemed a bit annoyed (which is quite understandable considering he had already transported me to the train station), but then after a few moments he politely asked me in broken English to please remember to pay the outstanding 200 yen extra next time I use a bus. Now on my desk at work, I have a post-it on my desk saying "I O 200 (bus)".
Caught in the Rain
One day, we were trying to get a late lunch in Matsusaka. It was about 15:30 in the afternoon, which is about the optimal time to minimize the availability of lunch venues in Matsusaka. (Oh yeah, so don't try this while you're in Japan, people. Many restaurants close between 15:00 and 18:00 as clearly no one eats at during this time... I just wish someone had told that to us!)
So we were trying to scour the streets of Matsusaka looking for food. This was before we got our car, so we were walking, and the gods decided, probably as some kind of cosmic joke, to open the floodgates of heaven.
Now, when it rains in Japan, it isn't like the gently downward falling mist of Cape Town, no sir. It rains buckets! And Taryn and I were darting from overhanging terrace to overhanging terrace like spy's trying to break into the Kremlin. Obviously, being 2 of the only 4 Caucasian-looking people in Matsusaka, we were about as easy to spot as Oprah in Finland.
Then, out of the blue some kind, young, and dare-I-say attractive Japanese lady came running straight up to us. She said something quickly in Japanese and because it was raining, she scurried off in as little time as it took to confirm that she wasn't charging us for the two umbrellas she had left in our hands! And that's the story of how we got our first umbrellas in Japan.
Going to the Post Office
So, early on in our Japanese adventure, before we received our residence card (which is your passport to everything important, like a cell phone) we received a notice in our postbox saying that we had missed a delivery. In desperation, we decided to make a walk to the main post office (which is about 5 km away) in the hope that we would be able to start the process of organising a cell phone. The unfortunate thing is that it was raining quite badly, but we set out anyway with umbrellas in hand. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up being lost. The solution was to walk into the nearest retail store (which ended up being a pharmacy) and ask them where we need to go to pick up our parcel. (We did this by pointing at the letter from the post office and saying "Doko des ka?" which means "Where is it?")
Anyway, to make a long story short, the Pharmacist got on the phone to... well I actually don't know because I don't speak Japanese, but she seemed to be confirming our order was in fact at the post office. Then she gestured for us to follow her. She proceeded to walk out the store, and into the parking lot where she gently abducted us and drove us to the post office. She then stayed in the queue until we had parcels in hand. Then I had quite a hard time explaining to her that I didn't want a lift back to my apartment. She didn't understand this at all! I mean, it was clearly raining, and I had quite clearly and unequivocally proven that I was more-than-able to get lost without constant supervision; and quite frankly she probably didn't want these bewildered Gaijin getting lost on her watch anyway.
Anyway, I did manage to resist her attempts at taking me home, because quite frankly, I was hungry, and in spite of the rain, there was probably tasty Japanese food nearby.
Closing Comments
These are only as few stories of kindness, and there are many more that I feel I should share; but unfortunately I do not have the time, nor enough stamina in my fingers to complete the task.
Perhaps I will be able to document some more at a later stage.
Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you return sometime soon. I'll try make sure there's something interesting for you to read as well. :D
And to my friends and family: I love you all very much.
