Chapter 2 - April 2000

OK, two weeks here, what can I say?

The people are definitely hospitable aside from the few cases of racist snobbery that do happen. I went to Tokyo last week and the little noodle shops have a set of flag/signs they hang over their doorway when they are open for business. I went into one such to be told sorry we are closed.

Must have been my haircut.... but the environment is INhospitable at the moment. The temperature must not be getting any higher than 10-12 degrees, which in itself is obviously bearable, but oh the wind. Cuts like a knife it does, and making one not only shrink into ones clothes but struggle to keep your eyes from becoming grit filled.

The landscape here, at the moment, is pretty hard. The words desolate and barren come to mind because things are so dry and windblown. The winter is hard on these islands.

Apparently the weather due to replace this winter hardness is a *very* hot and humid summer that will contain the tail of the monsoon season from SE Asia. So just when everyone is set to try and get a tan it will be non stop rain for 6 weeks. Enough flooding to stop the trains. At least the railways give you a note so you can blame them for being late for work.

Speaking of difficult there's the garbage. Or 'gomi' as it's called. They pick up burnable gomi twice a week. This is what is generally called landfill at home, most everything that you would just chuck, plastic wrappers, Styrofoam containers, little paper bits and food.

Once a month they pick up cans, bottles and paper [cardboard maybe] which is in itself a nuisance because with no backyard we have stacks of bags filled with these items awaiting that monthly pickup. Then once a week there's a pickup for non-burnable gomi.

I am still not sure what this is exactly, I think it be such items as kettles and toasters or other metal/furniture type items which obviously do not fit into the other categories. If you have a fridge to be removed you have to ring someone up to come and get it. Pay them to remove it so that they can fix it and sell it on to someone else.

Now I just want to write to the City Hall and ask why they don't switch the non-burnable pickup with the recyclable pickup. Seeing as there are bags of cans and bottles stacked all over the city awaiting the once a month pickup and yet I see hardly any non-burnable items once a week. {shrug} Oh well, it's all so Japanese they keep telling me.

Then there's nose-blowing Seems it's bad form to do it. I see it quite often though, especially as this is "cofusho" season [allergy time]. What is bad is using a 'filthy' handkerchief. Not so bad to use a clean tissue. Seems it's not 'bad' form to spit though, I see plenty of lads doing it on the sidewalk, so I figured that must be why the Japanese take their shoes off when coming indoors. The sidewalk is .. slick?

Yes, there are vending machines everywhere dispensing mostly drinks, hot & cold, cigarettes and beer. Although apparently the liquor dispensing machines shutdown at 11pm. Go figure. The vending machines which are outside Pachinko parlors [slot machines/games of chance] even have a 'chance' button. So you can try and gamble your money for a free drink.

Then there's the cuteness of many things like furniture. Our ironing board is the size of a large skateboard with little picnic table fold out legs. The cistern above the toilet has a concave lid, or sink, with a faucet over it which runs when refilling so you finish you business and flush the toilet and then just wash you hands as the cistern refills. I think that is *neat*.

I am doing well, I only hit my head on every third doorway. I wish I had not cut my hair so short now, I could do with all the protection I can get both for warmth and for doorjamb impacts.

Tokyo was good. Bustling is putting it mildly and thank god for the trains because driving a car would have been insane. A motor bike would cut through the traffic but, of course, at risk to life and limb.

I arrived during the day and found the trains system not too confusing but I did lose my bag which I had stashed in a locker. I arrived back at the same station and couldn't figure out where I was, the station being so bloody BIG with so many exits.

Then I went to Roppongi to check out the nightlife rat race but I think I did not stay late enough, leaving the are around 10pm. The hostess clubs I went to ask about work had plenty of eager staff ready and waiting and I saw enough blonde overly made up women escorting elder Japanese gents around to let me know I was in the right part of town.

Then I went back on the subway to check out Ginza, the money district. More spacious streets, better clientele etc. Did a quick walk through here just to check it out, apparently a Japanese girl I'd meet in Sydney SAW me on the platform at Ginza but she was too far away [different platform] to get my attention. She Emailed me that night. Small world, ne?

This is when I discovered that the peak hour of an evening goes from 4pm till 11pm. A constant wave of people coming home from work. The hours of most business being around 10am till 8-9pm. The Japanese are well adapted to a busy schedule with packed commuter excursions. They sleep anywhere.

When the train is really packed they even sleep standing up, the crush keeping them upright. I have an old John Wayne movie to keep me company right now, their midday movie coming on at 1pm &gtgrin< only took me 5 minutes of fiddling with the remote to get the bilingual thing to switch to English. I had to get someone in to translate the airconditioner controls and one TV in the house is still not dialed in to the local channels. Even native speakers have trouble with it. Kanji is a minDfield. Even the citizens of Japan say so.

[..]

Aha, I finally got the other TV tuned into the local stations. I was lucky enough to find the manual for the said TV and then a visitor who could read Kanji, although she still had trouble with the instructions, helped me get things going. I did most of the thinking though, she is nonplused when it comes to electronica as are many locals. As many of y'all know, I enjoy 'em.

So just another small hurdle crossed in a land of unintelligible script. I've learnt a few Kanji but be buggered if I can get my hand to replicate them. My handwriting leaving a lot to be desired when it comes to legibility even in English!

Got some hours coming up at an English school in Mito this week as well as my first private lesson for a pair of girls I met at the Duck, so gainful employment on the increase.

[..]

Well I've racked up one month [ichi ka getsu] now; My private class, two office girls, have included me in their weekly basketball and tennis nights so maintaining some semblance of fitness is a possibility now. Great facilities also.

Every such place I go is met with amazement/stares. Why would a gaijin be here? There seems to be a mutual amount of enjoyment out of it though. Also found that my name has a Kanji for it. I have no way of writing it here, maybe on another machine but it translates as "Big Gate". Heh. I found the Kanji easy to write too which is lucky.

Another trip to the supermarket and the spending of 3800 Yen [US$35] got me a couple of bags of shopping. SMALL bags. OK, off to Tennis, hope all is well where you are.

The View is Here, Wish you Were Beautiful.

[Just Kidding {wink}]