So what is life like in Japan for this gaijin family? Small things take longer. For example we tend to spend more time figuring out what food to cook – since the English is sometimes incorrect. (For example I foolishly purchased “Chedder Cheese“ slices only to find Kraft American cheese when I opened the package.) Purchasing detergent for the dishwasher was also interesting as we almost got pipe cleaner. Since we do not have anything other than our hands and backs for carrying more trips are made to the grocery store than would occur in the U.S. In addition, the prepared food is better, and cheaper than what we would find in the U.S. so that we often purchase a prepared salad instead of the ingredients. Finally, I have no idea what many of the items are in the grocery or how they would be cooked. I am trying to find a cooking class which would help me with this but so far I have had no luck. Perhaps a good cookbook would be better.
Everyday as I walk down the street in front of our temporary home I am struck by the differences. There is no grass anywhere – only concrete from the street to the buildings. Occasionally you see a window box – sometimes with greenery in it. Much of the architecture is just plain ugly and no attempt seems to have been made to improve the looks of anything. However, once you get off the major street and onto a side alley the view changes and you will find bushes and trees and here and there a fabulous building that would be in an architecture magazine at home. This is also where you find the neighborhood parks. This is the true Japan that most tourists do not see.
If you look in the shop windows you will usually see a very artistic showing of whatever is being sold and the variety is overwhelming. Today I found a store that only sells stuffed bears. Trying to find a specific item becomes near impossible even if you do speak Japanese as many of the shops do not advertise. It is difficult to understand how these various shops stay in business since the rent must be very high and many shops are closed irregularly and have otherwise limited hours. Rare is the shop that opens before 11am. I have been told the best way to find something is to ask everyone you know until someone says yes and is able to draw a map of how to find the correct store. Many of the shops are not on what we might consider the main street but on an alley and sometimes the best places for food are not where you might expect.
Finding places is quite difficult. Even if you know the exact address you can still be clueless. Rare is the street that is marked with a name. Also rare is a map that tells you anything but the main streets and, as an interesting twist, north may be at the bottom or the left of a map – there is no consensus – and it will not be marked. Once you find the correct neighborhood you then have to look at each block to see if you are going in the correct direction as the house are not ordered consecutively but according to age. Thus you need to find the correct block number and then figure out the location. At the more heavily used subway stops the exits are numbered and there are usually several maps, although the place you are looking for may only occur on a later map if it is not thought to be significant. Yes, I get turned around quite often although I rarely am unable to eventually find what I need. Luckily I have been able to use baby Japanese to get directions. The entire process is rather frustrating and it is necessary to build in at least 5 to 10 minutes every time I travel to a new area.
Another striking difference is how much effort is made to keep things clean. We have seen people scrubbing the tile floors of the subway, the handrails of the escalators and steam cleaning the garage floor of a parking structure down the street. Things still get dirty but the city is much cleaner than most and many more people are employed.
Speaking of this the other thing that is very obvious is the over-employment that we see all around us. I rarely see one person doing as much work as we would expect. Instead we see several. The other day we saw an escalator being worked on at a subway station, no fewer than 5 people were deployed to take care of a 2-person job. One person was working and the others were sitting and watching. We spoke to a friend about this and she said that Japan is really a very socialist country but it works and most folks seem to approve. Personal job performance is not important, it is what the company does that counts.
At most counters there are 2 people teamed up to help. For example at each check out station there are two people just to ring up the groceries. One person moves your items from your small basket into an empty basket announcing the price of each item. The other person collects your money at the end of the transaction. At the end of this process I am handed several plastic bags. I then go to a packing station and put everything in the bags.
The effort that is made to have the car fit into the small spaces that are available are truly impressive. On our street there are 3 ways on one block to park a car. To the side of our building is an entrance with a chain that automatically drops to the ground when the sensor of a car that normally parks there is read. Then the car moves onto a lazy susan type of car lift. This then spins the car and places it onto a conveyor belt and this puts it right next to another parked car – on one of 3 levels.
The next garage down uses a sensor to automatically lower metal posts into the ground that are set up at 3 foot increments to prevent non-payers from parking.
The third garage appears to be open but since there are only 2 openings there is little chance that someone will try to park without paying.
Right now I am trying to put together everything we will need in our new apartment. This means that I need to make trips to many different stores to get items such as plastic wrap, drinking glasses, cleaning supplies, etc. We are trying to get some items used but even that is proving to be a several step process. So why are there no Target like stores in the city? Part of the problem is that shoppers have to carry home all their purchases so that big stores would not sell more. (Delivery is an option at some places but there is usually a fee – this is not a discount store sort of option.) The other problem is trying to put together many small land purchases to build one large store is next to impossible. We have seen several cases of a building obviously built around an older structure whose owner refused to sell.
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