Category: Japan
Queen in Japanese
Freddie Mercury eat your heart out…..The exam
Like 15,000 other victims I took the mismanaged and poorly organised Japanese Proficiency Test last December but this is not only a test of Japanese Language but also a test of patience. I’ve no gripe with the test itself. It’s that the breaks are too long, it’s once a year, the results take too long, […]The rubbish problem
Have you noticed when you come to Japan that everything you buy in the shop is packed for you nicely? Even chewing gums in a packet are individually wrapped!But this mountain of packaging material needs to be disposed off. Everything is therefore recycled.In Europe we are at the infancy of recycling, here in Japan all […]Japlish
I have a language problem, not because I find it difficult to get on with the Japanese language but to do with English.Please don’t misunderstand me. I appreciate all the efforts our Japanese hosts have made to help us around this country, from bilingual train and road signs to plummy announcements on the underground.My problem […]The invisible Gaijin
Nothing seems to phase us, Gaijins, as we skillfully skip past that seventh pool of vomit; not that mass of people racing towards us like world-class athletes nor the high-pitched ringing of that bicycle trying to weave its way through the crowd. No, today we are invincible, we are Gaijin gods strolling through Tokyo.Invincible, that […]The sneeze
I am not easily startled out of my commuting reverie: the laughing school kids, squeaking shoes, mobile phones melodies and dozing salarymen on my shoulder do nothing but instill in me a sense of the familiar and safe.That was until recently, hay fever season! I have become haunted by an unsettling sound: The Sneezing Salaryman.The […]Roppongi
I have been in Japan for over six months now, and in my sunnier moments I like to think that I’ve integrated into the culture. I can converse somewhat in Pidgin Japanese. I know that Ichiro Suzuki now plays baseball for the Seattle Mariners. And most of all, I know what I don’t know about […]Chit Chat
When on Monday morning I normally ask my colleagues what did you do for the weekend I always feel I am making a cultural faux pas: chatting to my colleagues during company time. Having been in Japan just six months I am still a novice to the Japanese culture.The Japanese perception of idleness fascinates me. […]Banking in Japan
No wonder there’s a banking crisis. Step inside the branch of a Japanese bank and time stops. Staffed with teeming legions behind all manner of countertops and desks, the placid soul who comes in for a simple transaction is still required to take a number, sit and wait to be summoned, sit and explain their […]The missing rubbish bin
Have you noticed when you walk around Tokyo that it is almost impossible to find a rubbish bin? I have now learned to take my rubbish home.I’d like to know where the Japanese hide their rubbish bins? Is the sight of it so aesthetically offensive to the Japanese that setting it out visibly for its […]