Category: Travel
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…
Travelling on the Chuo line
If I seem a little hostile when it comes to the topic of commuting by train in Tokyo, I have my reasons. I have been delayed. I have been crushed. I have been elbowed in the ribs and have had my feet trampled. I have been forced to stare directly at coffee ads for up…
Ass on fire
Have you ever experienced the phenomenon called “ass on fire”? This condition occurs during winter in Japan. All JR trains are equipped with heating system (JR motto: “A warm bottom is a happy bottom”) which release warm air under your seat. These powerful heating systems have two temperature settings: “off” and “ass on fire”. I…
The vomit
You who have been in Japan before know what I am talking about, travelling JR in the evening. Well, I have had the experience of a lifetime this evening.Today was the End of the OBC’s dinner. We all went to dinner in a nice restaurant near the office. I left like everybody else around 9pm.…