(no subject)
Hello! Thought I'd finally make my introductory post, though I've been lurking here for a while. I'm currently an English teacher working for one of the big corporate Eikaiwas in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan, and I've been here about eight and a half months. I'm having a great overall experience and I am hoping to stay a second year, but I ranted about a few annoying things in my personal journal, which I've x-posted here!
eta2: Just to make this a little clearer- Me on a bad day, but I also love many things and plan to follow up with these as well. Still get a little of that culture shock now and then, but I'd much rather be here than my home country!
** Shopping. Japanese people are entirely too obsessed with plastic bags. Plastic bags are used for every single little thing! But when you get to the supermarket, and want your food bagged up, and don't have a car to walk it easily back to, things get crazy. I have only met one grocery clerk in the past eight months who seems to have any knowledge of bagging groceries, especially with long distance travel in mind. Or who has actually bagged groceries to begin with. Always, without fail, I am given one plastic bag less than what I actually need! So irritating! (A background note on that: When you get groceries in Japan, the clerk transfers your food to a second, lighter basket, throws a couple variously sized plastic bags on top of your items, and points you to the direction of the self-bagging counter.)
** Though I have tasted some wonderfully delicious hand-prepared Japanese food at special restaurants and ryokans/minshukus, I think the Japanese lifestyle has fast-forwarded to the point where hand preparation is starting to become a thing of the past. The average salaryman returns home around ten or eleven after unpaid overtime and a long commute, expects his submissive housewife to have dinner ready and tomorrow's lunchbox made. I don't think anybody at home makes food from scratch anymore. At the supermarket I am always confronted by loads of mixes, instant ramen, powders, the like, but when I search for ingredients to make a meal from scratch- such as boned chicken for chicken stock - I am continually disappointed. Everything's neatly packaged and easily prepared; all the preparation work is done in factories to make the actual cooking hyper convenient for the average Tomoko.
** I hate it when people stare at me. Sometimes they're so open about it that I feel as if I've got something on my face. Then I realize that it is my face. I either get avoidance, open fascination, or the novelty chat. Most of the time I can get used to it, but at times it gets really annoying. One time when I was having a bad morning I was rushing through the mall after Starbucks to get to work and I think every person stopped and stared.
** The people who just want to practice their English on me but aren't really interested in *me*. Because oh, look, I'm white, I must be American, "Hello! California?! Hello! Hello!" Every time I am in the international association I get asked immediately, "Where are you from??" Once I was waiting for my Japanese teacher, reading a newspaper, and this guy went up to me and asked, "Where are you from?" I mumbled "America" and went back to my newspaper, but he got all excited and produced every question he knew. "Which part?" "What are your hobbies?" "When did you come to Japan?" "How long will you be in Japan?" "Do you like Japan?" Each time I answered with a mumbled shortened answer and occupied myself with my newspaper, but he charged on ahead. Finally he got the hint. I was rude and he was just being friendly, but I wasn't really in the mood. In retail customer service is supposed to be "Have a smile on your face no matter what mood you're in!" Should it really be that way when you're a foreigner as well?
Whenever I am in a bad mood people always want to chat with me, but when I am feeling friendly I always get the rude people. I was in a bad mood the other day because I had to get up at 7 am to go to a 10 am shift at a far-away school. At the bus stop I was looking at the bus schedules, clearly staring at Sunday, and this woman said something to me in Japanese. When I know what I am doing it makes me feel like I have some control over the situation, so I didn't want any help for something that I could actually do on my own. I said it's ok. She said something else and then she said something about speaking English in English, in a kana-less accent. I didn't really want to talk because I'm not a morning person, so I said something and moved away. I got some takeout coffee at Mister Donut and she was waiting in front of the shop for me. "Are you English?" She said in flawless English. I said no and walked on. "Nihonjin?" Japanese. That was pretty rude of me too. But she seemed like the type who just wanted the novelty chat- "Oh goody, you speak English!"
** It's so annoying that whenever you appear to be in even a bit of a jam, Japanese people will trip all over themselves to try to help you out. Even when it's something stupid like trying to fit your groceries into your bicycle basket or having trouble at the ATM. On my way to Hakata to dance I was frustrated because my card wouldn't work at the formerly twenty four hour ATM at seven eleven. This creepy looking guy stood behind me and watched me, practically breathed down my neck, then tried to say something about the time in Japanese. I gave up on the stupid ATM and went outside to my bicycle. He followed me to the parking lot and kept talking in Japanese at me for at least two or three minutes before I rode off. If you can't speak a lick of English then your help will be unfortunately useless!
** People who refuse to understand my Americanized accent when I say English words that have been borrowed into the Japanese language- such as fried potato. Then I hear them saying these achingly English sounding words with a kana accent and they go on and on about not being able to understand English. Grrr.
** People who look young and don't understand a word of English, like that girl at the post office who looked befuddled at the word "Hello". They were all required to study English as a second language in high school! I am aware that conversational English is not taught and there is instead a boring focus on grammar and reading, but can't you at least remember the vitals? It might come in handy some day!
** Old ladies. Sometimes they're friendly, but most of the time they are rude. Once going home I got on a wrong bus because this old lady shoved past me when I was clearly standing first in line to get into the bus. They're always rushing and shoving trying to get there before the westerner. And saying bad things to each other about the westerner in loud voices.
** Fruit, vegetables, and cheese are way too expensive. Cantalopes are a novelty item, and thus are in the specialty gifts section of the supermarket and racked up to the grand total of at times thirty dollars apiece, as much as one hundred dollars!
eta2: Just to make this a little clearer- Me on a bad day, but I also love many things and plan to follow up with these as well. Still get a little of that culture shock now and then, but I'd much rather be here than my home country!
** Shopping. Japanese people are entirely too obsessed with plastic bags. Plastic bags are used for every single little thing! But when you get to the supermarket, and want your food bagged up, and don't have a car to walk it easily back to, things get crazy. I have only met one grocery clerk in the past eight months who seems to have any knowledge of bagging groceries, especially with long distance travel in mind. Or who has actually bagged groceries to begin with. Always, without fail, I am given one plastic bag less than what I actually need! So irritating! (A background note on that: When you get groceries in Japan, the clerk transfers your food to a second, lighter basket, throws a couple variously sized plastic bags on top of your items, and points you to the direction of the self-bagging counter.)
** Though I have tasted some wonderfully delicious hand-prepared Japanese food at special restaurants and ryokans/minshukus, I think the Japanese lifestyle has fast-forwarded to the point where hand preparation is starting to become a thing of the past. The average salaryman returns home around ten or eleven after unpaid overtime and a long commute, expects his submissive housewife to have dinner ready and tomorrow's lunchbox made. I don't think anybody at home makes food from scratch anymore. At the supermarket I am always confronted by loads of mixes, instant ramen, powders, the like, but when I search for ingredients to make a meal from scratch- such as boned chicken for chicken stock - I am continually disappointed. Everything's neatly packaged and easily prepared; all the preparation work is done in factories to make the actual cooking hyper convenient for the average Tomoko.
** I hate it when people stare at me. Sometimes they're so open about it that I feel as if I've got something on my face. Then I realize that it is my face. I either get avoidance, open fascination, or the novelty chat. Most of the time I can get used to it, but at times it gets really annoying. One time when I was having a bad morning I was rushing through the mall after Starbucks to get to work and I think every person stopped and stared.
** The people who just want to practice their English on me but aren't really interested in *me*. Because oh, look, I'm white, I must be American, "Hello! California?! Hello! Hello!" Every time I am in the international association I get asked immediately, "Where are you from??" Once I was waiting for my Japanese teacher, reading a newspaper, and this guy went up to me and asked, "Where are you from?" I mumbled "America" and went back to my newspaper, but he got all excited and produced every question he knew. "Which part?" "What are your hobbies?" "When did you come to Japan?" "How long will you be in Japan?" "Do you like Japan?" Each time I answered with a mumbled shortened answer and occupied myself with my newspaper, but he charged on ahead. Finally he got the hint. I was rude and he was just being friendly, but I wasn't really in the mood. In retail customer service is supposed to be "Have a smile on your face no matter what mood you're in!" Should it really be that way when you're a foreigner as well?
Whenever I am in a bad mood people always want to chat with me, but when I am feeling friendly I always get the rude people. I was in a bad mood the other day because I had to get up at 7 am to go to a 10 am shift at a far-away school. At the bus stop I was looking at the bus schedules, clearly staring at Sunday, and this woman said something to me in Japanese. When I know what I am doing it makes me feel like I have some control over the situation, so I didn't want any help for something that I could actually do on my own. I said it's ok. She said something else and then she said something about speaking English in English, in a kana-less accent. I didn't really want to talk because I'm not a morning person, so I said something and moved away. I got some takeout coffee at Mister Donut and she was waiting in front of the shop for me. "Are you English?" She said in flawless English. I said no and walked on. "Nihonjin?" Japanese. That was pretty rude of me too. But she seemed like the type who just wanted the novelty chat- "Oh goody, you speak English!"
** It's so annoying that whenever you appear to be in even a bit of a jam, Japanese people will trip all over themselves to try to help you out. Even when it's something stupid like trying to fit your groceries into your bicycle basket or having trouble at the ATM. On my way to Hakata to dance I was frustrated because my card wouldn't work at the formerly twenty four hour ATM at seven eleven. This creepy looking guy stood behind me and watched me, practically breathed down my neck, then tried to say something about the time in Japanese. I gave up on the stupid ATM and went outside to my bicycle. He followed me to the parking lot and kept talking in Japanese at me for at least two or three minutes before I rode off. If you can't speak a lick of English then your help will be unfortunately useless!
** People who refuse to understand my Americanized accent when I say English words that have been borrowed into the Japanese language- such as fried potato. Then I hear them saying these achingly English sounding words with a kana accent and they go on and on about not being able to understand English. Grrr.
** People who look young and don't understand a word of English, like that girl at the post office who looked befuddled at the word "Hello". They were all required to study English as a second language in high school! I am aware that conversational English is not taught and there is instead a boring focus on grammar and reading, but can't you at least remember the vitals? It might come in handy some day!
** Old ladies. Sometimes they're friendly, but most of the time they are rude. Once going home I got on a wrong bus because this old lady shoved past me when I was clearly standing first in line to get into the bus. They're always rushing and shoving trying to get there before the westerner. And saying bad things to each other about the westerner in loud voices.
** Fruit, vegetables, and cheese are way too expensive. Cantalopes are a novelty item, and thus are in the specialty gifts section of the supermarket and racked up to the grand total of at times thirty dollars apiece, as much as one hundred dollars!