Friday, September 27, 2013

Hold up at the check out.


When I was in line at the supermarket checkout recently, I realized one guy in front of me was trying to pay with a can full of silver coins. 
He opened the tin and turned it upside down on the counter.
The young cashier's face changed colour.

The he and the cashier started to count a mind-bogglingly huge amount of silver coins by piling them up into stacks of ten.
Everyone in the queue behind me soon moved away to find another checkout. I wanted to as well, but I had already put all my groceries on the conveyor, and there was too much to move.

I decided to help them, so the three of us counted coins together.
I still remember the total of his bill - $65.50! All paid with silver coins!

When we finally finished counting, the man said to me with a wink, “You should not pay with coins anymore.”
He walked away quickly.

The young lady and I just looked at each other in bewilderment, then both laughed out loud. 

Monday, September 23, 2013

Hot towels

 



I always make a cup of Japanese green tea for visitng guests at work.
It does not matter if they are Japanese or not. It also doesn't matter whether they like Japanese green tea or not. To make my Japanese boss happy, I do this.

I guess it has not been popular to serve some tea to guests at work anymore in Japan.

As well as green tea, I also serve wet towels to high titled guests from H.Q.
First I roll them up ( the towels, not the guests) and put them into the microwave for a few minutes to make them warm for the VIP's.

One day I made a small mistake.
I left the towels in the microwave for too long. They were much too hot, and the important guests were throwing them from one hand to the other, to try to cool them down.
After a while, they wiped their foreheads and backs of their necks as well with the hot towel.
They looked to be very refreshed and nobody made a complaint. (phew!)

Sometimes I feel like I am working somewhere in Japan in 60’s.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Sex Party Misunderstanding

 


A funny thing happened the other day. Because of the recent election, people were handing out political pamphlets promoting their candidates at the local train station.
First I say someone for the liberal party and then there was a young woman handing out flyers for the Sex party!
They are campaigning for legalised marijuana, gay marriage, better sex education, etc.
One older gentleman was talking to her. He must have misunderstood her message and asked.
'So, how often do you have these sex parties?'
I couldn't help myself. I laughed at loud. 

The poor girl.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Vegan sermon




There are quite a few vegetarians and organic food lovers in my surroundings, but they seem to be either very skinny or obese.
One of them is a strict vegan who goes to Yoga lessons enthusiastically, but he always seems to be sick. He has been struggling with chronic migraines, sleeping disorders, skin problems, food allergies, etc. He has to take various supplement tablets and prescription medicines.
I can't help wondering if this is a good lifestyle choice for him.

Another vegetarian always looks pale with extremely fat.
When I sat down on the same table with him at a business function, she did not stop giving lectures about being a vegetarian to all of us. She says he does it for her health, and yet she is also a heavy smoker! I don't understand this at all. She went on and on about the benefits of a vegetarian diet and how healthy it is, and how bad it is to eat meat, but they don't seem to be healthy specimens at all.
I don't really think they are good ambassadors for this lifestyle.
I respect people's choice of diet and their individual beliefs, but please don't try to force them on me!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Origami

 



Some time ago I volunteered as an Origami instructor at a cultural event in Melbourne.
I showed the children some of the easiest Origami; tulip, fox, elephant, etc.
For the adults, I encouraged them to take more of a challenge by teaching the to an Origami crane, which is the most popular internationally.

Japanese people learn origami from a young age, so we are know how precise the folds have to be, but most of the people I taught that day, had a quite a bit of trouble folding the papers into a neat  triangle or square by matching the corners accurately.

It is very important to get these basic steps right or we can't achieve our desired result. 

Which reminds me, I quite often see shop assistants, who cannot staple dockets, tax invoices and credit card receipts properly in Australia. They just clump them together without worrying if they are straight or not. I guess it's not important to them, but we must do these things in Japan.
Sometimes I am also disappointed by the gift wrapping service offered to me. Excellent presentation and attention to detail are critical in Japan. The customer is king there, and expects a high level of service. Maybe my expectations are too high. Things are much more relaxed here in Australia. 

Ladies First

 


An Australian gentleman in a suit, three Japanese female tourists and I were all waiting for an elevator.
The middle aged ladies all seemed to be very cheerful and I overheard them say how much they were enjoying their stay in Melbourne. 
When the elevator finally arrived at our floor, the gentleman invited the ladies to go first, saying 
“after you.”
I thanked him and stepped into the elevator, but the other ladies hesitated to enter. 
You see, we don't have a 'ladies first' policy in Japan.
The ladies also said “after you” in Japanese to the western gentleman again and again.
The western gentleman also repeated “after you” by conveying his messages with gestures to the ladies.
The lift door started to close, so I held my hand between doors and pushed the 'open door' button quickly.
After all three ladies came in and the gentleman then hurried in.
Everyone was smiling at each other in the lift.
Japanese people have a reputation for being polite, but I also think there are many polite customs in Australia.