Lioness in Japan

What I now accept in daily life was not quite what I was used to in the past — ’tis part and parcel of being an expat.

For example, to answer “Yes”, “Agree”, or “True” on Japanese related grammar workbooks, you have to put a circle, not a tick, in the box. You don’t circle anything, so you just pen a round line in the space provided. It took me awhile not to use ticks, to be honest.

It’s also called maru that means around or round or circle in Japanese.

“No”, “False” and “Disagree” are still a cross X.

But if you make an “X” with your fingers, you are calling for the bill in a restaurant in Japan.

Photo credit: here

I don’t always get funny queries when I pass through customs at a Japanese airport, in fact, I rarely do. But this time, I flew in from Singapore to Nagoya, and had a handful of puzzling questions from a very curious man in uniform.

Let me recount our convo here…

”Where are you from?” – Singapore.

”But you are Chinese…?” – so I told him my grandparents were from China who moved to Singapore, so my parents are Singaporean, and hence I’m Singaporean.

”You live in Tokyo, but why did you fly to Nagoya?” – that’s fair enough because most people commute through Narita Airport. I told him I couldn’t get an air ticket out of Narita.

”Why did you spend only one day in Malaysia? What did you do there?” – hmm, I guess it would look odd to someone who doesn’t live in Singapore or Malaysia. I answered, “Shopping.” And he raised his eyebrows — I suppose very few people outside of southeast Asia would consider Malaysia as a prime shopping destination. I was amazed that he picked that one out but he did flip through my passport very thoroughly.

”Why do you have so many clothes?” – I wanted to laugh in my red eye stupor! I was thinking, “It’s none of your business?!” as he ruffled through my entire suitcase, looked into my dirty laundry bags, and unashamedly flipped my bras about, while feeling the walls of my suitcase. I told him I took a month-long holiday back to Asia — in truth, it was a five-week one.

“Why don’t you have any omiyage?” — Because I’m a selfish b*tch?!

I suppose I looked like a possible drug mule in my disheveled, unwashed state. Or maybe he just wanted to practice his English — I must say he had a good command of the language.

“Will you marry me?” is not quite the phrase uttered when a Japanese man asks his lady for her hand in marriage.

My sensei asked me how Singaporeans said it. I laughed and replied, “Shall we get an HDB flat together?” If you’re not Singaporean, the cultural nuances might be a bit lost on you. Most people in Singapore buy a government flat when they get married because the schemes favour married folks (they give a sizeable grant for first-time married homeowners).

What do Japanese whisper to their loved ones when it’s time to cross that all-important threshold? This is what my sensei said…

パンスを洗ってください　Please wash my underwear.

毎日、みそ汁を飲みたい　I would like to drink miso soup everyday.

Photo credit: here

He looks like an average salaryman on the train platform. But then…

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You read that right. A “love” shrine north of Asakusa in Tokyo holds praying-speed-dating events for those seeking a mate, also called konkatsu (matchmaking) in Japanese.

Going onto the Internet and signing up with a discreet dating agency are pretty normal in huge cities where love is truly hard to find. But shrines are a new one to me…Read all about it here.

If you’re interested in other love shrines, here is another article on one near Mount Fuji that is more for meeting a suitable partner and improving existing marriages.

Photo credit: here

There’s actually under-the-table “tipping” in Japanese hospitals. How do I know this? I got the inside scoop from a student of mine. We were doing a fairly easy chapter on restaurant lingo and we were discussing Japan’s tipping culture.

“So no tipping in Japan at all?” I pretended not to know.

“Yes, except in hospitals!”

“What?!” I gasped in surprise. Hey, I thought I knew this town.

“My mother paid 10,000JPY to her doctor when she was in hospital recently.”

Why? Apparently, patients hope to get “better” treatment from busy, harried doctors. Do nurses get “tips”, too? Sometimes, but doctors are the ones you should be gunning for.

“If you press the emergency button when you feel sick in the hospital, the doctor might go to the one who gave him the tip first.”

Good advice if I ever get shipped off to a hospital here.

Photo: mmmfruit

From 8 to 10pm on weekends, the lights of Tokyo Tower come alive. You can see different light patterns here and here.

I was having dinner at Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Tower was just doing her thing. It makes the cityscape so vibrant. Yum.

In this sprawling metropolis, you are constantly awed by the towering concrete jungle that dominates the city skyline.

But what’s really sweet about Tokyo is you can sometimes stumble upon a tiny temple or a pretty corner in the middle of it all.

I live in a huge CBD-like area, so it’s quite incongruous to find this itsy-bitsy temple tucked away in the midst of all the tall, grey buildings.

From the temple and up a small slight of stairs, I noticed a gorgeous sakura tree shedding its petals in the light breeze.

Ii naaaaa (So good)…

Found this along Aoyama-dori in Omotesando:

It was too cute so I had to take a picture. You can’t see it in the photo but the balloon bobbed like it was bowing and seemed to be saying,”Sumimasen (excuse me)” especially since its eyes were cast down.

Usually, I see cardboard cut-outs in the shape of a friendly construction worker complete with a moving arm. Bizarre, right? If you don’t look carefully, you might think he’s human…

I always have an inward chuckle whenever I spot these mechanized cut-outs at roadwork sites — I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this elsewhere.

What a treat: I have not one but two Tokyo Nuggets in the space of a week…

On a very crazy windy Friday night last week, the weather was like this:

There was no rain but there were times I had to stop in my tracks to fight against the fierce gusts along Aoyama-dori.

I was on my way to the post office and one of my parcels got blown away by a sudden, angry whip. Some of my boxes scattered onto the road and I quickly plucked them back, but that lone one got away and it was not anywhere I could see.

I was upset and had to write it off as a loss but do you know that an old Japanese guy found it? He rang me the next morning to tell me he had it and would drop it off at the post office for me. I was so relieved and couldn’t thank him enough.

I wouldn’t say this is a terribly unique story as the honesty and civility of the Japanese are their famous traits. They say, you never really lose your wallet in Japan. But this is my first time losing something and getting it back — all in one piece, so I totally basked in it.

Photo: Akumach