奇妙な (Kimyōna)

奇妙な (Kimyōna) is as close as I can come to 'weird' in Japanese.

Here are a few more of the things I have noticed in my first few days here, some weird, some cool, some just 'things':

Both Victoria and my mother in law have a thing about facing the 'wrong way' when travelling. Forwards or nothing for them. Backwards motion leads to nausea! Well, here in Japan they'd be fine on trains. As the first train from the airport towards the Sinkansen connection pulled in I thought "Hello, that's odd; all the seats face the same way. When we pull out, we'll all be facing backwards. Vic would hate that!" I put the thought to one side and watched as a team of cleaners descended and tidied the train. When I looked back up from my kindle, lo and behold, all the seats were the right way round! They all seem to be on little foot-operated turntables, so everyone can face the direction of travel, or if they are so inclined, go backwards and be sociable with the row behind. Neat! One of the first things that made me think we should do likewise in the West!

When this first train appeared I tried to embark but was shooed off by the team of cleaners. When they had finished I was positively welcomed aboard by a lady who seemed to take immense pride in a simple job well done. Nice work, and nice work-ethic, team clean!

The trolley lady passed and I fancied a drink to go with the sandwich my lovely wife had made that I had saved for lunch. I asked what a typical Japanese drink would be and she recommended either hot or cold green tea. Pushing the boat out, I opted for the cold for ¥150, hoping I wasn't being ripped off (Turned out to be CHF2 or about £1.40). Over in Switzerland I've rather taken to the iced-tea and fancied that such a sweet and caffeinated beverage would be just the ticket. How wrong I was; this beverage was nothing like the liptonice I have become partial to, it was just cold green tea. I pushed on, not one to waste a drink, and eventually came to quite enjoy it, but I have decided that I definitely prefer my tea hot, as a rule. I had another cup today, hot, and it was entirely pleasant.

Passed my first Pagoda. Wow! What an elegant and surprisingly earthquake-proof building! 

EVERYONE has been super helpful and seems genuinely delighted with my frequent "'Arigato's (thank you). There is much gracious head bobbing and a real sense of politeness everywhere, something we could perhaps use a little more of. Heather, my hostess, tells me a story of two gaijin chatting in a Japanese bar. One here for 20 months, one for 20 years. The first gets lots of attention and is welcomed everywhere, the second, despite fluent Japanese, feels excluded. I have yet to see the latter position ( suspect a 3 week visit will not be long enough!) but have seen plenty of the former. Everyone was amused and delighted at my first Japanese lesson on Tuesday night at my inability to sit on the floor for long and my not knowing proper toilet-slipper etiquette. It seems they like their foreigners foreign!

Slippers: there are rules people! 

1. NEVER wear outside shoes inside!
2. Shoes off IMMEDIATELY inside door, while on bare floor
3. Socks do not touch floor
4. Step into slippers on inside flooring (wood or carpet)
5. Place shoes on bare floor, next to each other and ready to be stepped into, facing door
6. Failure to follow (4) leads to hostess doing for one
7. Eventuality of (5) leads to shame, dishonour, castigation or ritual suicide depending on, I suspect, value and filthiness of shoes
8. These slippers will be provided by hosts
9. DO NOT WEAR THESE SLIPPERS INTO THE TOILET!!
10. There are extra slippers provided in the toilet, use these for duration of visit
11. Leave your house slippers outside the toilet
12. When finished toileting, leave toilet slippers just inside door facing the right way for next visitor

Some of these rules might be useful, it certainly keeps a house clean! Perhaps Vic and I should invest in a whole box of guest slippers?

Anyway, enough for today, these sermons won't write themselves. 

Sayonara

Rob