Valentine's day is more hyped up in Japan then it is in the states. There are more ads on TV, more chocolates and sweets for sale in the stores, and many gifts being passed out at the office. The most striking feature, as least for me, is that these love gifts are only passed from women to men. The men don't even have to buy anything for the women. Well, it's not as crazy as you may think. The women have their day next month, when the tide switches and men give solely to women. It must be great for the retailers.
This is just one of MANY new things I've encountered upon arrival in Japan, February 4, 1994. After an exhausting plane trip from Boston, JFK, Anchorage Alaska, Seoul Korea, then finally Narita airport (the cheapo student route). I now was ready to experience my new life. This new life was made possible, as your favorite TV program might say, from the collaborative efforts of the University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon University, and NTT Data Communications Systems, Japan's largest software firm where my internship were to take place. NTT Data is one of the spin-off companies that formed from the breakup of NTT several years ago. While NTT remains monopolistic in nature, NTT Data has many competitors within the software industry. As far as I can tell at this point in time, the group of software engineers that I work with mainly localize software imported from the states, for sale in Japan's market.
As I had mentioned in my pre-departure note, I'd like to express my experiences here in Japan, from the context of a New England raised, Northeastern Graduate, route 128 techie. While I'm still toying with the format, I'd like to send out weekly messages that describe my time-line experiences, as I try to adjust to life in Japan as a Yokohama resident, Tokyo techie, American gaijin.
But before I enter my time-line story, I must mention the strangest thing that has happen to me so far. Last Friday night, I went to visit my wife and her roommate down at Yokohama station. We decided, at the spur of the moment, to eat McDonnald's food. Well, ok, so as I perused through the menu, Theresa (my wife) and I decided to splurge and order a Big Mac, fries, and coke(but we were going to split it). All for the special value of 720 (~$7). Well, that's not even the bad part. As I started to walk over to the table where Theresa and Sue were sitting, a group of 6 Japanese people decided that a dirty blond hair'ed foreigner, carrying a Big Mac and Fries, was worthy of having his picture taken. FLASH, before I realized it, I would now be forever immortalized in some picture album, as the American that bought a big MAC in Japan. Strange...
I truly believe that some anthropological study should be done on the life stories of expatriates living in the states, and their return to their home country. The first person that I had met was an ex-South Vietnamese soldier. He was returning to Vietnam to visit his ailing mother. As was talked, he mentioned that at the time he left Vietnam, he would never return. But, 11 years later, he could no longer bare not seeing his mother.
The next ex-patriot ran across, was a Chinese woman from New York that had graduated from Beijing University in 1989. She was in Tianamin Square during those turbulent times. Her main impetus for returning home was to visit her family in GuangDong for the Chinese New Year.
Then finally, I met a Pakistani women who was visiting friends in Japan. While she was not an expatriate, it was nice to take up those last couple of hours taking with someone that had such a diverse background.
Once we reached downtown Yokohama from the airport (~1 1/2 hr ride), we entered some type of terminal/station that was called YCAT(about a 10 minute walk to Yokohama station). We were both starving, so we decided to have lunch. As which point, another stereotype was broken, Umeki-san, the trombone player, told me that he rarely drinks. (And here I was, bracing myself for the inevitable lunch time beer). Well, we enjoyed lunch with some nice green tea.
After lunch, Shinji Umeki asked if I felt up to visiting the office that night after we dropped off my suitcases at the dorm where I'd living at for the next several months. Well, as I thought to myself, I was pretty exhausted after the 25 1/2 hour multiple stopover flight, but if I could stay up until late that night, I'd be able to adjust better to the time differences. So off we went. After dropping off the suitcases at my tiny one room dorm(bed, desk, closet), we started the 1 1/ hour commute to the office. A route that was to become very familiar.
The office is situated on a river between Kawasaki and Tokyo-to (I think). I believe the NTT Data building is leased from Toshiba, one of the many Japanese companies that have their manufacturing plants based in Kawasaki. The work environment didn't break any of my stereotypes. My desk is located in a wide open area, with engineers sitting to the left, right, front and behind. Luckily, they have a special room for smokers, therefore adding a couple of months to the end of my life. My supervisor, Suzuki-san, sits perpendicular to the row of desks of the engineers he manages.
After exchanging introductions with most of my group, we all decided to head out for dinner. The beer that I had anticipated finally came, along with many dishes of food whose names and tastes have long been forgotten because of my jet-lagged state of mind. The only thing that I mostly remember, was how heavy my eyelids were (I ended up getting 2 hours of sleep on the plane). Somehow, I finally made it home to the dorm, and was able to buy a phone card so that I could call my wife to let her know I was alive, but very tired. The bed looked so good, I didn't bother to unpack. PLOP.
As I stepped into the steam laden room, I realized that my dorm contained the traditional Japanese shower (stool, plastic bucket, faucet, hand held shower thingie...memories of Mr. Baseball). Luckily, there was also an American-style, stand-up shower. Well, they did say it was a modern building. I tried to put aside my comfortable Western ideals, and gave the traditional Japanese shower a try. One things for sure, it's a lot easier cleaning one's foot while sitting.
My supervisor (Suzuki-san), and my next door neighbor (Tanaka- san), sometime last night, agreed to take me along to a department store at 10am, so that I could purchase some of my own futon's for my bed.(The ones I used last night were on loan.) While in the states, NTT Data had inquired about renting these items, but I declined since Theresa and I might find them useful some time in the future. Since I had some time to kill before my Supervisor arrived, I decided to check out the neighborhood:
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Key: 1 - Home Eda (my dorm)
2 - Toyota Car Dealership
3 - Convenient Store
4 - 24 hour 7-11
5 - Liquor Store
6 - Movie Rental Store
7 - 24 hour Convenient Store
8 - Liquor Store
9 - Suburu car dealership
At the 7-11, I bought 4 hangers, a small face towel, a box of tissues, and a small hairbrush, all for 1500 yen, or around $14.
In the neighborhood, there are several apartment complexes, restaurants, and other types of small businesses, but they were small in scale. As for Home Eda, it has 4 floors, 3 of which house company employees. The first floor contains a common area with a TV, storage section, and a separate section that houses the couple that takes care of the dorm. These people, Kuroteki-san and his wife, both cook and basically keep the place running smoothly. Located on the second floor, is the bath and the cafeteria. Floors 2,3, and 4 all contain common bathrooms, and a washer and dryer. Additionally, the dorm provides both telephone and TV hookups in each room. Basically, everything a salary man could need.
Well, my supervisor finally arrived, sharply at 10am. He presented gifts to both Kuroteki-san, and to the manager of the building Ootuka-san, mainly for the trouble they went through in getting me established within the dorm. Then, Tanaka-san, Suzuki-san, the building manager, and myself, sat down for about 10 minutes just to chit-chat. It seemed very ritualistic.
The three of us, Tanaka-san, Suzuki-san, and myself then departed in Tanaka-san's car for a department store that sold futon's. The parking garage was of a slight surprise. Instead of driving around within the garage, an elevator lifted the car up to the roof, where several cars had already parked.
After looking for the cheapest futon I could find, I decided on only a bottom futon, sheets, and a pillow. Total cost: 8500 yen (~$79). I'd use a thick sweatshirt, and a nice blanket that I stuffed in my suitcase for the top.(and save about $50) By the way, the futon's were on sale.
After my supervisors gift giving, futon shopping, and everything else he had done on my behalf, I started to feel obligated. In retrospect, I'm was glad that I purchased that nice $25, USA made sweatshirt for him. In a country with prices so high, and people that help so much, small gifts seem to be of little consequence.
As for my Japanese at this initial stage, it seems to be a real struggle. In talking with Tanaka-san, we seem to be able to grasp the major things we're trying to describe, but my vocabulary seems to be lacking quite a bit.
Ok, after we returned from shopping, and my supervisor departed, I decided to brave the subway system alone so that I could visit my wife down at Yokohama station. For any non-fluent reader of kanji's, attempting to ride the subway system can be a nightmare. Luckily, before leaving for Japan, I purchased a bi- lingual subway booklet, that lists Kanji's along with the romanization for each station and subway line. I would have been totally lost without it. Many stations do not display romaji, and many times, one does not have time to read the Hiragana once the train has stopped at a station. Even with this map, I got lost several times before finding the right trek. After changing two lines, asking a couple of rail workers in Japanese which way I should go, I finally made it to Yokohama station.
Yokohama station, for me, was very overwhelming. (I can't wait to see Tokyo-station). There are just shops upon shops and people upon people. It's amazing how people can criss-cross so fast without bowling each other over. Finally, I saw an English/Japanese sign for "West Exit", and quickly tried to depart the madhouse. After giving Theresa a call at the west exit, I finally felt as though I could relax.
In waiting for Theresa, I was surprised to notice a couple of homeless people laying on the ground outside of the station. While I've heard there were many homeless people in Japan, I never really thought it was a problem until I saw them first hand. Another uncomfortable thing I noticed was a Western-Man, that was kind of loitering around the West-Exit in a drunken stupor. Occasionally he would shout out incomprehensible Japanese words that would turn everyone's head. I felt stangely embarrassed, and began to realize my minority status.
I finally met Theresa at 2:30pm. That night, we had planned to eat over one of Theresa's office mates apartment for dinner. Her husband's birthday was the next day, so they wanted to throw a little Western birthday party. Unknowingly, their apartment was located only a short train ride from where my dorm is located. Oh well, experience is not lost is it?
We brought over some wine, a small birthday present, and some of Theresa's special spring rolls. In return, we were treated to some rare Hokkaido crab, boiled steak, and a birthday cake. (We realized this way a VERY expensive meal). Without knowing, Theresa bought a "personal" birthday card for her friends husband. We all got a laugh after he read it. The other sterotype that was broken, was that Theresa's office mate was also a civil engineer. Female engineers in Japan are extremely rare.
It was huge, well, at least in comparison to Boston's Chinatown. There were dozens of restaurants, shops, medicine shops, and even a temple or two. After walking around, and generally getting lost, we decided to rest our feet and grab some lunch/dinner. The bill came to about 1700 yen (we ordered 1 Fried Noodle soup 650 yen, 2 noodle soup w/ meat & vegetable 650 yen, and my hot sake 400 yen(~$16). The food was very good, as well as the sake. After a little more shopping, and after locating some of Theresa's special food that we thought we'd never find in Japan(she made me bring some in my suitcase), we started the short train ride to Theresa's apartment.
Around 8pm, I started back to my dorm. I again got lost in the immense Yokohama-station, but finally returned home at about 9:30pm. It was now time to prepare for the work week.
Until the next message...