Day 11: Tokyo

Today was a rest day as S and I recovered from our trip to Shirakawago. On this day I experienced the extremes of the Japanese service culture.

I wanted to get a haircut before I went to Africa, and in Tsurumi there is a hairdresser that is significantly cheaper than the rest. I went into the store (which reeked of smoke) the barber was already shaving the head of a man covered in tattooes, and when I expressed my desire for a haircut, he rudely said, "yaranai" (I won't do it) and pointed at the door. On the other extreme, when I was grocery shopping I managed to drop my eggs onto the ground whilst packing them into the bag. When the cashier saw this she rushed over the help me with the eggs and went to get me a new pack of eggs, even though I had already paid for the ones I broke.

Nearly all Japanese people appear to have a layer of extreme politeness but when this layer is removed, the true nature of some people are not as nice as their politeness would lead you to believe. Some Japanese people react quite badly when they realise that someone isn't Japanese. They react with nervousness, rudeness and even a bit of fear. The core of the problem may be the very insular Japanese culture which leads to a xenophobic society overlaid with the requisite Japanese politeness. This is the concept of tatemae, which is one of the precepts of Japanese culture. Japanese society demands a certain behavoiur and those that do not conform are judged to be inadequate or inferior.

This is not to say that there are not many genuinely friendly and kindhearted people in Japan but to believe that all Japanese are as polite as they seem would be incorrect.

In addition to this, while i'm ranting babout Japanese people, I find it interesting and upsetting that Japanese people are not encouraged to have their own opinions and ask any questions has meant that generations of Japanese are unable to think for themselves or explore any concepts and ideas which have not been taught to them. For a culture that is considered advanced and sophisticated, it is strange to see how it is rotting from the inside.

On to more important matters. Today I also went to Zats Burger which makes Sasebo burger. This burger has all the makings of a potentially awesome burger: cheese, bacon, runny egg, mustard, mayo, tomato sauce, cold vegetables (lettuce, tomato, onion) and a grilled beef patty.


However. It seems that the amount of ingredients in this burger is its downfall. In the burger that I had, it was hard to hold, and the large amount of sauces/egg yolk made it a very messy proprosition.

I admit, the burger tasted great, but even with the paper wrapping I managed to get the juices onto my hand. Not only this, but the fact that there were so many flavours meant that the relatively thin beef patty was hard to taste amonst the rainbow of condiments. Score 7/10. Although it tasted better than Mos Burger, it loses marks for the mess.

Tonight, I met up with PF and his fiance and went to a yakitori place in Shinjuku. He told me his proposal story and his fiance exposed his greatest fear and how she would use it to prevent him from having a bucks night. Lets just say it involves black guys.

We talked about many things including Japan's farce of a banking system where credit cards are not accepted in a lot of shops and yet banks charge you for accessing ATMS after 5pm and on weekends. How does a cash-based society penalise their users for trying to access their cash? Also, we discussed how very few Japanese earn more than 100 000 000yen per year. Considering that things in Japan are not particularly cheap (eg. our trip to Shirakawago cost us $500AUD in transport alone per person) how do Japanese people afford to live? As Japanese companies do not pay dividends and their salaries are so low, where does the money go?

The answer may lie in one example provided by PF's fiance: for a sales team of 9 people they had 2million yen ($25 000AUD) in 'expenses' per month. This may include alcohol, food and hostesses. The amount spent on company perks may be where company profits are disappearing to. When hostesses can cost $500AUD an hour the $25 000 doesn't go very far.

Token food picture:

Tomorrow: 35C Osaka!