Continuous Good Management

I suppose it’s that time again for another update from the land of Japan.  I’ve been getting a number of complaints saying I need to write another entry.  OK, you might have a point.  This will only be my 2^nd entry since being in Japan for over 3 months.  The way I look at it though, if I wrote every week it might not be nearly as exciting or interesting (big assumption being you do find it interesting or entertaining).  Anyway, enough B.S. – let’s get to the meat of this entry so I can go to bed at a timely manner.  I’ve put 30 minutes on the clock – GO!

Cultural observations and other odds and ends:

1.        Paying at the grocery story.  For better or worse, I’ve somewhat figured out the set dialogues associated with checking out at the grocery store. “Do you have a bag?”  Do you want a receipt?” etc.  In the beginning, those kinds of questions always put me in a slight panic mode where I ended up sitting there saying something to the English equivalent of  “uhhhhh” for what always feels like ages.  As long as they stick to the regular questions, I’ve comfortably navigated this obstacle – unless of course the grocery store is having some kind of point system campaign where if I earn X amount of points before X date, I can get X amount of money back.  Lots of X’s in there – the point is, sometimes I get tripped up by questions or sentences about the special campaigns, which are subjects unto themselves in Japan.  ANYWAY – the point I’m trying to get to here is that I noticed one other small thing some time ago that really made me feel stupid.  This is going to be a bit difficult to explain, but I must preface this story with the fact that when you pay in Japan (at any type of store), it is very common to see a money tray of some sort where you hand over your money.  For whatever reason, exchanging money from hand to hand doesn’t seem to be nearly as common (based on my own personal experience).  Well, at some stores, my grocery store in particularly, I noticed the flat tray (where you place your money), also has a bowl at the end of it (imagine maybe a flat envelope whose edge is attached to the top rim of a bowl).  Before I became more astute in my observations I always placed my bills on the tray and threw the coins in the bowl area.  Maybe some of you have seen something like this or have already figured it out, but one day I finally saw someone in front of me in line pay…they placed the bills AND the coins on the flat part –  The cashier then counted each coin, thumbing each one into the bowl after it was counted.  Ingenious.  How did I not notice that?  How did I not think of something so simple?  My instant thought was….”how long have cashiers in this country been grumbling about me?” 

2.       Ingenious - part 2.  I went to the kind of sushi restaurant where the sushi comes around on a track on different plates.  At the end of the meal, you pay by the plates.  Well, when I paid, the server came around, stacked the plates, and whipped out a measuring stick of sorts. It measured the number of plates on it, as well as numbers for different types of plates.  In one second, the price was totaled. I couldn’t believe it.  Again, something so simple, but something I had never seen before.  I just imagined how nice it must be to not have to hold your finger next to each plate and slowly move up the stack (or down depending on what kind of “half empty/full” person you are).  Admittedly, I didn’t frequent Sushi restaurants very often in the U.S., so some of you may very well have seen this before, even in the U.S.

3.       Rice Dates.  I am now under the impression rice is even more important than I expected.  I was impressed to learn that on the rice bags in the stores here, they have written which season it was harvested from.  As you can probably guess, the more recently harvested rice is usually considered better tasting.  If you ask me, it still tastes like rice.  Good news – the new rice harvest was just brought it – get it while you can!  Sarcasm aside, it does actually seem kind of cool that people are aware of when certain foods are “in season.”  I always felt a huge disconnect with food in the U.S. as we can import anything quite easily year round.  What do you mean strawberries have a season?!  Huh, apples too?!  You’re crazy.

Language notes –

Well, I’ve been in overtime for 11 minutes now, but I did want to mention one last thing before I go.   Japanese and English are two very different languages.  Every day I probably realize this in new ways.  One of the most frustrating things for me to hear from people who are trying to help me learn…”we don’t really say that” or “we don’t say it that way.”  Direct translation just doesn’t work out very well a lot of the time.  But until I get a better grasp of things, it feels like the only thing I can do.  Got to start somewhere, right?  Language envelops culture.  It is the way we express ourselves and communicate with others.  It is a window into our surroundings and the way we live amongst others.  That is why, when I receive a piece of candy with the following English message written on it, I really have to ask myself quite a few questions when it comes to communicating in Japanese…

“Memories of yesterday are carefully handed down to tomorrow today.  I wish you continuous good management from now on, too. An excellent gift for a good friend.  I present you with my whole heart.”

1.       In going from English to Japanese, does my Japanese sound equally strange? (I’d be lucky if it sounded this comprehensible)

2.       Was this pumped into Google translate, or did someone legitimately take time to try and translate this to English?

3.       Directly translated, how normal would this actually sound in Japanese?

All in all, I’m not sure if I’m encouraged by the message.  But hey, hopefully I can still have good management.Wish me luck!!!!