CK – questions – class 2

Sorry for the delay … PC problems!

1. Which do you prefer, coffee or tea? (why)

2. What is your favorite burger restaurant? (why)

3. Which company is better, Nissan or Toyota? (why)

Your habits

The mobile age?

Spot the odd one out.

Is this a sign of the mobile (cell) phone age? Or is it a sign of someone refusing to be part of the mobile phone age?

I’m sure this scene can be seen all over the world on public transport … or is it something particular to Japan?

I think this is one of the many things people do to ‘disconnect’ from others. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but I have seen many cases where this ‘disconnection’ is a bad thing.

Of course, the one person you don’t see in the photo is me. I was using my phone to watch a video … or was it to disconnect to others?

What do you on the train or bus?

Fighting in Japan

‘Japan is a safe country.’, I hear this statement quite often from various people. Personally, I don’t think it’s as safe as many people think.

Violence against the person, i.e., fighting, is quite low. People can go out at weekends and get extremely drunk and not have to worry about getting into a fight. Unlike my home country, Scotland.

Something that I discovered directly is that ‘fighting’ is quite different in Japan. I’ll tell you something that happened to me and you can be the judge.

Morning time at a busy train station. I was going up the stairs in the ‘up’ section, divided from the much wider ‘down section’ by a hand rail (the ‘up’ section is wide enough for about one and half people).

People were coming down the stairs and a businessman decided it would be quicker to come down in the area I was going up. As a result, he bumped into me quite hard. As he bumped into me he grabbed my right arm: by this time I was 2 steps higher than him.

What to do? My natural instinct at being attacked this way was to twist my arm and break his hold. As I did this I punch him in the chest – not so hard though! He almost tried to charge me but thought the better of it as I had the higher ground. Conflict over.

Was I wrong to punch him? I think, maybe, this is where cultures divide. Most Japanese would say that I was in the wrong for escalating the violence by punching him. Most ‘westerners’ might say I was right to defend myself after having my person attacked. Or maybe I was completely wrong??

What do you think? Please tell me your opinion.

Of escalators

In Tokyo, you should stand on the left side of an escalator in order to allow those in a hurry to walk up. One thing I have noticed is that by far the majority of men and women when walking up the escalator walk flat-footed. That is, planting their feet hard and flat, making a loud stomping sound. It’s almost as if they are in some kind of foot-stomping musical.

Why do people walk this way? I always thought the way to walk up a set of stairs was to walk on the ball of the foot, NOT plant the foot flatly and solidly on the step.

And just why is it that some people feel the need to stand at the top of an escalator to hold a conversation, blocking the way for others? Why?!?!

How do you walk on stairs and escalators? Is there anything else that people do on escalators that annoy you?

CK – questions

1. Who do you work for?

2. What do you do? (job)

3. What does your company do?

Comb overs or combovers

For reasons that will quickly become obvious, I have not been able to post any photographs for this post.

Male baldness being the topic, or should I say, the hairstyles that men develop in order to hide a receding hairline. This is not exclusive to Japan, but seems to be a global phenomenon. I thought it interesting because it is to do with human behaviour … and the Japanese name for this bad hairstyle is quite funny.

In the UK it’s usually called a ‘comb-over’. In Japan, a ‘bar-code’ (a very apt name).

For those of you not sure of what I’m talking about. It’s when a man is going bald but has hair at the sides or back of his head. He then grows this hair to such a length that it can be combed over to cover the bald spot. I think this works when the bald spot is very small, but when the bald area is clearly visible, even with the ‘comb-over’ that’s when this style is just plain silly.

Why do men do this? Is it because the think they are unattractive to the opposite sex? Is it because they feel they are losing part of their manhood? Is it because they feel they look old?

There is also a huge industry built around male baldness. Health supplements for the scalp that are supposed to strengthen or promote growth, hair implants, a spray on powder (makes existing hair look thicker, in order to help cover the bald spot), etc.

The craziest attempt I have ever seen was a couple of years ago on a Japanese train. A man, sitting reading, the shine from the black area on his head caught my eye. It looked like he had taken a black pen and had just filled in the bald spot!

Do you have any theories as to why men resort to this hair style? Are you one of those men??

January – New Year 2010

At New Year many Japanese return to their hometown and/or visit their relatives. As this year’s holiday was quite short (for some people, only four days), there was quite a rush to escape from Tokyo.

Many people also travel overseas to escape the cold, but as the holiday was so short, the number of visitors to warmer climes  was quite low. As a result, this led to there being even more over-crowding on the, already over-crowded, local transport system.

And the return journey after the holiday? The same. Hectic, over-crowded, stressed out travellers trying to get back to their homes as quickly an efficiently as possible. This ‘return-home-time’ is known as the ‘U-turn rush’.

The timing has to be just right on the motorways to avoid 30-40 km long traffic jams. As I get up and leave for home early morning (usually between 7:30 – 8:30 a.m.) , I’ve always been able to avoid this mad rush back to home.

I wish you all the best for this year and hope it brings you nothing but the best for you and your loved ones.

CK – questions 1 & 4

Happy New Year!!

1. Did Santa leave any nice presents for you?

2. What did you do on New Year’s Day?

December parties

What not to do at the station

It’s nearing the end of the year. As a result, it’s ‘year-end-party time’ (bonenkai). A time when co-workers get together for drunken celebration. Many companies also have people transferring to other department – another reason for getting together for a ‘farewell party’.

This is also one time of year when there are sometimes accidents involving trains and people. I’ve seen a couple of guys stagger just a little too closely to the edge of the platform, and have had to be pulled back from the edge to avoid hitting (or being hit!) by a train.

These parties are not held, as you would expect, at the end of the week. They can be held anytime from Monday to Friday. Often, some people ‘have to’ attend a party every night. You can imagine the hangovers increasing and the productivity dropping in workplaces.

It’s also common to find people (men usually) sitting slumped or even lying down on a train, taking up two or three seats – these poor unfortunates often miss their stop and sometimes have to get a rather expensive taxi to take them home.

It’s also a time for ‘pavement pizzas’. The result of too much drink and food. Not a pretty sight!

How do you celebrate this time of year?