Culture - bits and pieces

I've been here over a year now, and I still don't think I know Japan that well. It's because I don't speak the language; I'm not really immersed in the way people actually think and express themselves. I do learn a lot through hearsay and reading books and blogs. But there are lots of things that are visible to me, and most of them I now take for granted and don't really notice. Yet it certainly is different to Australia, so I thought I'd try to think of some examples.

If I repeat myself, sorry... sometimes I don't remember what I've written in the past.

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Buying food

I was reading a book ("Welcome to Sawanoya") by an old Japanese guy who ran an inn where lots of foreigners stayed. He writes:
'One day, a neighbor who runs a sweets shop related the following story: "Sawa-san, your customers come to my shop asking to buy one piece of sembei [crackers] or one manju [a type of sweet]. That sounds rather strange to me, but I'm happy to sell treats by the piece to these people who've come all the way from abroad.' No Japanese would by such small quantities nowadays, as they naturally expect to buy an entire package.

I had never heard such a sentiment from a Japanese point of view before. To me it seems completely natural to go to a store and buy a single, very small snack. I have also bought a single rice cracker or whatever (rice crackers are bigger here). But I realise it is unusual. Today I went to 36 Sticks. They sell little thin cakes and desserts (36 different kinds). I bought a cheesecake stick. It was nice, and at 180yen, a nice cheap snack. While I was there, someone next to me was selecting several; another seemed to be ordered a whole cake, rather than a stick.

I remember my sister observing, when she was here, that when she bought an item in a bakery, everyone around her was ladening their trays with stuff. This is very true, actually. I often only buy one bakery item (bakeries here specialise less in loaves of bread, more in little snack items like croissants, curry bread, melon bread, little sandwiches, pizzas, etc etc). But I've very, very rarely seen a Japanese customer with only one item on their tray.

My sister also observed, when she went to the mini croissant shop, that while she bought a couple of mini croissants, all the people before her were getting at least 10 or 20, and most customers were getting several bags of croissants. This is also true. When I go there I usually get 100g (4 or 5 minis) and I still feel like I'm ordering a ridiculously tiny amount.

Sometimes I do feel funny about buying only one of an item, if only because packaging here often entails some effort, and I feel rather sad for the staff wrapping and putting my single bread roll in multiple bags. (I suppose I feel more sorry for them when they are individually wrapping each of fifteen bakery items in individual plastic bags, even if they are killing the environment.)

For example, if you buy any kind of fresh dessert, you will usually be asked 'how many hours until you return home?' Your answer will determine how many little ice packages they put in your box.

I do wonder, though, what people do with all that stuff. Sure, a lot of people are buying for families, a lot of people are buying gifts, and a lot of people buy for their offices or meetings, but surely some people must buy for themselves?! What do they DO with all these items?!

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Anthrax scare

Okay, no anthrax scare. But that's what some foreigners think when they first see Japanese people wearing white surgical masks over their nose and mouth. Usually there's one of two reasons for it:

1. the person has an allergy and is trying to protect themselves against breathing in allergens;
   
2. the person has a cold and is trying to protect the populace from their own germs

As a result, you see a lot of masks in winter (cold season) and spring (hayfever season). Large numbers of people seem to suffer allergies. It's astonishing. For months people are mostly fine, then suddenly half your students are answering 'so-so' when you ask 'how are you', and looking red-eyed.

My own opinion is that a lot of the masks are quite unnecessary, and probably have a detrimental effect on your health as you spend all day breathing in your own germs. However, I have to say, I did cave in and wear my first face mask last week, while riding the trains.

I have had colds before and not worn them (as a teacher, it's not good to wear one anyone, though many people do wear them all day at work). But last week I had a cough, and a somewhat nasty one, and I didn't want to share it with all the passengers nearby. I have to concede, the masks can be socially responsible when you see how crowded the trains are.

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People do bow a lot. Various store clerks bow to show politeness; people bow when they meet; people bow at the end of the day saying goodbye to each other; people bow to apologise, etc. At my job, the Japanese staff sometimes bow to students or potential students.

As a foreigner I don't bow and it doesn't feel natural to me - I've only done it three or four times. I have developed what I call the 'chicken jerk', where you kind of bob your head briefly like a chicken pecking... hahah... I'm not the only foreigner to pick up this habit. I do the nod a lot in a day - when I walk past someone who works in the same building as me, when I leave a store, when I meet someone or say goodbye to them, etc.

Store clerks do it in varying degrees; I was amused when my sister came and entered a particularly exclusive department store (I've been to a different branch of it so I can confirm), and was a bit bemused to find that wherever she walked, she was following a gauntlet of staff who would bow as she passed. It's kind of unsettling to have a whole line of people, bowing one after the other, as you walk down the corridor.

Though I see bowing a lot, I am often amused at the train station on Friday or Saturday nights, when hordes of businessmen who've been out drinking together, are saying goodbye. There's always a constant series of bows - one person bows, the other bows, the first person has to bow again, then the second... I don't know the unwritten rule for when you can politely break the cycle and actually leave. You'll see these little knots of people all standing in a circle and bowing to each other. It always makes me smile.

Bowing is such an intrinsic part of communication here that they even put it on signs. For example, if there's a sign saying 'construction work - sorry for the inconvenience', it will often be accompanied by a cartoon picture of a construction worker bowing apologetically. Or, if you go to a ticket machine at the train station, a picture of a woman will bow and say 'irrashaimase' (welcome - they say this in stores), before presenting you with your choices.