Work Ethic

I was talking to my husband the other day and we ended up discussing his work...which is usually not a topic of conversation between us.  I know, strange since we are living in another country specifically for his job! But he has always been the type person to not bring his work home.  And to be honest - I probably wouldn't understand much of what he was trying to explain, him being a Chemical Engineer and all.

So in discussing his "office" and what happens when he is there 16 hours a day, I found out some things the Japanese do that I had no idea:

At lunch time (12 noon) they turn off all the lights in the building.  For one hour. Most eat at their desks and then sleep.  The hubby says you can walk anywhere in the building and there are people everywhere - dead asleep.

Sitting straight up at their desks and some face down on the desks. But most all are asleep.

At 1pm - the lights come back on and all go back to work.

I have heard from many Expats that nothing really gets 'started' until after lunch.  In the States everyone gets to work at the crack-of-dawn to get a jump on the day and hopefully get out of the office before they get caught in traffic. Here they stroll leisurely in at 9 and leave around 9.  I asked my Japanese tutor about this and she said that is the way it is here.  The men are gone all day and the women like it that way.  The women like to get their daily house duties done and then hopefully - go to lunch with friends and talk.  Then the kids get home from school, and the moms make dinner and take care of the kids and wa-la the day is done.  My tutor said the reason the women like the men to be gone is that when they are home - they get in the way.  

This made me laugh.

Here the work day (for most everyone) doesn't begin until 9 or 10 am.  

Most retail stores and restaurants 11 am. 

When we first moved here we were told that "the Japanese work crazy hours" - and they do.  The professionals and factory workers.  

The retail stores are open from 10 am (most 11am) until around 8pm.  The restaurants stay open until 11 or 12.

After the sun goes down here - there really is not a whole lot to do. There is always Tokyo and clubs - but that has never been my destination for two reasons:

1.  Husband at work (till 10 pm every night) and a four-year-old at home, are not real conducive to a jaunt to Tokyo to party.  

2.  Tokyo is about 45 minutes away (by car) - longer by train. After having a few cocktails, you pretty much  want to change your clothes and fall into bed - and an hour ride just to get home...is not fun.  Especially on the train. Especially with a buzz.

If you have ever had a few drinks and gotten woozy just from a car ride home...the train is much worse.  Granted you don't have to drive or worry about any of that, but the stop and go, the constant clack of the tracks, the side-to-side constant motion of the train...

makes for even a seasoned veteran to have flashes of woozy. I found this out the hard way.

This must happen quite a lot here because I was told that they have a term for this: platform pizza.  I know, its gross.  But, as I stated in an earlier blog, here the drunkness is accepted.  Most believe that if you have had too much to drink - you probably had a very hard and stressful day at work and you deserve to be drunk. I guess if I was working 16 hour days - I'd need a drink too.  

JAPAN'S "LOVE HOTELS"

The words ‘love’ and ‘hotel’ combined usually conjure up romantic images of weekends away, breakfast in bed, walks in the woods, dinner by candlelight with champagne - and whatever else springs to mind - by an open fire. In Japan, however, the resultant image of the same combination of words is somewhat different.


A "LOVE HOTEL" is basically this:  short term hotels throughout Japan where couples meet to have sex in a private and erotic setting.For decades Japan's love hotels have provided a place for couples to enjoy anonymous, uninterrupted sex. Politician and secretary, teacher and student, husband and hooker -- all are welcome, as long as they pay in cash and leave when the time limit is up.

They say that the hotels exist out of necessity...until recently, most people lived with their families until marriage, often with three generations under one roof, separated by only paper screens. Without a private space for the most private of acts.  So they had to find somewhere to do the 'deed'. 
What a terrible thought...having Grams in the next room watching Japanese Wheel of Fortune while trying to 'be sexy'? - umm, NO.

So voila, birth of the Love Hotel!  Everyone knows they exist and it is an accepted practice here. These hotels are typically either concentrated in city districts close to train or subway stations, near highways on the city outskirts, or in industrial districts. Love hotel architecture is sometimes garish, with buildings shaped like castles, boats or UFOs and lit with neon lighting. What wonderful imaginations!

Some more recent love hotels are very ordinary looking buildings, distinguished mainly by having small, covered, or even no windows.

As women gradually came to have more social and financial clout, the hotels re-modeled themselves away from typically male themes such as outer space and cars (haa haa...SO typical male). Porno channels on the TV were out and a ‘come early, stay late’ policy was in.  The newer hotels come complete with karaoke machines, jacuzzis and even swimming pools and most are  hilariously decorated. Some love-hotels boast sun-beds for those who like to top off their tan while doing the duty, or adjoining ‘swapping rooms’ for those who prefer to bed hop. Some have CCTV feeds from all the rooms, offering a unique in-house video channel where you can watch others watching you doing what you’re watching them do. A number of hotels provide ‘party rooms’ for groups and even S&M facilities for aficionados.
The stats say the annual turnover of the love hotel industry is more than ¥4 trillion (yen)...that's pushing $5 trillion USD.  A LOT OF MONEY.  But we all know, sex sells!

Some of the fabulous names I have seen on the signs of the Love Hotels around here:
Hotel CHAT
Hotel Rainbow
Carib Hotel
P & A Plaza
Dixy Inn
Hotel Chez Moi
Hotel J-Girl
Hotel Lala
Hotel First Wood  (priceless!)


The rates here are by the hour and rooms are often selected from a panel of buttons and the bill settled by pneumatic tube, automatic cash machines, or a pair of hands behind a pane of frosted glass.


Similar establishments exist in other East Asian countries such as South Korea,Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The same concept also exists in Central and South America, particularly in Guatemala, Chile and Mexico (where they are called "autohotels"), in the Dominican Republic and Colombia (where they are called "cabañas" or "motels"), and in Argentina and Uruguay, where they are often called "albergues transitorios" or "telos" (after reversing the syllables of the word "hotel"). They are very common in Brazil and Puerto Rico, where they are simply called "motels" (the word is exclusively used for love hotels).

In the United States and Canada, they are known as "no-tell motels" . Apparently the first love hotel will open in France next summer, in Pontoise, next to Paris!

I guess all the world needs love.  No matter WHERE you have to get it!

Enjoy the photos!

Deeds


the video screens to choose your "room"...

 the sex machine room...

 the Neil Armstrong Room - for all you astronaut wanna-bes!

the Train/Subway Room - in case you don't get 'groped' enough on the real trains!

 The Spiderman Room...swing from chain to chain!

What is this...the Land of the Lost Room???

****and they say Japan is a mild mannered culture!  Someone figured out the wild side!!!

Guam

Over Xmas, we went to Guam.  Since we will be in Japan for 18 months - two years, we only get one trip "home"...we did that in October for family reasons.
So my husband decided that since he's been working for 12 months, around 16 hours a day...that we needed to go somewhere fun and lucky me, Tropical!

Guam became our destination.  A quick five hour flight, sunny, warm, English is the language, shopping is plentiful and the general temperature is 85 degrees (29 C - for all my international friends).

Once we arrived we were whisked away in a lovely, shabby cab.  Complete with hanging pineapple air fresher and some new-fangled rap song emanating from the stereo, obviously from America, that I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing.
The island is very small so we were at the hotel in roughly 10 minutes.  Great!

While doing research on where to stay - we were told by several people here (all expats) that we most definitely had to stay at the Pacific Islands Club.  We were warned that it was a bit 'dated' but since we have a 3 year old..."you gotta stay there, the water park is excellent."

Palm trees and waterfalls, kayak streams and a kiddie park, water slides and wind surfing, trampolines and snorkeling, scuba diving and water animals...this place had everything you could imagine.  My son was in heaven.  Well, my son and my husband were in heaven!
I was just happy to lay by the pool and watch the happiness.
The 30 minute breaks to myself, laying poolside with 100 little kids frolicking all around...were pure heaven.  I never knew that being in the middle of all that chaos - could be so relaxing.  I happily waved from a distance as my son and husband went from water animal to water animal, and water slide to water walk.  It was bliss.

Our schedule went something as follows:
9 am - wake
9:30 - breakfast (in the LARGE buffet style dining room with 600 other people)
10:30 - poolside
1:30 - lunch
2:30 - son naps
5:00 - shower
6:30 - dinner (which was something quite normal and American (ie, burgers, ribs, fish, etc.))
8:00 - roam hotel
9:30 - back to room

One day we ventured to KMART.  Yes, they have a 24 hour Kmart.  This is where everyone stocks up on all the things you can't get here in Japan...the American brands you are used to:
vitamins, shampoos/conditioners, American size clothes (but remember - we are in Kmart- so you have to be desperate), toys, socks, tools...what-have-you.
And of course - the prices are through the roof.

We also ended up being one out of about 15 families (that I saw) who were not Asian.  So we basically had the same idea as all the others...go somewhere warm.
The hotel pool staff was mostly Westerners, they all had on a name tag with their home city on it.  Most were young, early twenties and loving life.  Life guarding by day and partying by night on a little island in the Pacific.  (how come I never thought of that when I was in my 20s???)

But, the rooms were run down...reminded me a little of Three's Company.  The older furniture and the very flat, hard beds.  Bad art on the walls and a 15 inch TV that was probably 20 years old.  The bedspreads - very HoJo, and one night our air conditioner started leaking and made a huge wet spot in the middle of the hallway.  But I will tell you this...
This is the first trip I have ever taken where the room - did not matter.
We were so happy to be in the warm weather, to have my husband with us on a daily basis, to have normal  food at every meal (well, what we consider normal - I know, everything's relative), and a water park that ROCKED!

We much enjoyed Guam.  Its not Hawaii, but it will do just fine!!!!

If you have the chance...try it sometime!

Happy 2011!

Deeds

New Year's Eve

The New Year celebration has always been a big deal in my life.  Well, until I had my son...now I am just boring, and happy to get to sleep BEFORE midnight.
Anyway, here in Japan the New Year Holiday is a very big deal.   Nothing like the  holiday in America where people party their brains out for one night and then Thank God that the year ended before they got the hangover. No here, its a bit different.


While I am quite positive that everyone here drinks, seeing as the liquor store around the corner did not have an empty parking spot for two straight days (around the clock) prior to New Year's Eve, but here in our neighborhood, things were relatively quiet New Year's Eve.


Shogatsu is the celebration of the New Year and is the most important holiday in Japan.  Things in Japan start to close down early on New Year's Eve...restaurants, shops, offices, gas stations, grocery stores...everything...CLOSED.
Omisoka is the day of New Year’s Eve.  Since the New Year is the biggest event in Japan, people celebrate the Eve as well.
Luckily I was warned about the closings a few days prior to NYE.  We stocked up on things we thought we couldn't live without for a few days and we were set.


It is said people work hard to prepare for the New Year.  Starting one or two weeks ahead...doing a full-on CLEAN (like spring cleaning in the States). The reason people do the cleaning in the middle of winter is to get rid of the 'dirty' of the passing year and to welcome the New Year with a fresh and serene mind.  Probably not a bad idea.


At midnight things are pretty quiet.  Not what I am use to.  
Starting precisely at 12 - the temples ring their bells 108 times.   People stay up till midnight to listen to the 108 chimes (notice 'quiet') of a nearby temple bell.  The 108 chimes called Joya-no-kane, this rings out the old year and rings in the New. It is supposed to release people from the 108 worldly sin.  (God knows I need that.)


The temples have been readied beforehand and at midnight they open their doors and let in the masses.  The shrines all over Japan are packed with people from midnight thru to January 3^rd.  People go to pray for safety, happiness and the long lives of the family. Many are dressed in Kimonos and buy a good luck talisman called Omamori. It is kept as a protection from illness, accidents and disasters. After experiencing the "little" earthquakes...I can see why they need the protection!!!


Some of the other traditions:

• Entrances of homes, stores, etc., are decorated with a Shimekezari. These are twisted pieces of straw rope with fern leaves, an orange and other items of good omen.
• A Bonenkai party.  Bonenkai litarelly means a "Forget-the-year party" to forget the unpleasant memories of the passing year and to welcome the New Year with a fresh and serene mind. 
• People give special allowances to their children, nephews and nieces called Otoshidama. It is the busiest season for toy shops to attract children to spend their new found wealth.
• People send a lot of greeting cards to relatives, friends, business acquaintances and customers to wish them a happy New Year. Post offices in Japan collect and keep them then deliver them on the New Year's day all at once.  There is something about a 'lottery' with the cards.  They are all numbered and then some numbers are drawn and the lucky ones get prizes. I don't really know all about it - and since we got no cards...we didn't really research it.

The holiday in general reminds me of Xmas in America.  The shutting down of stores, the weeks of prep, the calm of it all.  Quite nice - but once again, not what we are use to.
All in all in the end - it didn't really matter - 
We had an early dinner out with friends NYE.  I had started to feel a little 'under the weather' and only had a few cocktails trying to stay in the spirit. (huh-oh, now you KNOW something is amiss) I was asleep by 10:30.
January 1- uneventful and illness is gaining. Everything closed.
January 2- illness is winning. everything closed. In my weariness I think it is still Saturday.
January 3 - I Thank God I have made it to Monday...start calling doctors at 8am...EVERYTHING CLOSED.  At this point I am beyond my wits and after calling a friend who tells me that yeah, nothing will be open until TOMORROW...I take off my 'sick clothes' and put on my sick 'outside clothes', throw my English to Japanese dictionary in my purse and   drive myself to the Emergency Room.  
When I pulled up - I thought it was closed too.  All the windows closed.  No cars. Anywhere.
How do you run a hospital with only 10 people working it???  Don't know - but they did it.


I sat in the hospital, the only foreigner, and one of two people who spoke English.  The other guy was working the front desk and in my sickness haze I thought he was a doctor.  At this point I was so happy to see him - I  thought he had a halo.
I walked in - there he was behind the girl behind the 'intake' desk. He had longer hair, a pinstripe shirt, khakis and a red thing around his neck I could have SWORN was a stethoscope. He helped with the forms and then sent me to the 'waiting room' and that was the last I saw of him, his English and his halo.
The waiting room - a hallway with some benches.  Everyone there - in Michael Jackson masks.  All - staring at me.


I was smart enough to take a book.  What I read while waiting a full hour - I have no idea. I heard names being called out - nothing that sounded like Sullivan.  Finally some man (another sicky) takes pity on me and walks over and points to one of the doors.  They had called my name, I never heard them, they never walked down the hall to look for me.


The "doctor" spoke about 10 words of English. I explained my symptoms, he looked in my throat, listened to my 'lungs' (right under my clavicle bones.  apparently my lungs have moved) and he recorded the temperature from the self-serve thermometer I was given while sitting in the hallway.
Yep, you mess it up, not accurate...your problem.


After all this we finally agree on one thing...I have pneumonia.
He has no idea what to prescribe me so I tell him what I want.  The same stuff they gave me the last time I had pneumonia (in the USA).
I got 1/4 the dose of the meds I asked for and he sent me home.


It has been dreaded.  Hurts to walk up the stairs.  Can't breathe. Body hurts.  Etc, Etc, Etc.  You know the drill.
Now today, I feel a little better (not great) and find out my son has Bronchitis...AGAIN.
Dammit.


My husband goes back to work tomorrow.  My mom comes back in country this weekend.  And 2011 is off with a BANG.


The way I am choosing to look at it - 
my year can only get better.  Right?


-I read another blog today and the lady had two kids who got pneumonia one right after the other.  I told her to suck it up sister and thank her lucky stars that it was the kids, that she had strong meds to get them thru it, a doc who knows what's up and a city that is actually functioning.
Actually I sympathized. (but you know that's what part of me really wanted to say).
I think it was the steroid, amoxicillan, benadryl, sudafed, nasal spray, vaseline, cough drop, chapstick delirium talking.


Maybe I need to do the 'full-on-clean' and get rid of the 'dirty'???
Maybe they are on to something. hmmm.


Here's to the ' lucky' Year of the Rabbit~
Deeds


***this is merely meant for everyone to see the humor in the ridiculous...which does happen.  And apparently, more to me than most!!  :-) 
I mean isn't that what this blog is all about!
Cheers.


UPDATE:
after my 3 days of antibiotics from the ER.  I started going downhill again, quickly!  I went to my previous doctor and got more antibiotics.
I found out that the meds the ER had given was only 1/4 the strength recommended for an average adult, and given only 1/3 the recommended dosage days.  I needed 10 days of antibiotics.
There is no FDA regulation here.
who knew?