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.
