IN A NUTSHELL: My First Culture Shock?
Too Many Rest Stops This is my fourth, yes fourth, weekend straight I
am not going to be at home. My journal is a month behind, my laundry is piling up, I've been sneaking
in shopping trips during the week and I just plain want to REST. But this is a staff trip. This
is an important thing in Japan for having a good time and getting to know your colleagues in a less-than-formal
way. Looking back, I perhaps should have opted for the rest instead, but I had already committed myself.
Maruyama-san picked me up at about 7 am and we went together to the Sakugi Town Hall where a Giant Bus was waiting.
The bus was very nice; it even had a snack bar and a lot of drinks available. I walked in but was kind of stopped
about half-way in since
apparently the "men were sitting in the back and the women up front." Since there was only 19 of us and probably
30 or so seats, there was plenty of places to sit and I got my own row of seats.
We had a tour guide. Almost immediately after we departed (and I totally lost my sense of direction)
she started talking. I was trying to be good and focus on the Japanese, which she was speaking clearly, but
I could not catch everything. I think what was more frustrating was that she told a lot of jokes and no matter
how hard I listened, I did not understand a single
one. I felt kind of left out when everyone was laughing but me. I tried to read, but was
interrupted by her voice and the laughter and the obligation that I should try to listen (especially if she said
anything important.) We stopped nearly every hour at a rest stop. This would
be less of a big deal except that every time we stopped, Maruyama-san and Takata-san were always SO concerned if I
didn't get off. It was easier just to get off and back on rather than explain that I didn't need to pee
since the last rest stop and was not hungry since the last round of munchies. The munchies were a plus, though.
Although they started out weird with fish cakes and weird salty things, someone eventually started passing the chocolate.
And once word got to the snack-holders that I was a chocolate-lover, I got pretty much the whole stash on the seat next
to me. Okay, maybe this wasn't good for my health, but it made me happy.
Fish For Lunch We stopped at this mega-fish place for lunch (Called Marine Center or
something). We were promised
that the bus would stop here on the way back tomorrow so everyone would have a chance to shop for fish. I
really did not need the assurance, but that's okay.
The second floor kind of looked like a giant cafeteria with big long tables, but they were obviously expecting
us and served us very quickly. The food was fine. Lots of different kinds of fish and other Odd Things.
Tofu and rice were also on the menu and all in all, it wasn't a bad meal. I did not, however, eat the snail.
I felt like I was missing something,
maybe because I was eating tons of tiny little things out of tons of tiny little bowls without actually
having a Main Course. I was full at the end, though. Most everyone was drinking beer, but I was waiting until
dinner for that.
Lunch: lots of little bowls of stuff.
The Money Temple? We stopped at a port near a lake not long after lunch.
A castle was above, but we did not go see the castle. Instead, we took a very tiny ferry (only about 10 of us
could fit in the hold) to a small island. There was a very strange little store before the entrance to the temple.
It seemed to be ONLY selling these little bags that were only really worth anything
if you won a lottery or something. I really did not understand it, but I got the impression that I had
to give them a lot of money if I wanted anything. I waited outside and read some more of my book instead.
Tamura-san came out later and Maruyama-san came out a bit after that and the three of us tried to follow the signs to the temple.
We followed the signs all right, but to the wrong temple. The shrine we ended up at, though, was quite pretty
and overlooked the lake from the mountainside. Since no one else was there, Maruyama-san called someone on
her cell phone. We walked back down (through the cute little neighborhood again - these locals must be sick of
all the tourists) and found the big, obvious sign. The temple was PACKED. And I think, if one went inside, one
did something related to the expensive bags? It made no sense to me. I've never seen a temple like it and did
not bother fighting the crowd to go inside and see what the fuss was. In the end, I was glad we took the wrong path
to the prettier shrine even if that meant we were late to get back on the bus.
The Temple of Giant Fish When we reached Kyushuu that afternoon (the southernmost
of Japan's main four islands) we did a little sightseeing. We walked around an old, famous temple and looked at a display of giant things
that they carry around during festivals in this town - kind of the equivalent of giant floats carried around during
a parade.
The pictures below through the glass display don't give a good idea of the large size,
but I was taking them from my
normal height.
Giant Things Men in Robes Carry Around During Festivals
The Ryokan We reached the hotel in "Karatsu," the bus driver BACKED into a tiny spot (impressive!),
and we entered. The place had all the amenities of a hotel, but had Japanese style rooms.
In a Japanese-style room, one sits and sleeps on a tatami-mat floor on futons. When we arrived, the futons
were not laid out yet, but they had a low table and three floor chairs (a chair with no legs - don't know
the exact term for it.)
The room had its own outdoor bath but the bath was in easy view of the men's balcony a few doors down.
We waved to them, but had no plans to use the bath.
I was sharing the room with
three women around my age (one of them Tamura-san, who is in charge of the Sakugi Magazine) and we sat
down around the table. Almost immediately, they
took massive amounts of beer out from within their luggage. We drank green tea and helped ourselves to the
complimentary sweets first, though, before starting in on the beer. One of the fellows
(the supervisor-ish type person, I found out later) chatted with us for awhile. It was actually pretty fun and
my Japanese wasn't doing too badly. They mentioned my predecessor several times and I wondered if the trip last
year was the last time they had seen her.
This ryokan had an attached onsen (hot spring) and that was everyone's next destination since dinner was
not for another hour or so.
More Than I Needed to See... At dinner, everyone except the four of us were
in yukata robes (thin robes which every Japanese hotel provides, but only ryokans let you
walk around the building just wearing the robe.) The men were all along one table, for the most part, and
the women on the other. Dinner was (drumroll) fish and beer. It was very similar to lunch, so similar I wondered
why the organizers did not try for a little variety. I figured fish must be some sort of luxury. This time,
I drank some of the beer (and tried to ignore the cigarette smoke.) Anyway, toward the end of the dinner,
the karaoke started. Yay! I could not find my song right away, so I watched as some other guys got on
the stage thing next to the two long dinner tables and sung karaoke
(with horrendous voices.) Then, I stood stunned as two fellows went up together, sung together and...
started doing
a little faux-strip show with their yukata robes! I definitely saw some boxer shorts and even a bit more.
They seemed to be
almost slow dancing with each other. Whoa! I kind of sat there, shocked, especially since everyone was cheering them on
and one of the people up there was the supervisor-ish type fellow. I officially count this as my
first instance of culture shock. I've never been to a bonenkai (year-end party) before, but now I know that
the stuff I've read about was not an exaggeration.
I found my song in the New Song section somewhat later, after I had drunk a little beer, I got up on stage to
sing. Massive cheering all during my song, which made me happy. People are so impressed when I sing in Japanese.
I don't think
they quite realize HOW MANY times I've listened to "Melissa" for the sole purpose of karaokeing it.
Oddly, no other woman got up to sing karaoke (though almost every guy did.)
Getting Drunk and Partying, Round 2 After another soak in the onsen, people
got dressed and we gathered in the lobby. I had no clue why. Then we went into a hotel shuttle and
the staff DROVE US to town so we could continue our good time at a bar. The best part of my staff trip was
during the ride over: I sat in the second to last row (oooh, among the men) and
I talked with four friendly guys not much older than me. Two wore glasses and they all had cute smiles.
I had a feeling they would normally never
talk to women this easily, but they were apparently now drunk enough to. Since the conversation pretty much kept
simple topics in Japanese (like "Where are you from?" and "What kinds of foods do you like?"), funny phrases in
English, or American pronunciation, I felt involved in the conversation the whole time so
it was really fun.
We were dropped off on a shop-filled street and the twenty or so of us (including, it
seemed, the two women who worked for the chartered bus company) went up to a 'snack bar.' I had read
that places called "snack bars" were really for men, but there were enough women with us that I was assured nothing
inappropriate would happen (and nothing did as far as I could tell.) Anyway, so we filled the bar and the two
tables behind. (I had to make a toilet break and the toilet looked like it was only used by men, which added to
my theory about snack bars.) When I got back, everyone had a clear drink that looked like water and
we toasted. I took a big sip and almost choked. No, not water. Definitely not water. Maybe gin? I got myself
another drink quickly. Anyway, we started up the karaoke again pretty quickly and this time, the women sang (maybe
because there was no getting up on stage here?) There was more flirting (supervisor-ish guy was slow dancing
with a woman this time, and getting photographed by Tamura-san, as if to be blackmailed later) and more drinking.
I sung American Pie (which was the long, long version and I even started to bore myself) and a Japanese song
that got more of a reaction. I switched to water quickly and was pleased when the skimpily dressed, over-made up waitress
gave me my own pitcher of water.
People eventually stumbled out. Problem: four people to a room, but only one key. I was exhausted,
but everyone else in my room
wanted to go out for ramen (because ramen is famous in this area.) Eventually I convinced them that I was
really too tired to go out and they gave me the key and I went back in a taxi with a few others. I soaked in the hot spring one more time and
had a nice quiet half hour of reading. The other three came in later and did the same thing I did. I was
sneaky and took the futon on the far end. Then I was super sneaky and turned it around so
it was more feng shui. I really don't like sleeping in the middle, especially when they
are people I don't know that well. I don't like the idea of waking up in the morning and looking at a random face.
I have no idea what the etiquette is on this, but I'm sure I broke it. Oh, well, that's the
privilege of
being a foreigner.
