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Dispatches from Japan
Mar. 29th, 2019 02:24 amThings seen in Japan:
1. A LOT more English signage than expected. Company escort yesterday (taking us to the municipal office to do arrival declarations) says it's in preparation for the 2020 Olympics.
2. An amusing range of food items and entire shops catering to a strong francophilia. My personal favourite is a cafe in Hashimoto station with entirely French signage on the outside. Very *well written* French, too, in comparison to some of the English-is-cool signage on shops etc.
3. A primary school in my neighbourhood which appears to own a fleet of unicycles for playground use.
4. Some good sunsets.
5. Not much gluten-free food, indeed not.
6. More people dressed in beige and navy than I have ever seen in my life.
7. The glorious kitch of the 100-yen stores. I have purchased Hello Kitty chopsticks and a Hello Kitty teaspoons (teaspoons being only available in the form of novelty children's cutlery, at least in 100-yen stores).
8. Election signage for 'Lib Dems', the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, who appear to be endeavouring to be Cool And International, if the english-language sloganing is anything to go by.$
9. A passbook. An actual honest-to-glod passbook was issued with my bank account. I have never had a passbook in my life before (my children's savings account had a deposit book, with deposit slips in it, as did at least one other account I opened before about 2008. Haven't had anything remotely in that ballpark for a decade).
10. A plumber wearing a suit. He fixed my non-functioning apartment washing machine, communicating via google translate all the while.
My employing company effects a truly glorious feat of logistics, meeting all staff at the airport and then either at an interchange station or at their local station before escorting them to apartments, and then shepherding us around to the municipal offices
1. A LOT more English signage than expected. Company escort yesterday (taking us to the municipal office to do arrival declarations) says it's in preparation for the 2020 Olympics.
2. An amusing range of food items and entire shops catering to a strong francophilia. My personal favourite is a cafe in Hashimoto station with entirely French signage on the outside. Very *well written* French, too, in comparison to some of the English-is-cool signage on shops etc.
3. A primary school in my neighbourhood which appears to own a fleet of unicycles for playground use.
4. Some good sunsets.
5. Not much gluten-free food, indeed not.
6. More people dressed in beige and navy than I have ever seen in my life.
7. The glorious kitch of the 100-yen stores. I have purchased Hello Kitty chopsticks and a Hello Kitty teaspoons (teaspoons being only available in the form of novelty children's cutlery, at least in 100-yen stores).
8. Election signage for 'Lib Dems', the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, who appear to be endeavouring to be Cool And International, if the english-language sloganing is anything to go by.$
9. A passbook. An actual honest-to-glod passbook was issued with my bank account. I have never had a passbook in my life before (my children's savings account had a deposit book, with deposit slips in it, as did at least one other account I opened before about 2008. Haven't had anything remotely in that ballpark for a decade).
10. A plumber wearing a suit. He fixed my non-functioning apartment washing machine, communicating via google translate all the while.
My employing company effects a truly glorious feat of logistics, meeting all staff at the airport and then either at an interchange station or at their local station before escorting them to apartments, and then shepherding us around to the municipal offices