65. Art under the overpasses

In what I suspect is a twin effort to beautify while discouraging graffiti, the walls of many of the underpasses in my area are painted with murals. These are sometimes done by school kids, under the direction of an art teacher I would suppose, since they are very excellently executed. My favorite was done by an elementary school, and shows several animals on either side of a river all engaged in turning a rope that a whale is jumping. A very cute depiction of “group” and “cooperation” and – my favorite – a sheep who is pulling with all her might. I pass this sheep nearly every day, and she always cheers me up.

My favorite little sheep - isshou ken mei helping

Some of the other animals on the sheep's side

64. Roof tiles

I’m going to include my first picture here (beware: makes this a 1000 word post!) Seeing is understanding.

63. The sound machines

Not just any sound machine, these are machines about the size of 2 paperback books that are located in toilet stalls – ok, there, I said it. And they make a sound like the sound of a toilet flushing. Now, why in the world do you need a machine that makes that sound in a toilet stall ? Well you may ask. The machines are there to provide another level of privacy for those most private of functions – a curtain of sound! Sometimes they have a button to push, and a row of small LEDs to track the progress of the sound experience. But the other night the machine was electronically wired to the commode and started automatically when the patron sat down, and began tapering off when the patron arose again. Pretty nifty way to deal with a densely-packed small-personal-space-envelop but we-all-crave-privacy society, ne?

62. Japanese holidays and music

This week is holiday time here in Japan, known as “Golden Week” because of the string of holidays that enable people to take much more time off than they are used to (4 holidays in a row counting the substitute day for the one that fell on a Sunday this year). To set the mood, many merchants depart from the usual pop and rock music and play traditional Japanese music instead. What a nice change! I feel so much more like taking my time in a store when I’m not being distracted by loud music. Tonight I was even able to enjoy a little boy who playfully broke into his own version of traditional Japanese dance when he heard the music. . .

They flooded the rice fields in my neighborhood

They flooded the rice fields in my neighborhood. As I came home tonight, I pulled up beside the new reflecting pool, briefly turned off the headlights and enjoyed for a few moments the song of the frogs on a cool spring evening with a bare wisp of a breeze and no bugs. What a magical time!

Gotta dust off this blog!!

I’m trying to hold all the things I like about Japan in my head! NOT a good idea. I’ve probably forgotten some good ones already. But one thing I know I’m going to like about Japan is the STARBUCKS they are building but a seven minutes walk from MY HOUSE. I like it already. I get to see it going up. Now I know, for example, that there are little individual bulbs that light up the letters in the name. After waiting for so long for one in our area it is incredible that it will be so close by. Scheduled to open in late March – hey! That’s THIS MONTH!

59. That extra service touch

I went to a local appliance store today to buy a LAN cable, and wanted to be in and out as quickly as I could. So I went to the service counter and asked where to find them. Directed to the second floor, I headed for the stairs, spent a few extra seconds looking over some of the “impulse” items that were arrayed there and arrived on the second floor, only to be welcomed by a salesgirl who asked “Are you looking for LAN cables?” Imagine my surprise! The service counter on the first floor must have alerted the second floor that a LAN customer was coming. (These are not expensive items.) Then she led me to the cables, we talked about the relative merits of the three basic kinds and after I made my selection she led me to the payment counter. She was cheerful and helpful, stuck with me until I had paid, and said “Goodbye.” I just can’t imagine this level of customer service in my passport country, and it’s definitely something I like about Japan!

58. Back up “beep beeps”

In America most trucks have a “beep” warning signal that sounds when they are backing up, but in Japan all passenger cars also have this feature. At first I found it superfluous but having just gotten back after almost 7 months in the States, I found it a precious and comforting reminder that I was back in my second home.

57. Being called by my last name

I like being called “Miss Karner,” which in Japanese would be Karner-san, where the “san” could also serve, in a different context, as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” (Punctuation wonks: Do I need another period here?) I am called “Miss Karner” all the time in Japan, and if I was Japanese, even close friends would so address me. As it is, being American, they call me “Miss Linda,” which is fine with me, and which actually might have come from their way of putting family name first, so that, to a Japanese person not thinking cross-culturally, “Linda” looks like my last name, and they are, in fact, calling me “Miss Karner.” (Did I lose anybody there?) But my main point is that this form of address seems appropriate for people who do not know me well, such as receptionists, bank tellers and doctors. Calling people by their last names preserves an atmosphere of social politeness and respect for age. It makes the given name special, imbuing it with the intimacy that letting one’s hair down did in America in days gone by. It by no means diminishes the feeling of closeness in a relationship, once you get used to it, while preserving a way for really close friends to express that special bond.

54. – 56. Japan is totally set up for blind people!

Well, perhaps not totally, but there are far more amenities for blind people in Japan than I am aware of in the USA. 54. For one thing, in the cities and larger towns, there are strips of rounded bumps on the sidewalks so that blind people can walk along and avoid straying into the streets. At intersections, the rounded bumps form a bigger square, which is a clue to stop. 55. Since Japan is set up for pedestrians and public transportation, almost every intersection in Japan has a pedestrian signal, with an accompanying whistle to signal one direction, and a bird call to signal the other, although I haven’t figured out how the blind would know which way was which. 56. To top it off I see Braille in many places, such as elevators and on ATMs. But since Japan is a “zero defect” society, in 20 years of living there I only remember seeing one blind person!