First Days in Japan

I landed in Japan and was whisked away to the training center, which is at the end of one of Tokyo's subway lines in a small suburban town called Omiya. This would, by Canadian standards, be a big city. The houses and gardens are very modern but still Japanese, the streets are narrow and dense.

It doesn't help that I don't speak a word of Japanese, because the multitude of signs creates an impression of a truly hectic metropolis (in reality, it's just one bustling street).

A few awesome things:

• The back doors of taxis close by themselves

• Stores are so packed, it's hard to tell what's an aisle and what's a pile of stuff

• You can buy bottled (hot) coffee from vending machines; the drinks that have red labels are warm

I have already developed a routine with regular trips to the grocery store for lunch and dinner. There's no point in cooking because a sushi set or bento box is cheaper than most food-courts back home. The downtown area is also packed with small (often chain) restaurants with picture menus. I ventured out by myself today, and despite not speaking any Japanese I was still able to order a delicious meal just by pointing. Restaurants here have waiters and you call them by pressing a button at the table, much like on a plane. It's such a simple idea – why did I have to travel this far to see it for the first time? Within minutes they bring you your food and the bill, and you pay at the entrance.

A few nights ago I went out with my colleagues to dinner at one such restaurant, and before our waitress had finished going around the table taking orders, another started bringing out the food. Best service ever. Plus, there's no tipping here, because Japanese people believe you should be giving your all at a job and are getting paid enough to do this. Tipping can be seen as an insult in that you think they're not getting paid enough to do their job.

Last night we went out to a regular restaurant, and even though we were a big group, the smaller group of Japanese kids (they looked young but were actually our age) at the table next to ours was much louder (and drunker). Instead of telling the group to be quiet, the servers just put up walls and boxed us in. Within the hour we had a ready made group of Japanese friends, even though most of us couldn't communicate with them. Once in a while the Japanese guys would just walk by and point at me saying “I rove you” in which they really meant “I love you”. Being white is very easy here. We even headed out to karaoke with them, but I didn't last long in the small, smokey and unventilated room (unfortunately smoking indoors is ok in Japan). They also didn't do much singing – instead they yelled into their microphones at the top of their lungs, and at one point I looked over and one guy had taken off his pants. I guess it was because it was hot in there – or maybe pant dropping is a national past-time.

Tonight was my first day off, so I also checked out the temple that's in the neighborhood. It's like a family attraction, with snack and souvenir vendors at the temple gates, and whole families just enjoying a nice day out. I went with a colleague and we even stumbled into a service. We just stood where we were told and bowed when everyone else did, so we didn't attract too much attention to ourselves.