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As far as service goes, we have come across some really good service and some really bad.  Most is just average.

Japan is well known for it’s polite people and excellent service.

I have only lived in Tokyo, so can’t possibly speak for all of Japan, but haven’t really been overwhelmed by any real differences from Melbourne so far.  I am guessing that being a big city, the famous politeness and courtesy often makes way for time saving and being in a rush.

The bowing is one very noticibale difference, and I think a nice gesture.  Although, it does seem to take an awfully long time for people to say goodbye at the local railway station, with all the bowing and fare-welling that goes on.  It looks a little like a bowing version of “No, YOU hang up first!”.

As usual, if there is something that sparks my interest, I will sneak it into a lesson somewhere to hear the student’s views.  When we talk about what is considered polite or impolite in class, there are only two significant differences we can come up with.  The first is that it is impolite to wear shoes into a Japanese household, but not so much in Australia, and it is impolite to slurp your soup in Australia, but no so in Japan.

I pointed out that it is considered pretty inconsiderate to use a phone on the train or tram in Australia but people continue to do so anyway, and I had been glad to find that using a mobile to make calls is prohibited on Tokyo trains.  The students then drew attention to the fact that the only reason that most people obey the rules is that they are all busy emailing instead…

I saw a video of a Melbourne City Loop station at peak hour the other day which was taken to highlight the fact that the overcrowded trains are stopped at each station for up to four minutes so that everyone can get on and off.  There are a bloody lot more people getting on and off each train in Tokyo and they do it a lot faster.  If any train was stopped at a Tokyo station for four minutes, it would have another five trains run up the back of it before the time was up.

It looked from the video like the reason that everyone is taking so long to get on and off the trains in Melbourne is that they are all too polite to push.  They are all waiting until each person before them has shuffled into an appropriate space, then they will shuffle in behind.  Then everyone will shuffle about a bit more to see if any more can be squeezed in.

On the trains I have taken here, it is perfectly accepted to just barge on in whether there is space or not, pushing everyone out of the way as you go.  I have been pushed and shoved plenty of times just for walking onto the carriage instead of running.  It is also comon to find everyone trying to get out of the door at exactly the same time, rather than standing back for a second to let a few others through.

I know that the system would probably all fall apart if everyone didn’t run and push and shove, but does that make it polite? 

The service in Starbucks on Hachiko intersection is excellent, and is helped along by the fact that there is a staff member assigned to every square foot or so of the store.  The service in our local video store is each and every time friendly and polite, even though we always forget our card and tend to return empty DVD cases from time to time.  We are always treated very well in Wolfgang Puck in Harajuku, despite the fact Patrick always orders a Coke after it has been carefully explained to him that they only have Pepsi.  Finally, we are warmly welcomed into our Grandpa Restaurant down the street, even though we always go there not long before closing and probably delay their going home each time.

Patrick, as always, has also made friends in every sports store in the city.

One service which does stand out as a big improvement on my experiences in Melbourne, is the postal service.  The postmen here always go the extra mile, and each time a parcel arrives, even though we have a secure parcel box they could use to drop off the delivery, they will ring the bell and bring the box up to the apartment.  They are always very friendly and accepting of the fact that we can’t understand a word they are saying.

I  asked in class today if anyone had bought a sheep recently.  No one had, which was good to hear.Patrick is watching another of his unbelievably crap movies at the moment so I am trying my best to keep myself occupied so as not to push the television off the balcony.

He was watching a break-dancing competition last night which I would usually also find a little irritating.  A lot of the break-dancing I have seen before involves a lot of loping about a circle then doing a little uncoordinated spinning about.

The break-dancing competition last night was, however, actually really good to watch.  There was very little of the strange loping about at the beginning, and lots of not at all uncoordinated spinning.

The Japanese have really embraced hip-hop culture and all the fashion and music that goes with it, I see a lot of afros and baggy trousers hanging around knees.

Patrick tells me that the break-dancing world champions are Japanese,  I wouldn’t be suprised from what we saw yesterday.  I had always thought that break-dancing seemed like such a waste of talent before that.

The ridiculous movie has finished!  Time to go rent some more.

Patrick was being boring today. He had class in the morning, then a nap followed by training in the afternoon.

I decided to go out for a walk by myself because it was sunny for once and I figured I could do some Patrick-style secret shopping. I have also only ever gone out for walks with Patrick as guide, so am never sure if I would really be able to find my way around without him.

I managed very well and after finding myself somewhere completely unexpected only once, I made my way through Yoyogi park to Shibuya.

I haven’t been to Yoyogi park since we went to see the cherry blossoms, and it is looking quite different with all the bright green leaves everywhere. I must drag Patrick around the circuit of parks all over again now the the leaves have finally appeared.

I went and shopped around Shibuya for a while and bought myself just a couple of little presents, then spent over an hour browsing the food hall under Tokyu department store. They have the nicest food there, both fresh and prepared. They also have constantly changing cakes and sweets to suit the seasons. Today, among other things, there were tiny sweets wrapped up to look like irises and boxes of pink flowery cakes for Mothers Day.

Once I was done enjoying imagining what we would eat everyday if our budget was a bit more flexible, I bought myself an orange and yoghurt muffin and went upstairs to rescue Patrick.

Patrick had got on the train at Kawasaki without enough credit on his Suica train pass to get back off at the other end, so I had to be ready to throw him some cash when he arrived in Shibuya. It was a good opportunity for some people-watching at the station while I waited, always an interesting pastime in Tokyo.

My overall opinion of the crowds here is that, yes, they are much better dressed than any Melbourne crowds I have seen, and EVERY woman has nice hair. I feel ashamed every time I leave the house. Strangely enough, I am sure there are a lot more comb-overs here than there are in Melbourne. Maybe Australian balding men just shave their heads.

Apparently the term for “comb-over” here is “barcode hair”.

I thought that was cute.

I was a little lazy on my last post and didn’t write as much as I could have, so as it is 1am and I am still full of energy, I may as well update it.

In addition to its being full of amazing food and other stores of things we can’t afford, I should have mentioned that Roppongi Midtown has a pretty Japanese garden and pond, complete with viewing and resting areas. It is always difficult to believe we are still in the middle of one of the world’s biggest cities when we visit these inner-city gardens.

There was also an exhibition of Nissan Skylines, from the earliest models to the latest - a nice surprise for Patrick to reward him for agreeing to be dragged about on city walks each weekend.

We went for some Fooding* with Michael this evening, and were herded out of our usual two or so restaurants before finally giving up and going home. I always imagined that everything in Tokyo would be open until the early hours of the morning, especially in the younger, trendier areas. In fact, because the trains finish quite early, it is rare to find anywhere to eat or have coffee past 10 or 11pm.

A little annoying really, especially when we live on a schedule that has us finishing work after 9pm.

Patrick has started his Japanese classes this week, and seems to be enjoying them. They are very difficult as he began in the middle of the course and all the other students seem to have quite a handle on what is happening. The teacher only speaks Japanese, so Patrick spends a fair chunk of the time having no idea what she is talking about. I am hoping one day it will all just fall into place and he will be suddenly enlightened…

We study together in the evenings so are getting the best value out of his classes as possible, and there is one waitress at a restaurant we frequent often who doesn’t seem to mind when we practice our new phrases on her. I have a feeling the boys at our local video store would be happy to hear us try a few phrases as well, as they always very carefully say; “one thousand, next Tuesday, thank-you!” each time we rent a DVD. I always appreciate their efforts greatly.

Jason has also been helpful with giving Patrick hints on how to remember certain phrases. He pointed out the the Japanese for “You’re welcome” (Doitashimashite) sounds a lot like “Don’t touch my moustache” said very quickly.

Patrick didn’t know what a ‘moustache’ was, so we told him it is like the top half of a beard. Now when he wants to say “you’re welcome”, he yells “don’t touch my beard!” Not quite the same effect, but much more interesting.

* A restaurant we passed in Shibuya a few weeks ago advertised its “Modern Tokyo Fooding” or something of the sort, so we have now added the very flexible term ‘fooding’ to our vocabularies.

The weather has been drizzly and dull as usual for my weekend. It isn’t so bad, at least it doesn’t rain heavily.

We went to Roppongi Midtown again, as we didn’t get such a good look around last time. It really does feel like home.

There is an amazing selection of food there, so Patrick had some handmade Chinese noodles and I had more of the irresistible soup we had last week. Perfect miserable weather food.

We walked through Aoyama Cemetery on the way home, which seemed like an appropriate dull-weather activity. The cemetery is enormous and really quite pretty. It is inhabited by hundreds of grumpy looking, well fed cats. Patrick insisted that grumpy cats that hang about cemeteries are really bad people’s souls, so wasn’t very impressed when I chased them all about trying to pat them.

I would have insisted that we spend more time there exploring, but it is full of signs warning about robbers and theives that frequent the cemetery, which was a little scary.