We arrive in Tokyo. The first order of business is getting money. Our meager funds in USD converted to Yen make us instant millionaires. Sounds like a fair sum until we pay the bus fare to get to Tokyo from the airport…6,000 yen for the two of us. Yikes!
Leading up to this move we weren’t too worried about how we’d get around despite not speaking Japanese. We just kind of figured everyone would know English. Yep, we were wrong. The first difficulty I ran into was using the bathroom. The high tech, automatic sliding stall door and heated seats should’ve been a sign that the flush woudn't be a simple push of a lever like in the US. Everything is in the Japanese writing "kanji" so I'm completely lost. For fear of pushing the wrong button and having the bidet (the thing on the toilet that squirts water at your bottom) spray me in the face, it took considerable time for me to examine all the options before pushing the flush. Luckily I picked the right one. If using the bathroom could be that confusing, this is going to be a lot harder than we thought.
Confirmed. This is a lot harder than we thought. Our limited Japanese has relegated us to eating at restaurants with menus that have lots of pictures. Eating out consists of lots of pointing and other primitive hand motions, but somehow we manage to get by. I hope that with time I'll be using less "sign language" and a lot more Japanese.
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3 comments:
Hahaha, just wait until you get to use a restroom with a hole in the ground that you have to squat over - at least you won't have to worry about figuring out any buttons there :)
wow, it sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun... it must be exciting! it's like your first day of undergrad, not knowing what to expect. blake and i wish you guys the best, and we look forward to hearing about your future endeavors. have a great first day of work kim! dave, you're gonna miss the ski/snowboard expo this next weekend!
Dave, Sounds great, and exciting. Look forward to hearing more as you go. Hope you are able to find a store to get your chicken, brown rice and brocoli.
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