Off-Topic Osaka

April 12th 2017


Quirky

After almost two weeks in Japan, we begin to notice some little quirks of the Japanese, which I'll just briefly summarize here — based entirely on subjective observations and with no claim of factual correctness, of course.

1. The Heating Mystery
For about half of the year, Japan is pretty cold. All the more baffling is that the vast majority of houses does not have proper heating installed — usually, a small air-con has to do the job. And it's not that the Japanese don't get cold for some reason, either — there is a huge market for heated blankets, toilets, and hot-water bottles. Apparently no one has heard of the wonders of central heating and/or insulation here. Strange.

2. Umbrellas
About 90% of Tokyo's population owns the same transparent 60cm umbrella. And it seems like these umbrellas are not regarded as property in the usual sense — I'm offered one by a man in the pouring rain, and outside restaurants and convenience stores, the umbrellas, impossible to tell apart, regularly change owners (umbrellas are not allowed inside and are usually either left outside or wrapped in plastic bags).

3. Bowing
Okay, I'm sure everybody has heard about bowing, but sometimes the bowing culture is so extreme that I mention it here again: In a train, a staff member walks through our car three times over the course of our ride — and every time he enters or leaves the car, he bows. With seven cars and three walks through the train, that gives 7*3*2 = 42 bows.
And if you eat out at a fancy restaurant, there will be an employee who accompanies you outside as you leave, bowing down for about 15 seconds as you walk away.
I really like bowing as a concept but... well, I guess you can take it a bit too far.