It was long since I have blogged. As soon as I came over to Japan I thought, I will put my experiences in Japan. As the saying goes, Chaitanya Proposes and God Disposes. That is what is happening with me. As soon as I landed at the office (Toshiba) I was loaded with tons of issues. These issues should be resolved and I was working almost 12hours to 18hrs, sometimes I was leaving early in the morning. Today is one such days where I am able to spend some time for myself.
I thought to begin with let me put My First Contact with Japanese in their world itself. Well it is a first contact because this is my first foreign country and everthing I see here is different. I started observing a lot of things. The difference in people, the facility which is provided to the citizens etc. I had only heard humbleness of Japanese and also known through there language. It is so humble you just cant imagine. I will put across some of my experiences and some of my friends.
To start with let me tell about the airport. At the airport (mars for me) everything was new and I had to reach Mishima a small town in Shizouka ken(prefecture). I was not able to reach my friends numbers and then I had to reach their else it will be too late. So I went over to the Shinkansen(bullet train) counter. There I had no clear idea of what to do and I didn't know their language very well. I new so called Japanese language as much as a 4year old kid could talk or something I think. The lady asked me where do I need to go and then I then she gave me the ticket to Mishima. I was confused where to go how to go etc. On my way to the station I asked a person by showing the ticket. The person accompanied me and took me to the bullet train told me where to stand also. That was one of examples of Japanese humbleness.
The next example was of my friend. He had come to Japan for the first and didnt know a word of Japanese. He was suppose to return to hotel from his office. He called the taxi but after calling he realized he had only 1200 Yens. It costs around 1350 yens to his hotel from the office. When the cab came over he tried to explain the same to the cab driver in English. In Japan almost all cab drivers dont know English. So when he explained the same, the driver didnt understand. In the end the driver asked him to sit in the cab and then he took him. When the meter showed around 1150 yens or so the cab driver switched off the meter and then took him to the hotel. He took 1150 from him and went. This was really surprising.
The other example was with me and friends. We usually go to Mini Stop a combini stores nearby our office during our lunch or for snacks. It was quite cloudy that day and it was about to rain. We reached there and it started raining. The rain had not stopped even after our lunch and we had to come to the office. In Japan if it rains it is just like standing beneath the shower with full speed. We were just thinking how to return, then the lady in the shop came over and asked us how are you people going. She enquired do we have an umbrella and unfortunately we had not taken the umbrella. So she gave us two umbrella to me and my friend. I was really surprised. The humbleness doesnt end here. We reached office and then we saw two of our collegues not drenched to our surprise!! We asked them where are you coming from. They said they had gone Aspen a small restaurant and the lady out there had dropped them by car. That was one of the most surprising thing.
This way I keep listening different stories about the helping attitude, humbleness etc about Japanese. This is the softer side of the Japanese. Sometimes have also seen effrontery shown by them also. This is very less compared to the softer side. I would always say it is good place to stay provided you know the language. You will find it really difficult starting from food to travel. At least travel you can some how manage since the train managers or ticket collector are all really helpful and also most of them can understand English .
Yes, I remembered one more incident about the train station which my friend had experienced. As usual he didnt know Japanese. He wanted to go to some place in Japan and so he approached the train manager or ticket collector. Unfortunately, the ticket collector didnt know Japanese. My friend tried to explain him what exactly he wanted to do in English and the collector couldn't understand. So the collector called up his daughter who new English and asked my friend to explain her the same. She translated the same. At last my friend got the correct tickets and reached his destination.
I thought to begin with let me put My First Contact with Japanese in their world itself. Well it is a first contact because this is my first foreign country and everthing I see here is different. I started observing a lot of things. The difference in people, the facility which is provided to the citizens etc. I had only heard humbleness of Japanese and also known through there language. It is so humble you just cant imagine. I will put across some of my experiences and some of my friends.
To start with let me tell about the airport. At the airport (mars for me) everything was new and I had to reach Mishima a small town in Shizouka ken(prefecture). I was not able to reach my friends numbers and then I had to reach their else it will be too late. So I went over to the Shinkansen(bullet train) counter. There I had no clear idea of what to do and I didn't know their language very well. I new so called Japanese language as much as a 4year old kid could talk or something I think. The lady asked me where do I need to go and then I then she gave me the ticket to Mishima. I was confused where to go how to go etc. On my way to the station I asked a person by showing the ticket. The person accompanied me and took me to the bullet train told me where to stand also. That was one of examples of Japanese humbleness.
The next example was of my friend. He had come to Japan for the first and didnt know a word of Japanese. He was suppose to return to hotel from his office. He called the taxi but after calling he realized he had only 1200 Yens. It costs around 1350 yens to his hotel from the office. When the cab came over he tried to explain the same to the cab driver in English. In Japan almost all cab drivers dont know English. So when he explained the same, the driver didnt understand. In the end the driver asked him to sit in the cab and then he took him. When the meter showed around 1150 yens or so the cab driver switched off the meter and then took him to the hotel. He took 1150 from him and went. This was really surprising.
The other example was with me and friends. We usually go to Mini Stop a combini stores nearby our office during our lunch or for snacks. It was quite cloudy that day and it was about to rain. We reached there and it started raining. The rain had not stopped even after our lunch and we had to come to the office. In Japan if it rains it is just like standing beneath the shower with full speed. We were just thinking how to return, then the lady in the shop came over and asked us how are you people going. She enquired do we have an umbrella and unfortunately we had not taken the umbrella. So she gave us two umbrella to me and my friend. I was really surprised. The humbleness doesnt end here. We reached office and then we saw two of our collegues not drenched to our surprise!! We asked them where are you coming from. They said they had gone Aspen a small restaurant and the lady out there had dropped them by car. That was one of the most surprising thing.
This way I keep listening different stories about the helping attitude, humbleness etc about Japanese. This is the softer side of the Japanese. Sometimes have also seen effrontery shown by them also. This is very less compared to the softer side. I would always say it is good place to stay provided you know the language. You will find it really difficult starting from food to travel. At least travel you can some how manage since the train managers or ticket collector are all really helpful and also most of them can understand English .
Yes, I remembered one more incident about the train station which my friend had experienced. As usual he didnt know Japanese. He wanted to go to some place in Japan and so he approached the train manager or ticket collector. Unfortunately, the ticket collector didnt know Japanese. My friend tried to explain him what exactly he wanted to do in English and the collector couldn't understand. So the collector called up his daughter who new English and asked my friend to explain her the same. She translated the same. At last my friend got the correct tickets and reached his destination.
This is for all for today. I will be updating my blog as and when I find time. I will be telling about other places like disneyland, Fuji-Q highland etc etc. Keep watching this blog. Also I will be putting some photos so that you can enjoy as I describe them.
No comments:
Post a Comment