We – as Westerners – tend to have a certain image of the Japanese: always polite and correct, very reserved and formal, strictly sticking to the rules… Very often, this is indeed the case – if you meet the Japanese in a business setting, especially if you are the customer or client. However, outside of this formal environment, the Japanese keep surprising me.
Last Saturday there was our neighborhood party. Essentially, the whole block of apartment buildings consists of three smaller parts separated by a road, but the exterior of the buildings is similar, so it’s easy to see which ones belong to the same block. As the buildings are old and stem from a time when people still cared more about living conditions than maximizing revenue, there are many trees between the buildings, flowerbeds and playgrounds for the children, or simply plain lawn.
There is also an open space at one corner, where people usually meet – and there the party took place in the late afternoon and early evening. Chinese, or rather Japanese, lanterns were hung up, food and drinks were provided by the neighborhood association. There was some music, people were playing bingo – given their enthusiasm, the prizes must have been enormous – children were chasing each other through the crowds… At the more quiet corners people would sit, eat, and chat, and I even saw somebody playing Go! In another corner there was a group of young people sitting together playing guitars and singing…
The whole atmosphere was very relaxed and enjoyable. Although I’m not a very outgoing person, it’s hard not to talk to anybody while standing in the queue waiting for the next batch of yaki-soba to finish. I did my best with the little Japanese I know, and I am always happy when I can hold a somewhat longer conversation with somebody; if need be, I speak English and the other person Japanese, and more often than not, we will understand somewhere in the middle. It was fun! Pity they only do it once a year…