Author: Iris

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…

In my apartment – except for the entrance and the bathroom area – there is only a single door. I mean, a normal, Western style door that swings open and that even the Japanese call “DOA”, as opposed to the Japanese style sliding doors made from paper, called fusuma. All my tatami rooms are equipped with fusuma, but between the hallway and the kitchen/livingroom, there is said one single door, that separates my office space from my private living space.

Although the house is well designed so that the sun does not directly shine into my office during the summer, it still becomes quite hot. Now is the time when I have all my windows open, but even so the airflow through my office is minimal. Only in the evening, around sunset, there is usually a stronger breeze that cools down the apartment a little.

However, that breeze is also strong enough to cause that one single door to bang shut, which gives me a shock every time it happens. And even if I put something on the floor to prevent the bang, the door still closes, leaving me to quietly suffocate. So, I have to get up regularly to open that door again, just so that it can bang shut again…

Yesterday I’ve finally had enough and decided to fix that problem once and for all. So, today I went to the home centre to look for a solution. I love browsing the home centre and imagining all the creative stuff that could be done with all their goods…

Anyway, I found what I wanted, and after about 30 minutes of tool-less wrestling and wrangling, I had managed to install a little hook that is supposed to keep the door from banging shut again. I am extremely pleased with myself and right now, I am enjoying a nice, cool – and quiet – evening. Ah, what’s the next project going to be?

I’m back! I had a wonderful time in Korea with my old friend – and with her boys out of the house, we girls had a great time dancing. Or, more accurately, drinking…

The trip itself was not as smooth as I hoped it would be. From Kyoto to Kansai airport it is roughly a two hours trip, and I usually take a group taxi, as this is the most convenient way. This time on the way to the airport, there was only one more person to share the taxi with, but for some reason there was some delay, and we needed to wait for her quite a bit. Then, almost predictably, we ended up in the rush hour traffic jam somewhere before Osaka, but the driver was smart enough to get off the highway and to circumvent it on normal streets. However, as we did not make the usual stop somewhere in the middle, I guess we were still quite pressed for time.

On the airport, after the machine check-in, I unnecessarily spent about 20 minutes in the queue for those who wanted to check in luggage… Oh well, Terminal 2 is tiny anyway, and there was still enough time to eat some udon – the low-cost carrier I flew with does not even offer water during the flight, but then again, it’s only 90 minutes anyway.

Interestingly, I had quite some problems with my luggage check. For some reason I had to run my bag (already emptied of toiletries and the laptop) through the X-ray machine three times, and then they asked me if they could hand search it. I have no idea what triggered the whole thing, but in the end they took away my toothpaste, a 160 mg tube that was not even 1/4 full anymore: “The container is too big…”

On the way back from my friend’s place in central Korea, the highway bus was 30 minutes late and I panicked a little, but I did make my plane. I stood in line for the usual luggage check, and again, they checked my carry on bag three times and then finally conducted a manual search. My pencil-case was a problem (why I still don’t understand), and they took away the best of all my friend’s gifts. Or, they tried to do so – only over my dead body would I give up that 650 gram jar of Nutella!

So, to educate the rest of you: Nutella apparently counts as a liquid in Korea. And you are not allowed to bring it on board except in 100 ml containers. Thanks America! The young woman at the luggage check was very friendly – “I understand, but there are so many CCTV cameras here, I cannot let you have it!” – and suggested check-in, or sending it by mail, or repackaging. Being a bit pressed for time, I went for the first option and paid 3000 YEN extra; that was the most expensive jar of Nutella I ever received as a gift…

In the end, the plane was delayed just enough to make me worry about my taxi home, but I found the information on their homepage to be inaccurate. I finally made it home, dead tired, at about 1:30 on Sunday morning, and dropped into bed immediately; I only opened all the windows to thoroughly air my apartment during the night.

The most interesting part of the whole trip was the special paperwork I had to go through as a resident of Japan. Usually, when entering Japan (and many other countries), you have to fill in a “disembarkation card for foreigners”, giving your personal data and details about the trip.

As a resident of Japan I don’t need to do this anymore. However, those like me living in Japan and intending to return have to fill in an “embarkation card for foreign residents” on their way out of the country. It is essentially the same thing, a piece of paper stapled to your passport, and you have to retain it during your trip abroad until you reenter Japan, where the paper will be removed again.

On top of this, everybody who enters Japan has to fill in a customs form. This time, because I have asked that all my boxes from Germany are delivered, I had to fill in two forms – one for customs at the airport and one for me, or rather: my shipping agency. It was straightforward, the officer was friendly, although he gulped a little when I told him the number of boxes that would be coming. I hope I did not make any mistakes, Japanese bureaucrats can be very literal…

Even though the trip was not very relaxing, the time spent with my friend was certainly worth it. We had great food together and talked a lot and we drank wine and had chocolate. I met some friends, did some shopping, and I could even finish some administrative stuff. Altogether, a very nice holiday indeed!

I know how this must sound, coming from the woman who has just spent 5 months hunting for the perfect washing machine…, but I am really not that particular a person! These days I try to buy Japanese products and patronise small local shops, because I think that if I expect to make a living in Japan among, from, and with the Japanese people, it’s just fair to give back to the local economy and not some international corporation that manages to not pay any taxes anywhere…

Beyond that, however, most of the things I buy I choose from a strictly functional point of view. Every electrical appliance I have bought, both for my office and the household in general, is from a different manufacturer. I don’t mind that my kitchen is not all of a piece, with a fridge that has a Swarovski-stone encrusted front with pink flowers, as seen in Korea, for example (yes, I am serious!)

The same with clothing: I don’t care for brand names at all. It is difficult enough to find clothes that I like, that fit, and that come at a reasonable price. The second criterion is even more difficult to fulfill here in Asia for somebody who is somewhat more… what’s the word again? … ah: voluptuous… than the average. Besides, as long as all those high fashion designers measure their clothing on 14-year-old stick figures, they obviously don’t want me as their customer anyway.

Similar with hygiene products: I buy whatever is cheapest whenever I need new toilet paper, tooth paste, shampoo, hand soap, dish detergent… If you’re not allergic to any ingredients, you can get away with that, and I don’t see the point in buying toilet paper with flowery print and lemon smell if the one without does the same trick at half the price…

There are only a few things I am extremely particular about, food for example. I buy Nutella, not any of those local chocolate spread imitations. Years of experience and unsuccessful tryouts have proved me right. I also buy European wine and cheese, and not the American versions, even if that means that my food bill is three times as high; I don’t drink that much wine anyway – not since I have discovered sparkling sake…

One other thing I am extremely picky about is: tooth brushes. For more than 20 years now, I have been buying only a particular brand of tooth brushes, one that is only available in Austria. Whenever I visit Austria, I buy a year’s supply of them, which usually makes the cashier look at me in a peculiar way… Unfortunately, I haven’t been in Austria for a long time now, so I was reduced to buying local, but I did not like them at all…

Somehow, I came to talk about the subject with an Austrian friend of mine – who promptly said he would go out and go shopping for me. And lo and behold: A package with a six month’s supply of my favourite tooth brushes arrived in the mail yesterday… Thank you so much! You’ve made my day! Oh, those little joys…

To my greatest shame I have to confess: I caved in. I gave up. Five months of trying and working and seeking – and I just couldn’t go on any more. So, after a drama similar to the one with me getting internet, I finally went out last Friday – and bought a washing machine.

Oh. I probably should be explaining this in a bit more detail…

Altogether, I have been living in Asia now for six years. And all through this time I used local washing machines, often second-hand models. The standard Asian washing machine is a top loader machine, the main feature of which is that it is not capable of heating water like the European ones are. Meaning: it uses whatever temperature the water has as it comes from the tap, whether it be luke warm 25 degrees in summer or almost freezing 10 degrees in winter.

Six years with those machines made me hate them, hate them thoroughly. First of all, I have the impression that top loaders treat the laundry much more roughly than necessary – many of my t-shirts now have at least one tiny hole somewhere. Second, it seems to me that they are not washing as cleanly as possible – clearly, cold water does not clean as well as hot one, no matter how much detergent you are using. And third, they use way too much water for my taste.

So, when I moved to my new apartment in February, with the intention of staying in Japan for good, I decided that I would treat myself to a decent European washing machine, a beautiful front loader with a variety of programs with hot water up to 90 degrees Celsius. It may be more expensive than the standard I thought, but as a good machine will last for 10 years and more, this is not an issue. And thus began my journey…

Firstly, I went to Yodobashi Camera. When I bought the fridge and the gas range, I already checked the aisle with the washing machines and I was not happy with what I saw: Most of the machines were top loaders, and the few front loaders they had could not heat water either. “No point in buying these” I thought and moved on.

Secondly, I contacted a German friend of mine who has been living in Tokyo for more than 30 years. She said she was using a local model, but she could track down an *insert German top brand here* shop in Tokyo where they would sell the German machines I wanted. I took a trip to Tokyo and together with my friend we visited the store. The experience was rather … disillusioning.

The cheapest model they had cost 300.000 YEN. Then they wanted 100.000 YEN for delivery and installation. And then they estimated 250.000 YEN on top of that for remodeling my bathroom. This was needed because their machines run on 230 V and Japan has only 100 V, so the electric wiring would need to be strengthened, and possibly the floor too. I declined. I mean, I don’t mind expensive, but I do mind extortion. Hence, no advertisement for them here…

Thirdly, I let the whole thing slip for a while. With my visa and the company I had enough decisions to make. Only in the beginning of this month I picked up the loose ends again – all the while lugging my dirty underwear to the nearest laundromat. I found out that Panasonic (remember, that’s a Japanese company) manufactures beautiful European style washing machines, and they sell them everywhere all over the planet – just not in Japan.

I went so far as to coerce a friend of mine to call Panasonic and ask if they would sell those machines in Japan, or if it was possible to import them from any place where they are sold, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia… for example. The man on the other end said, well, we don’t sell them here, and it’s not allowed to import them (as they are not certified for Japan). And even if there was a way to import those washing machines, he would not know, and even if he know, he was not allowed to tell us. Which left us with the two options that a) either he really did not know anything about importing those things, or b) he did, but thought it better not to talk about that on a company phone. Unfortunately, we’ll never find out…

Fourthly, my visa arrived, and I figured that with all my stuff still in Germany awaiting shipment, I could just as easily add a German washing machine to all the boxes. It would have cost me only 150.000 YEN, with 150.000 YEN for an independent workman to fix the bathroom, and free delivery and installation.

I had already contacted a white goods store near my shipping company, but then another friend of mine told me that she had tried to bring her old washing machine when she moved from Europe to Asia, and that she had to throw it away after all – and did I know that there was a different electric frequency in Asia? Well, I did not, and I since found out that Europe runs on 50 Hz electric frequency, and most of Asia on 60 Hz. Most of Asia, notice the big exception: Northern Japan, which also runs on 50 Hz. Unfortunately I have no plans moving to Tokyo…

Frantic phone calls and searches on- and offline ensued. The German manufacturer said it was better to buy their machine in Japan. The abovementioned shop in Tokyo said that they had the frequency problem all sorted out and it would not be an issue. We found frequency converters who would do the trick of changing the 100V/60Hz coming out of my socket to the 230V/50Hz the machine would require, but they are expensive (60.000 YEN and up), heavy (at least 20 kg), and hard to get.

In the end, I did not dare to import a machine where I could not have been absolutely sure that it would work here. Besides, I thought that while it would be fine for me to renovate the bathroom in my own house/apartment, there’s not much point in doing so in a rental one – and my landlord would not have paid a thing (understandably).

Fifthly, I finally went out last Friday to buy a washing machine. And lo and behold, I found a Panasonic front loader that is able to heat water (15, 40, 60 degrees), only one of two models currently out there. It is an enormous thing more than 1 m high and looks as if you could shoot it up to the IRS laden with supplies. It has 10 kg capacity – apparently the Japanese like to wash their futons at home – which means that I will probably need to wash only once a month; it’s good that it comes with a built-in dryer so I will not run out of clothing in the winter…

The whole thing came at a price of 225.000 YEN, plus 3.200 YEN delivery and installation – which was only that expensive because my building does not have an elevator – and costs for bathroom remodeling of 432 YEN. The reason for the latter is that my bathroom has a very flat tub installed in which the washing machine is usually placed. In case there is a leak, the water will be contained in the tub and drain away without flooding the whole bathroom. Unfortunately, the tub is very old and the machine is too wide to fit in – by about 10 mm.

My neighbour had the same problem and he said I could just buy bricks or wooden blocks on which to place the machine half inside and half outside of the tub, and you can see on the photo below that this is exactly what I did. The people installing the machine were not particularly happy, but by then I was not ready to give in any more, and in the end we managed. So far I have done two loads of laundry and I am, let’s say, not totally dissatisfied. However, every time I have to go to the bathroom now I get a little shock at the sight of that UFO taking up so much space in there…