Friday, November 14, 2008

Lost in Translation

Ever see that movie, Lost in Translation with Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray? It's about a movie star with a sense of emptiness, and a neglected newlywed meet up as strangers in Tokyo, Japan and form an unlikely bond. This is how my life in Japan seems to resemble. Walking in the streets of Japan, not knowing more than 3-4 words is quite interesting. No one really understands you and you have to use hand motions to help them understand you. It doesn't really hit you until you need help with something and no one speaks English or very little English (eigo).

Perfectly good first example, the first night I arrived in Japan, I had no shampoo, conditioner or bodywash/soap. My two new housemates and I walked to town to a Family Mart. I went to the toiletries aisle and picked up shampoo/conditioner and the only thing I wasnt sure of was the bodywash/soap. There was no bar of soap to be found so I went for a bottle of Johnson/Johnson. How could I go wrong? It said 24 hour care on it and the rest was in Japanese. I came home, took a shower and little did I know, it wasnt bodywash!!! it was LOTION! haha

Next was our train ride to Narita. Of course, being that it was the first time any of us took the train (JR to be exact), we had no idea how to buy tickets. we stood at the ticketing machine and pressed buttons, didn't exactly help. Good thing, we bumped into a few Americans who happeend to be some other teachers from ALS. They were headed to an event in Naruto. We got on the train with them since we were chatting up a storm and yet again, little did we know, we were headed in the wrong direction. Now, that isnt so bad when you can back track and still arrive at your planned destination. After arriving in Narita, we did all the sight seeing and decided to head back. We jumped on the Kiesei Narita Line. For those that are not familiar with the Japanese train system, it is not like the MTA who monopolizes all the transportation. Here, different large companies own their own lines. Keisei and JR are two different lines/owners. We got on the wrong line and ended up having to speak to the fare adjustment guy and he had to point us in the right direction. Not only did we have to take a bus there (extra $$), but we didnt understand how to pay the buss driver either. Lets just say a lot of hand motions were thrown out there and eventually, we realized we pay when we get off. All in all, you learn from your experiences and ended a great day with awesome ramen in Chiba.

The two most used phrases of the day: "sumimasen" and "wakarimasen" which means excuse me/sorry and i dont understand.

So i'll leave you with this... "For relaxing times, make it Suntory time. "


Here is the new link for picasa (you can also click on the slidesow to the right):
Picasa Web Album
Picasa Web Album for the Foodies

1 comment:

sin said...

hahah suntory is so popular among nihonjin

i hope you're enjoying everything there :)