April 01, 2004
So it begins
...yep, 2 months of official unemployment! Call Centrelink, people, I'm going loco! Not that we won't be busy - tomorrow we fly out to China, land of "Ni hao" toilets and, according to my Japanese students, "pushy people" (sic)...
Yes. It's a wall. You guessed right. Walls in this country are totally funky. Full of character. I love walls.
Talking about pushy people - yesterday, this impatient shit salaryman tried to push onto the subway and in the process, push over this obviously blind guy, so I grabbed his collar and yelled "Sumimasen" in his ear. Man, I love doing that. This guy was totally shamed and full-on bowed to the blind guy for about 3 minutes after we got onto the train, which was kind of weird, considering the guy was blind. But hey.
It's S.O G.O.O.D to finish work without a (figurative) black eye. Honestly, I thought I was pitching for one. The bureacratic CRAP that Japanese companies mistake for logic, drives me nuts. Unfortunately, it was one of those places where the office staff were nuggets of gold and trying to do a good job, but the upper management policies sucked onsen tamago. My girlie friend, Cath, and I have been discussing the eternal conundrum "If Japanese people are so honest, then why is everyone so frikkin' corrupt?" but I'll bore you with that some other time.
For now, if you're in Japan, do yourself a favour and check out Utada Hikaru's "I haven't written anything new for a year, so here's a collection of faves to shut y'alls up" excuse for a new release. Rock on, Hikki, give us the good word...
As a regular reader of your blog, I have to say that I will certainly miss your stories about Japan, and I can't help feeling that life back in Australia could possibly be as interesting as your Japanese experiences.
Best of luck with your future, and thanks for sharing!
Yes!!!!!!!!! Good job with that salaryman. I guess you showed him a thing or two. Poor blind guy. I wish I could have been there to see you yell "sumimasen" in that guy's ear. You made him realize what a total jerk he was being. Good job!
Justin McDowell
Kinki, I can feel your wa slipping away (short timers?)! Picturing you grabbing salariman in the subway makes me LOL tho. Godspeed you on your journey and of course... take lots of picspleasethnx!
Pictures are, of course, a given. And I lost my wa some time ago. Can't be having *too* much of a culture shock when I get back to Australia, now, can I?
i would love to know where you stayed at in fuji-yoshida? or did you stay in kawaguchi-ko?
We stayed with the lovely Frangipani, a friend out in Fujiyoshida who has since moved to Tokyo.
Ah, the frustration of Japanese paternal beaurocracy does do one's head in towards the end. Much sympathy. Good practice for China though.
hope you get to experience china deeply, and have a blast. safe journey, ok ? : )
be sure to update your blog while in china! i can't wait to see your pictures! you and mattymcg have a safe trip and enjoy the time off..
doing a lot of web research for my move to Japan next year, and JUST discovered your wonderful site about a week ago...but now you're leaving! (bad timing, dammit, story of my life--well, nevermind.) hope you'll keep the site up for a while after you've gone back home so I can do some catch-up reading!
Gleek, might be hard to update the ol' blog considering I use Movable Type and all. BUT will no doubt be full of stories for the return. Thanks everyone for your kind wishes!
thanks for sharing your lives in Japan :)
Enjoy China & throw all rules of etiquette out the window....and watch out for people spitting...lol
Looking forward to hearing your stories of China....
Have a bloody good ol' time in China now you too!!! Can't wait for the sayonara party when you get back!
pp
lol @ jimmy
safe journey as your japanese blog ends, and the spin-off begins... looking forward to it, kinki!
Congrats, Kinki, on your mention in JapanZine!
(http://www.japan-zine.com/Feature1.htm)
nice blog...greeting from Singapore