Simplicity

 

The view from our room. The sun sets on day 2.

Our second day of living in Japan was wonderfully simple.

For the first time in weeks… months, really… there were no critical life decisions to be made or complex logistics to sort out. We had but one straightforward objective; stay awake long enough so that we could begin to correct our schedule.

Despite having woken up at midnight, we were determined to fill our day with enough mundane tasks such that we could make it to at least 6pm before passing out.

And so, in the wee hours of the morning while locals stumbled between nearby bars enjoying Shogatsu (the Japanese new years celebration period which lasts for a few days) we made the long march to the local gym.

Strangely enough, the closest gym to our hotel happened to be the same at which we are already members, and the long march was in fact about 100 metres. We had a quick and easy workout - being mindful not to put any real strain on our bodies since they were already completely upside down (literally).

Access to the gym was easy since we just needed the same key fobs as in Canada, and the facility was clean and modern. Actually, the equipment was obviously of a higher grade than what we were used to back home. Nice.

After the gym, we washed up and made our way to a coin laundry. Our clothes from the plane trip were in dire need of either cleaning or burning and, along with many things, the laundry service at the hotel was closed for the holiday.

We may have given Google Translate its greatest challenge yet in the process of figuring out the laundry machines given that they have no English and the laundromat staff were sound asleep somewhere.  Nevertheless, we managed to get the all clothes clean and dry through some careful deduction and cryptography.

There was a lovely little Shinto temple right across the street from the laundromat, tucked in unassumingly between a couple of apartment buildings. Lining the walls of the shrine was a flock of delightful little clay monk figurines. Why might a shrine have cute little monk figurines out the front? Probably because it brings people joy; a simple motivation that seems to underpin so many things here.

The temple (photo taken the next day)

After schlepping our newly-fresh garments back to the hotel, we spent the rest of the day strolling around town browsing a few shops and generally just keeping our eyes open. In Japanese, to walk or stroll is to “sanpo suru”, pronounced pretty much as you would speak that spelling in English.

We stopped in at a local ticket restaurant for a cheap and warm meal. For the uninitiated, ticket restaurants are establishments where you walk in the door and find a ticket machine. The machines have a variety of buttons (or a touch-screen sometimes) with the names of various meal options and sides. You select what you’d like, pay the machine, and are dispensed a little ticket that you turn in to the staff once you’ve taken a seat.

Your food is served when it’s ready, and after you are done you simply say thanks and walk out. The phrase “gochisosama deshita” is roughly equivalent to “thanks for the meal”, and is an appropriate farewell to the staff while walking out of this kind of restaurant.

The main benefits of the ticket system seem to be:

·        The restaurant staff can focus on making and serving the food, rather than taking your order,

·        Similarly, they don’t need to take the time to process your payment, and

·        When you’re done your meal and ready to go, you don’t need to wait around for the bill since you already paid. You can just get up and leave.

Further, as always here in Japan, there is no need for tipping. In fact, generally, your tip will not be accepted even if you try and give one.

In the words of a rather annoyed taxi driver after we attempted to tip him on one of our previous trips to Japan:

“Do you think I don’t know how to calculate the fare? I’m charging this much because I think that’s what I’m owed. Why are you trying to give me more?”

Works just fine for us. We’ve always been good tippers, but the skyrocketing tip expectations in Canada were really beginning to get annoying. Zero expectations for a tip in Japan is a welcome departure from a barista in Ontario handing you a cup of hot water and a debit terminal with the lowest tip option set at 18%.

$6 Breakfast set. Rice, pickled veggies, beef teriyaki, miso soup, salad, a sausage and eggs. 

$5 beef and rice bowl topped with a soft-boiled egg + a miso soup.

After making our way back to the hotel, we still had a few hours to go in the fatigue marathon. We flipped on the TV and zombified some time away, taking turns nudging each other awake, until at long last it was late enough to shut our eyes and sleep like the dead.

Not sleeping with all our might.

It certainly wasn’t our most extravagant 12 hours in Japan, but it was wonderfully simple. Not only was it a chance for us to down-regulate our nervous systems after such a long period of intensity prior to the flight, but it also felt like we began to lay the foundations of normal life here.

Stay tuned for more!