The first week Japan good/bad points

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Katy's first week biggest discoveries about Japan.

Well, ladies and gents, I thought that it would be worth noting the things that Japan, as a whole, does that are either inconvenient (either in general or to me, who is used to different), strange, or just very, very odd compared to life back in America. These are obviously just personal things, and are not applicable to everyone (except some of them probably are).

1. Banking

This is one of the gripes on here as an entire genre, and needs to be broken down into several categories due to the sheer fact that a country so forward in technology is so insanely backwards when it comes to financial things.

A) ATMs close.

Yes, you read that correctly. ATMs! You know, automated teller machines, those things that, hence the "automated" part, don't need human beings to take money from an account - an account with a bank not even necessarily affiliated with the ATM in question - and give you cash. They close. There are times they will not be running or open. During Golden Week, for instance, I am told they will shut down for three days. And sometimes, even if they are open, you will be unable to get to your bank account from them. How this is possible, I haven't a clue, considering, you know, AUTOMATED. This is a problem more because it leads directly into the next point,

B) Japan is a cash country.

If you can't always get cash out of the ATMs that aren't always open, doesn't this seem a bit counter-productive to you? Many places will not take credit cards. You pretty much always have to have cash on your person - no more $1 charges at the gas station when you pick up a pack of gum. Things here operate on cash or bank transfers; I'm lucky that I can pay my rent with a credit card, though I have to show up at the agency's offices to do so (things such as websites in Japan will often not take credit cards, and will also operate only on bank transfers).

This is not necessarily TOTALLY a bad point. Americans could take a note of this and it would probably reduce our hemorrhaging credit card debt as a country if we didn't rely on those easy little pieces of plastic so much. Having the cash on you really does curb spending a bit (at least for me). But Japan is a very consumer-driven country, so maybe it hasn't done much for rampant capitalistic spending habits after all.

Banking as a genre leads us directly into our next point -

2. Pay days

Pay in Japan is mostly done in arrears - meaning, you work Jan. 11th through Feb. 10th and you see that money on March 10th. Yes! A whole two months after you worked some of those days! Because you couldn't possibly need that money before that, could you? And you get one lump sum, so people used to budgeting out between bi-weekly or semi-monthly paychecks will find this no longer necessary. Waiting almost three months after moving to a new country before seeing a paycheck is a wonderful way to promote overseas workers - oh wait, I can't even type that with a straight face. Boy, backpay. You suck. I have NEVER missed being paid two weeks after starting a job so much. I would have put this as point number one based on HOW INCONVENIENT AND AWFUL THIS SYSTEM IS, but. Whatever.

3. Apartment key money

The most I have ever paid to rent an apartment is a one-month deposit up front when signing. I suppose depending on when you SIGN, this could also go hand-in-hand with a first month's rent. But in America, you get that deposit back when you move out (barring cleaning costs or unpaid keg clauses you generated while living there) and that's pretty much it. Here in Japan, you drop about $3000 in fees, gratuity, key money and deposits for an apartment that you will not ever get back. No. You will not get that back. You work for a year and get transferred somewhere else, resulting in a need to move? You really might as well figure out how much transportation is going to cost, because you are SOL and going to be handing over that chunk of change all over again.

How this makes sense, I have no idea. Getting deposits in America back means you really are only paying that rent each month and that's all that goes into your apartment - again, assuming you don't go to small claims court over your deposit because your slumlord landlord keeps it to enable his porn habits. Here, it's an investment you won't see a return on save for having a roof over your head at night. I suppose it's worth it, but I wish there was an easier (and far, far less expensive) way.

4. Wi-fi

Japan is not a huge country. It's probably roughly the size of the North-Eastern United States, and no, I didn't google that so I'm not sure it's totally correct, but I think we can all agree that it's definitely smaller than the entirety of the California coast line. One would not think that setting up a wi-fi network - even just for a localized area, like Tokyo - would be so difficult. The Texas Longhorns can set up their own private football television channel and Japan can't get freaking free wi-fi established.

Oh, yes, you read that right: you won't find much free wi-fi here. Even go-to's like Starbucks and McDonald's are severely lacking in free wi-fi. You can get lucky with some random places, but it's pretty much just if you are in the right place at the right time. I walked past a hair dresser's today that advertised free wi-fi, but there's a big difference between ordering a $2 coffee and sitting a table for a half hour to check your email and going in saying, "no, I don't want my bangs trimmed, I really just need to get directions on my laptop."

I don't want you to take from this that everything is terrible. It's not! But these are some pretty big issues to someone who came over to take a job internationally; apartments and payment schedules are a big deal to someone in this position. And considering the market for English teachers over here, that's a lot of people encountering these problems. But since I've covered the bad parts, let's cover the good parts!

1. Convenience

Convenience comes in many packages, and one of those packages is your local neighborhood 83798725 convenience stores. They sell everything from magazines to packaged sushi to candy to individual cans of beer. They are also where you go to pay your utility bills and recycle some kinds of trash! They are literally everywhere. And they are wonderful.

There are also vending machines every half block. I remember seeing something once comparing the number of vending machines to the number of people in Tokyo and being amazed; there is one right down my street, smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood. You can find beer, coffee, juice and soft drinks in them, not to mention far stranger things and snacks. Again, wonderful if you want to get a quick drink.

2. Public transportation

America not a very pedestrian country. Aside from big cities and places like Manhattan, you pretty much HAVE to have a car to get anywhere. In Japan, there are so many different ways to get around that it will make your head spin: subway lines, public rail lines, private rail lines, and bus routes are just the methods of transportation I have used in the Tokyo area. And the best thing is that Japan finally got around to getting all of these things on one simple system - reloadable cards! You swipe your card when you enter a station and you swipe it as you exit your destination, and the amount is automatically figured and deducted from your balance. This handy cards (Suica is the one I have, used to be JR-only) can be used on EVERYTHING. No calculating fares, no buying a ticket before every ride. They can even be used on buses.

And almost everything, save for those aforementioned buses, will display your resulting balance, so as long as you keep an eye out and remember to reload, you are golden. Now, things such as the Narita Express and the bullet train DO require paper tickets to be bought, and there are a few others that do as well, but for the most part, you need only one card and it's super easy to get in and out of places while using it.

3. Etiquette

This seems odd, but people line up for trains. There are lines to wait behind, and people wait there. When signs are posted for things, they are obeyed. If you cross the street, regardless of whether or not you are in a cross-walk, cars stop for you. In the grocery store and other retail places, you often bag your own purchases - the clerk hands you your change and gives you a plastic bag or two, and then you go to a small station to pack your bag up. I actually find that this makes things much faster when it comes to checking out!

And on the whole, people are very polite. I have not had a single person yet either as a clerk, as someone working in the bureaucratic systems I had to go through, or anyone I asked for help in some way be rude to me. They were all incredibly polite and tried their best with my limited Japanese. People don't tell you to get lost when you ask for help - they take ten minutes to find a map and attempt to show you where to go, to point things out. They try to understand your crazy hand gestures because your language skills are so crappy. In America, if you don't speak English, people pretty much go from "already annoyed with their minimum-wage job" to "wanting to punch you in the nose because you are directly resonsible for ruining their quality of life." Here, that's not the case. People will try to use all the English they have to talk to you.

4. Caring about the environment (sort of)

In Japan, everyone hangs their clothes out to dry. Nearly everyone has some sort of balcony or patio in which they hang their clothing once they are done washing. My ward separates garbage into five or six different bags depending on where it is - this means I do in fact have five bags for garbage in my apartment right now, and have to actively think every single time I go to throw something away what it is and where it goes. I don't MIND save for when I panic about doing it wrong; Japan is trying to reduce its landfills and pick up recycling habits, and I applaud that.

After the 2011 earthquake/tsunami, Japan also started trying to ration things. Most people carry around a rag to wash their face, wipe off sweat, blow their nose, or dry their hands on in order to conserve things like paper towels. Even at Starbucks, you dismantle your cup to put all the parts of it in different waste containers - lid, straw, cup, cardboard holder thingy.

Well, I'm off to my first day of training. Nervous as all get out, even though I know how to do this and have taught for two years. Still, new jobs and all. I hate having someone watching me all the time haha, it makes me so nervous.

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Comments

[YBK]

Hello, there. There is wi-fi in all McDonalds as well as in most Starbucks, as well as hundreds of locations throughout Japan, but they are just locked by codes for the use of virtually everyone in Japan who contracts for various wi-fi deals when buying a notebook. You can also contract for Yodobashi's Wireless Gate for some fee, or get a Pocket Wi-Fi. Starbucks is now freeing the use of wi-fi upon registration. Free wi-fi means management issue against internet related crimes in Japan. About ATMs - Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ has 24 hour open ATMs, if you have their account. As they are not my main bank I do end up with no cash with me at 21:01 on Sunday evenings, and have to use my credit card which I dislike because of the reasons you've mentioned.