Advertisement
Published: November 4th 2011
Edit Blog Post
The voices have started again in my living room....and no, I'm not going crazy - these voices are not in my head, but emanating from the little speaker box recently installed in my living room. The beginning of October, just before my internet connection went, I had a TV delivered and a week later a couple of men came to hook up my aerial connection. I hoped (and still hope) that watching Japanese TV will help with my progress in learning the language, and it is also quite nice to have the background noise in my otherwise very quiet house.
Most of the time the 12 channels I have access to play crazy game shows where I have no idea what they are going on about or what the point of the show is, but it is mildly amusing and something to help wake me up in the morning.
Anyway, at the same time the men installed my TV aerial, they sneaked in a speaker box into my room. I wasn't aware of this until I woke up the next morning and heard a voice babbling in Japanese, followed by a little musical jingle. At first I thought I
was either dreaming or some random Japanese person had sneaked into my house, then on further investigation I discovered the box. I knew that most Japanese people have these boxes in their houses, but didn't realise they get randomly installed if they spot you don't have one! They are very "big brother" - like the network of loud speakers around the village, they pipe out village news and events - not that I really understand anything they are saying - they could be warning me the world will end in the next ten minutes and I'd be oblivious. I don't mind the voices most of the time (it only tends to go off for an about half an hour in the morning around 7am and then in the evening intermittently from 4pm to 7pm.
So the other thing that happened in October whilst I couldn't update my blog, is I got sick for the first time in Japan. Coughs and colds are rife at school - with the kids and the teachers, so it was inevitable and I'm frankly surprised I didn't suffer sooner. I was a complete snot monster for about a week, and it took a further
week to get rid of a nasty cough. The done thing in Japan when one suffers any kind of respiratory condition is to don a surgical looking mask. This time of year you'll see at least three or four teachers and dozens of kids wearing these things. Soooo in the spirit of fitting in I bought some to wear, although I only ended up wearing it for a bit as I found I couldn't breathe and it got in the way of stopping my nose run. That said, it is a badge to show everyone you are sick and hopefully encourage some sympathy, and at the worst stage of my cold where my nose would've given Rudolf a run for his money, it was useful to hide my face behind.
Musing on other aspects of my life in Japan, I have a current top three things I love about my life here:
Onsens.....I can't get enough of visiting the hot baths. Once you get over the whole being naked thing (and onsens are 95% all separated by sex), it is really just like a nice spa. Jacuzzi whirl pools, warm bubbly baths, cold pools, saunas and steamers. All
mostly for under £5 a time, and you can just show up, no need to book or be a member. There are certain etiquette rules you need to follow, and occasionally I do worry someone will complain about the small tattoo on my bum and ask to have me removed (The Japanese associate any form of body art with the criminal underworld, and there are often posters up saying as much in the onsen). With the cold weather coming, onsens are the perfect place to kick back and relax. I plan to try and visit every onsen in the area (and there are many!).
Heated toilet seats. In restaurants, services stations etc you can guarantee a warm botty if you visit the loo. Again, with the chilly wear encroaching on us, this invention is a truly wonderful thing. I was wondering why we don't have these in the UK, but a friend tells me she looked into it and apparently we consider it a health and safety risk have electricity is such close proximity to water, so you can't get house or building insurance if you install one. Luckily Japan is not particularly hot on the old health and safety.
Okinomiyaki. This is a Japanese savoury pancake. You can put whatever you like in it (I like shrimp and squid) and in an Okinomiyaki restaurant you all sit round in front of a big hot plate and cook your pancake. It is delicious and cheap and also very easy to re-create at home. Yum.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.148s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0738s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb