Genkin
There are some little things about Japan that sound kind of crazy if you haven't lived here, but seem perfectly normal if you have.
Take just now -- at 2am -- I put the Japanese equivalent of around $300 cash in my pocket and rode my bicycle a kilometer to the nearest convenience store so I could pay my bills.
I can't imagine doing that in America. And I know I was definitely prone to carrying more cash with me than most of my friends were, but that was still not usually more than $100 at a time. But here I don't even think that much about it, and infact if I have *less* than the equivalent of $100, I start thinking I better hit up an ATM, since I pretty much always pay cash for everything.
Earlier tonight I rushed home from work so I could put my clothes in the hour-long wash-and-dry machine at the nearby laundromat. (I barely made it; the place closes at midnight and my clothes were in at 10:56pm and out at 11:56pm.) I forgot to lock my apartment door on the way to the laundromat, but it apparently wasn't that big a deal either.
Something funny -- Kanae and I both regularly go to Heiroku Sushi, the kaiten place a few blocks from GEOS. But I guess I have been a regular there for like 8 months now and she has only been here a month. BUT she is Japanese, so I figured that trumps everything, right? Well, apparently no... I have a ton of coupons for the place because every time I go there, the cashier lady always gives me more and says "see you next time".
Kanae asked me today how many plates I had at sushi. I told her like 7 or 8. She was surprised, thought it'd be higher. And she said if she had a lot of money she would totally eat like 20 plates, but she usually just gets 6 or 7. So I said, "Well, I tend towards 8 now because of all the free plate coupons."
"Free plate coupons?"
"Yeah, they have those coupon fliers there, didn't they give you some? You can use one coupon each time for a free 130 or 160 plate."
"No! Really? I've never seen them at all!"
So I gave her some of my coupons. It was really funny to me for some reason. I guess that I stick out a lot more because I'm a foreigner, so they know I come there all the time, so they give me coupons. I know it's only like 30 minutes a week I spend in that place, but it is really going to be one of the major things I miss about Akabane whenever I move away from here someday.
Hrm, I just got an email saying that Great Big Sea is playing at the Moore Theater in Seattle on October 1st. I obviously probably can't go but I highly highly recommend others to. Like![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dvarin.
Take just now -- at 2am -- I put the Japanese equivalent of around $300 cash in my pocket and rode my bicycle a kilometer to the nearest convenience store so I could pay my bills.
I can't imagine doing that in America. And I know I was definitely prone to carrying more cash with me than most of my friends were, but that was still not usually more than $100 at a time. But here I don't even think that much about it, and infact if I have *less* than the equivalent of $100, I start thinking I better hit up an ATM, since I pretty much always pay cash for everything.
Earlier tonight I rushed home from work so I could put my clothes in the hour-long wash-and-dry machine at the nearby laundromat. (I barely made it; the place closes at midnight and my clothes were in at 10:56pm and out at 11:56pm.) I forgot to lock my apartment door on the way to the laundromat, but it apparently wasn't that big a deal either.
Something funny -- Kanae and I both regularly go to Heiroku Sushi, the kaiten place a few blocks from GEOS. But I guess I have been a regular there for like 8 months now and she has only been here a month. BUT she is Japanese, so I figured that trumps everything, right? Well, apparently no... I have a ton of coupons for the place because every time I go there, the cashier lady always gives me more and says "see you next time".
Kanae asked me today how many plates I had at sushi. I told her like 7 or 8. She was surprised, thought it'd be higher. And she said if she had a lot of money she would totally eat like 20 plates, but she usually just gets 6 or 7. So I said, "Well, I tend towards 8 now because of all the free plate coupons."
"Free plate coupons?"
"Yeah, they have those coupon fliers there, didn't they give you some? You can use one coupon each time for a free 130 or 160 plate."
"No! Really? I've never seen them at all!"
So I gave her some of my coupons. It was really funny to me for some reason. I guess that I stick out a lot more because I'm a foreigner, so they know I come there all the time, so they give me coupons. I know it's only like 30 minutes a week I spend in that place, but it is really going to be one of the major things I miss about Akabane whenever I move away from here someday.
Hrm, I just got an email saying that Great Big Sea is playing at the Moore Theater in Seattle on October 1st. I obviously probably can't go but I highly highly recommend others to. Like
dvarin.
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no subject
As for the whole carrying money issue, I get uncomfortable carrying more than $100 on me. I *have* carried $800 before, but that was because I needed to send some money but my debit card was shut down temporarily.
no subject
I usually start looking for an ATM at about 20,000 yen, since only about one in every ten will take my card. So few will that I've memorized the locations of those that will. Probably going to withdraw a lot on my trip over there later this summer, in case the US dollar implodes.