questions about japan 15jul08

i’ve been receiving quite a lot of emails recently, asking me about japan and especially tokyo. so i’ve decided to start replying them on my blog instead! if you have any questions, send them my way! or you can also leave it as a comment here. also don’t forget to check out my insider’s guide to the best of tokyo (in my opinion!!) and my other japan related posts!

here’s an email from one of my readers, bryan!

i just stayed up all night (it’s 8am now) just reading your blog. i made myself a (very unshapely) tamagoyaki 2 hours ago and ever since then i’ve been reading more random posts, particularly those on fashion and japan. just read your gilda’s guide to tokyo and i had to stop myself from reading further to avoid getting too excited and losing more sleep.

i came back from my trip to japan last month with a lotta questions (and new clothes). i will now ask you some of them that have been bugging me if you don’t mind.

with his email, bryan attached a picture of the tamagoyaki he had made. i think it looks pretty darn good, don’t you?

why do some people wear face masks? the masks like, totally ruins the look of their outfits! lol

haha! doesn’t it look like everyone has sars? there are a lot of reasons why people wear those. first of all, there are two kinds of masks sold widely in japan. one is the regular surgical mask that is sometimes used when preparing food in the kitchen of a restaurant etc. the other, is a special mask (seriously, so much research goes into this!) that one uses when one catches a flu, or does not want to catch a flu.

japan as a whole, is quite a polite society. whenever any of my friends get sick, they put on a mask. they aren’t the type of annoying people who would cough and sneeze in your face to spread their germs. or, if there is a flu bug going around, you’ll see a lot of japanese wearing these masks too, so that they won’t catch the germs. these masks also retain some moisture within themselves, which is good for when one has a cough. some are also designed to block out dirt, allergens, cigarette smoke, and pollen. so you will see plenty of people wearing the masks during seasons like spring and autumn when the pollen levels are especially crazy in japan. many japanese have hay fever!

a friend of mine adds a drop of mint or eucalyptus oil to her mask when she catches a flu. she swears it helps clear her nose and ease the tightness in her chest!

personally, i’ve tried the masks before and i can’t handle them. i have breathing problems (asthma and history of bronchitis!) and wearing masks, whether i’m sick or not, makes me feel like i don’t have enough oxygen to breathe. the only time i force myself to wear one is when i’m cleaning my room! this keeps the dust away! but every few minutes i have to stop what i’m doing, lift my mask away and take in some air. hahahaha!

photo by LeeLeFever

besides the sickness issue, sometimes, crimes in japan are committed with these masks. a lot of goth types also use it as part of their fashion dress ups. the masks are such a big part of japan’s culture, there are tons of different colors and prints now, not just white. so if you were dressing up as some goth doctor with a white coat and bloody stains, for example, the mask would complete your outfit. i had a goth lolita friend who wore a mask all the time around her neck. it was like an accessory! another former classmate of mine permanently wore a mask and for half a year, i never knew how his mouth looked like. seriously!

when i’m making a purchase at a store by credit card, why does the cashier sometimes ask “one time or two times?” (‘ikkai’ or ‘nikkai’, i believe). i just say once, presuming it’s about installments. but i actually have no idea how to answer.

the japanese cashiers always have a whole string of things that they would say to you at the cashier. first of all they will thank you for shopping. then they’ll key your item in and sometimes verbally confirm how much each of your items cost. after which, they’ll say the total.

if you do hand them a credit card, what they will usually ask is something like, “お支払いは一括でよろしいですか？” (oshiharai wa ikkatsu de yoroshii desu ka?) which basically translates to, “is it alright to process your payment just once?“

if you are a japanese, or if you hold a credit card issued by a japanese bank, you have the option to pay in installments. (that’s how the regular japanese would pay for their louis vuittons, yo!)

however, as an alien in that country, you would most likely be holding a card from a foreign bank, and hence you do not have an installment option. so your answer should be “ikkatsu de onegaishimasu”. yes yes, i know that’s freaking long. so say “ikkatsu de”, and if you still can’t handle that, just point your index finger towards the sky.

do you REALLY have to leave your top on when trying on clothes in fitting rooms? i can’t tell if it fits properly like that. how do people try on stuff like tanktops?

erm… huh??? i don’t know. i’ve never heard of this. hahahah! when i try tops or dresses on, i usually take off whatever i’m already wearing on top. if i’m wearing make up, i will ask for one of those paper or cloth hoody things to wear over my head (and kinda makes you look like the kkk…oops.), before i try it on. however, some places will not allow you to try on white tops, and in those cases i ask if they have the same item in another color, try that, then decide if i want the one in white!

hope that helps! more questions to follow soon!

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Tagged as: japan, questions?