snack

The other day after work I joined some of my students in a post-work party. While it started with just a few members, it increased in size rapidly when people found out that one of the vice-presidents of the company was going to be there. That means the company would pay.

The VP wanted to have the party at Kanetaka, a yakiniku place near the station that apparently is pretty famous for the area. The dinner was great – excellent cuts of meat and some of the best yukke that I’ve ever had. It was a good dinner because one of the managers started off by asking if I could use chopsticks (which is a very common question for foreigners in Japan) but saw when I started digging into raw beef with egg that I was no beginner to this.

One interesting custom I observed was that the two youngest members were in charge of grilling the meat for the rest of us. Possibly that was the only reason they were invited – I’m not exactly sure. It was a good deal for them – just grill the food and get a free meal out of it, but there was no chance for me to work the grill. The other “older” guys really seemed to enjoy the chance to relax and let them do the work – maybe because they had to spend a long time in the past grilling meat for other people.

It was good to get to know the other members better, and one of my students from last year’s class could also attend. I got the sense that he wanted to show the executive that he could in fact handle conversations in English, and so I did everything I could to make him look good. Maybe a promotion is on the line – who knows?

After dinner we got up and headed out, and somebody took care of the bill – I never saw money changing hands. One of the guys whispered in my ear that they were headed to a second party, and so we said goodbye and thanks to the VP, and headed to a taxi line near the station. At this point, the next senior member took charge of the party. Our group split into two parties to fit into two cabs, and the manager gave us a card to give to the taxi driver. At first I thought it was the address, but it turns out that it had the manager’s account number on it, and when we arrived at the destination we just wrote the total amount and signed it and we didn’t have to pay the cab fare. That was a first for me. The guys I was with said that it was a pretty old tradition, and one of the signs of upper management if you could set up that system.

Next we went to a snack just outside Motomachi station in Kobe. It was my first time to be in a “real” snack, and this one was upscale and pretty interesting. I always view these experiences through the lens of cultural sociology, and this place didn’t disappoint.

We sat down at a wide table, and the master of the place – an older lady in kimono – welcomed us and started marshaling her troops. A pretty woman in her 40s came over with a big bottle of whiskey, and started to chatting with us while she issued whiskey/waters on the rocks. They also brought a bunch of snack foods to munch on while we talked with her. Mainly the topic was me/foreign people, and it turned out that one of the women working there was half Japanese and half Greek. Everybody was feeling very international, and the lady helping us kept our drinks topped up while we relaxed and talked.

And by topped up, I mean it. She watched all of us carefully, and when our drinks got to about half full she grabbed the glass and refilled it with a whiskey and water mix. One of the members of the group whispered to me that each time we got a new glass that was another 1000 yen on the bill, and so I’m guessing it was an expensive night for the manager.

Around this time a squad of new women came in and started sitting with us and some new customers that were coming in. Some younger, some older, but all of them ready to talk about anything you like and eager to refill your glass while they kept you talking. It was interesting to watch them work and see what skills were essential for their job – I’m guessing that conversational skills, social skills, and patience were the top three. Maybe karaoke singing is up there too; they rolled out a karaoke machine and our group did some English songs for a little while. I even sang a duet of Celene Dione’s “My Heart Will Go On” with our bartender/hostess – probably to go down as one of the quintessential moments of Japan that I will always remember.

While we drank and talked the women rotated into our group, and I thought it very Japanese that they never really singled anybody out – they played and spoke to the entire group. They quickly identified the guy who was paying, and made sure to sit next to him. They talked for a while and then disappeared to be replaced with someone else. At the end of the night a woman came over and said that I was the first foreigner she had ever met, but I didn’t really believe that. She tried to understand my English while another member translated for her. I could have switched to Japanese, but the “translator” was getting a lot of mileage out of it and I think he enjoyed whispering Japanese into her ear.

So all this was happening on a school night, and we finally decided to wrap things up and head out. Four of the women came out to see us off at the steps as we headed back to the station, and I said my goodbyes to the guys there and then caught a train back to Okubo. Kuniko listened to my stories with some amusement, and then we went off to bed to try to rest up.

Despite my turn as Celine Dione I was surprised to find that I still had a voice, so no problem at work the next day. I talked with some of the party members at work, and you could tell right away that the business relationship had changed. I was inside the circle now, and that new position is bound to have some interesting effects in the future.

The weather the last three days has been warming up, and for the first time in months I can go to work without wearing gloves. Actually, this post really just serves as a reference for next year when I’m freezing my ass off and wondering when it will warm up.

Because of the warmer weather more people are out and about, especially in the evenings, and last night coming home from work I bumped into a lot of the neighbors who had previously been hiding away in their warm houses. I’m sure the cold isn’t over – we’ve got another week or two of cool weather, but I’m hoping things will steadily warm up in March, and we can turn our thoughts to cherry blossoms.

I continue to be in negotiations with my staffing company about the details of my return to Kawasaki for another term or two. We are working out boring stuff like insurance and pension, as well as more interesting stuff like holidays for the year, and based on this information I can start to make solid travel plans. I should have everything nailed down in the next few weeks. There is a kind of gap between the current term and the next one, with me working some half days to cover classes, but other days not working at all. My company asked me if I wanted to fill in somewhere else to make some money, but I voted for the time off – I could use the refresh time more right now. So the first two weeks of April are kind of strange days for me, and since Kuniko’s holidays don’t quite match up we’ll be staying local during that time. Still, there is at least one three day weekend in there, and I’d like to figure out something fun to do. Even if it is just sitting under the cherry trees sipping sake.

Yesterday for a change I went across the street to a restaurant that I patronize occasionally, and they serve pretty traditional Japanese lunches. The owner is a really friendly guy, and he understands that by treating his customers well, they are likely to pass the word at Kawasaki and bring in more business. He is always very friendly to me, and it may be my imagination but I think my lunch order always moves to the front of the queue.

His wife dresses in a kimono and serves as the hospitality chief as well as serving tea, and she always spends a lot of time chatting with the customers. The old guys in the shop love it, and the interactions remind me of the strange “snack” phenomenon that is so popular here – old guys paying big money for a woman to admire and listen to them. Here she is always very attentive, and she also recognizes the power of a satisfied customer for business. Treating a customer well may seem like common sense where I come from, but in Japan it is surprisingly rare. Part of that is the sense of professionalism that many Japanese workers share – it is better to be polite and out of the way than to stick around and try to be friendly (I talked a little about this in my Lawson post).

Anyway, everyone is very friendly to me as well, sometimes a little more than is absolutely necessary, and I think I am approaching “regular” status, even though I eat there only once every 1-2 months. They’ve already memorized my name, so they must figure I’m in for the long haul.

Last night was leftover night (for the second night in a row) and we made a small salad for dinner. Tonight is another leftover night trying to kill the taco meat and beans, and finally Thursday we should be able to finish off the leftovers with a simple kimchee meal with white rice. Big refrigerators come with big responsibility, I guess.

The View From Inside

Temperature Rising