So I realize it's been a few days since my last post and that may have been distressing to those of you who have made checking this blog part of your daily internet routine, so I apologize. I don't want to write just for the sake of writing though, that's boring... I need material! I got some today though, so no worries! Wow... that last sentence sounded very Australian... Anyway! While walking to work today I made a new discovery. I hadn't noticed it before because of the route I usually take to work. Normally, I go through the park for the first half of the walk and then veer off onto the sidewalk, but today because it had rained the night before and I didn't want to walk through the wet leaves, I decided to go around the park instead. That's when I noticed them... the nappers. All along the side of the road were parked cars and in just about every one of them was a sleeping man. Most of the cars were still running, probably because it was a little nippy out and they didn't want to freeze their asses off. I can't explain how bizarre it was to walk past car after car and see business men sleeping out there on the side of a park in the middle of the day. It was 12:30 in the afternoon! While it was kind of funny to see all these guys napping it up on the side of the road, it was also a little sad. How hard must they be working for all of them to find it necessary to take naps during their lunch break? I get exhausted just thinking about it. The Japanese people as a whole are very hard workers. My manager only gets one day off a week and she never complains, well, at least not in English.
Speaking of my manager, she took my out today to pick up my hanko and gaijin card! I know most of you are probably wondering what on earth those are. Well, my lovely friends, they are what make me an official resident of Japan for the next year! Yay! A hanko (mine is shown in the picture below) is what Japanese people use in place of a signature. It's a little stamp with Kanji (Chinese symbols also used in Japanese) representing a persons name and it is usually, if not always, stamped in red ink. I love my hanko and I got a little red case for it that comes with a tiny little stamp pad inside of it. It's soooo cool, definitely going down as one of the coolest souvenirs ever! It's extremely cultural and very personal at the same time, since it's my name spelled out with the Kanji. I asked my manager if the Kanji meant anything, she said not really, but the -la part of my name means "Good". I like that... good is good! The gaijin card is required to do a number of things here in Japan. Gaijin are foreigners, so it translates to foreigner card, and basically it's our official form of identification while we're living here. I need it to do all sorts of things, for example, open a bank/post office account (post offices also function as banks here) or join a gym. I'm going tomorrow to open my account, so that when I get my first paycheck, I actually have somewhere to put the money. I guess that will be my hanko's first official use... I'm very excited!
3 comments:
My dad has one of those Hanko things from when he was in the army and was stationed somewhere. Except his is very old fashioned and uses red powder I think..its pretty cool. It would be fun to sign friendship letters with those =D
Regarding the title of your post--well, you crack all of US up too! That really is pretty sad about all of those tired, overworked Japanese businessmen. Reminded me of a story that was on CNN just last week, about a man who worked for Toyota in central Japan who was literally worked to death. His wife sued and actually won in the Japanese courts: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN3030114720071130
I LOVE your Hanko--you're right--that's something you'll keep forever. If I ever want to get a tattoo that symbolizes you and Hannah, maybe I'll have you make a stamp of your hanko and have that as YOUR tattoo.
It looks like it has eyes on the top of it. :P Hey, wanna do me a favor?? Get someone (you TRUST) to write the kanji for Judo. I think I'm eventually gonna get a 3rd tattoo. lol I googled it, but I wanna make sure, and well...youre in Japan! :D
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