Archive for the ‘people’ Category
Enkai (宴会)
July 7, 2008Enkai are a vital part of Japanese culture. The definition of “enkai” is merely “party; banquet” but it is also what greases the wheels of social communication in Japanese culture. The enkai is usually a work party celebrating something such as the start of the new fiscal year or transfer of the office workers.
At these parties there is usually a flat fee which covers the cost of food and drinks, often all you can drink for about 2 hours. Most people drink alcohol, usually beer or 日本酒 (nihonshu, what we Americans call “sake”), sometimes large amounts of it, though others stick with oolong tea or cola.
Enkai ease the formal work environment found in most Japanese offices. It is an opportunity to get to know your co-workers; sometimes the only opportunity to get to know them in a social situation. There is a saying that what happens at an enkai stays at an enkai. Some enkai are known to get a little wild.
The approximate equivalent in the States is the Christmas Party. Both usually involve large amounts of alcohol, but one does not bring a date to the enkai; it is exclusive to the members of the company.
After the main enkai, there is often what is called the “nijikai” (二次会）, which means “second party”. After a big enkai many people go to the second party. At smaller enkai few people go, perhaps only the men. In my experience, the second party is usually karaoke or going to a snack bar (スナックバー) so called because they serve snacks with the drinks, but which also involve ladies pouring the drinks for you and chatting with you, and the seating charge is higher than usual. The snack bars usually also have karaoke, though not the karaoke box. The “sanjikai” (三次会) or third party is often only the men, and I couldn’t tell you what they do because I have never been to one. I believe the tamer ones involve eating ramen, and the wilder ones involve going to places where you wouldn’t take children.
As an English speaker at an enkai you will often be surprised. It is a good chance to practice your Japanese, but every now and again, you will be talking with someone and they will suddenly come out with some really excellent English.
At my last enkai, I was talking with one of my coworkers and he suddenly asked me, “So, what do you think about the current presidential candidates? Who do you like better, Clinton or Obama?” I was floored, because I didn’t even know he spoke English at all! We chatted about politics for bit, when he glanced over and saw that an English teacher was sitting next to us. At that point, he became very embarrassed, clammed up and reverted back to Japanese.
Whenever possible, go to your work parties. The positive interactions you have an enkai will spill over into your work life and it’s a great oppotunity to bring up things that you otherwise don’t have time to discuss during the work day.
Daikou (代行サービス)
June 27, 2008In Japan, drinking is very popular. It is an essential part of most evening events, and even work parties (enkai 宴会). However, there is a zero tolerance policy for drinking and driving. If you drive after even 1 drink you could find yourself with a ticket for thousands of dollars, possibly jail time, and you will possibly lose your job (especially if you are a government employee). So, what can you do?
There are several options. One is to take the train, but Japanese trains stop running about 12:00 AM, sometimes earlier, so this is often not a viable option unless you “party” all night and take the first train home in the morning (at about 5:00 AM). The other option is to take a taxi, but it costs a lot and you need to take the taxi both there and back (or take the train there and taxi back).
If you want to drive, but also want to drink, there is a great service avaible in Japan called daikou, or daikou service (代行サービス). “Daikou” means “(n,vs) acting as agent”, and this service is essentially a proxy service where a company does something for you. In this case, they come in a small daikou taxi. One person gets out and takes your car keys. They then drive you home in your own car! The daikou taxi follows. When you get home, you pay them about the same as a taxi fare and they get back into the daikou taxi and drive away. With a service like that, there is little reason for anyone to need to drive after drinking in Japan.
The other morning we were having a rare lay-in on the weekend, when at about 7 or 8 AM we heard loud honking outside. We drifted back to sleep, but it reminded me of something that happened shortly before we moved out of our last apartment.
In was the middle of the night. I don’t remember if it was a weekend or a weekday, but we were aroused from sound sleep by a loud and persistent honking. We shut our eyes, pulled the covers over our heads, and hoped it would stop. But it didn’t.
When my husband finally had enough, he went outside to find out what was going on. I was worried about some kind of fight; who knew what kind of person honks their horn that loudly at 3:00 AM? I needn’t have worried. Our neighbor in the apartment block across the street had been out drinking. He had ordered daikou to take him home, but rather than park his car for him, they had stopped it at the end of the long, difficult to navigate parking lot, returned his keys and left.
In his extremely drunken state, he was trying to park his car, and couldn’t. He was a bit disoriented and thought that someone had parked in his space, which they hadn’t. He was honking to get the attention of the person who he thought had parked in his space. This being Japan, no one went out to see what was going on while he honked and honked for 30 minutes.
My husband went and talked with him and convinced the guy to let him park his car. My husband parked the guy’s car, the guy thanked him profusely and stumbled off to bed. I have no doubt that the next day he felt incredibly ashamed and embarrassed for disrupting so many people (an even worse thing to do when in Japan as compared to the States). We then went back to sleep.
But the main question I have is: why didn’t the daikou driver park his car for him as they usually do?
Harajuku Fashion, 2008
May 23, 2008Below are some photos I took while recently in Harajuku, Tokyo.
All photos are copyrighted by Bahia Simons-Morton (me), all rights reserved.
Happy Love © Bahia Simons-Morton
Leader of the Pack © Bahia Simons-Morton
Photo Post #1
March 12, 2008
The Morning Commute #1
March 10, 2008On the morning train, the faces are always the same.
The Boy has a grey backpack and red shoes. His head weaves back and forth as he takes in his surrounding; the movement is punctuated by a change in focus on this or that. He mutters to himself quietly and earnestly. His pants are too short and his white socks flash like a beacon above his red shoes. His face is almost always lit up with a smile, but when it’s not, he is staring fixedly at something, thinking avidly. Some might say he isn’t all there, that there is something missing, but I believe that his brain is merely missing that censoring ability that separates thoughts from spoken words. Some of my students do the same thing.
Always sitting at the end of the row next to the middle doors is Handyman. Handyman always wears navy blue and red, and usually his pants are workman’s pants with many pockets. He is almost always asleep. Large, square glasses obscure most of his face, but his drooping cheeks are reminiscent of a large dog.
Between The Boy and Handyman is Mr. Newspaper. He often sits between the two, yet purses his lips with displeasure whenever The Boy attempts to engage him in conversation, or points out pictures in the paper with questions or comments. He wears the standard salary-man coat (khaki and long), which hangs down to mid-thigh over his dark pants. Between pants and shoes there peep light-tan socks; only in Japan are light socks acceptable with dark pants and dark shoes.
On the other side of The Boy is Paper. Everyday, he wedges himself into the seat, bursting backpack still perched on his back like a fat monkey. As he pulls out his school work from his large purple shoulder bag, papers drop to the floor, which he hurriedly gathers into his lap with a surreptitious look around, his glasses glinting in the sunlight. He pulls out a chocolate bar and devours it completely, making the sheen of his skin somehow more noticeable.
