When I stepped out of Haneda airport and got onto the monorail to go into Tokyo, the first thing I noticed was the number of people wearing surgical masks. It reminded me of a hospital.
Supposedly this trend started when people who were sick wore them out of consideration to stop their germs from spreading. But people also used them to keep from getting sick themselves by riding on crowded trains.
Now, according to one article, people also wear them to protect themselves from hay fever, pollen in the atmosphere and even dust from the nuclear accident a few years ago.
They also wear them as a means of social isolation. Wearing a surgical mask and listening to music with your earplugs is a good way to avoid social interaction, the article said.
And it’s also a way to keep your face warm in the winter that is more socially acceptable than wearing a balaclava, not that it is actually very cold here.
There are other quirks about Japan. When I got to my hotel room, it was clear that you should take your shoes off on entering the room, and there were slippers provided. The only trouble was, the sandal slippers were about four sizes too small for my big gaijin feet.
The toilet is one of those hi tech models that Japan is known for. It also doubles as a bidet, not that I use one. The seat is heated. There is a control panel at the side that also includes the option of a “shower” that sprays a jet of warm water in the right place when you are finished doing your business. Fortunately it has an off switch. The back of the seat has long instructions and warnings in both Japanese and English.
There are many options for eating in my area. I saw one restaurant that serves Indian food, but I decided to give it a pass as I will be in India tomorrow. I did consider the irony of the fact that I ate Japanese food in Vancouver, so Indian food in Japan might have been appropriate.
Instead I chose a restaurant that seemed to serve mostly men in ones or twos obviously coming off work. There were pictures of all the dishes, but the posters were entirely in Japanese. You order your meal on a touch screen near the entrance, insert your money and get a ticket that you give to the waiter. I chose something that looked good on the picture, and I wasn’t disappointed. I don’t know what it was called, but it was a plate with noodles, both wet and dried, and vegetables, shrimp, and other fishy things. Most of it was fine to eat with chopsticks, but I still have trouble when the plate is nearly empty and the pieces are small and are left in liquid.
My flight to Delhi leaves late this afternoon from Narita Airport. This gives me a chance to walk around in Tokyo a little bit before I need to get the train to Narita. Then I have another 10+ hours flight, getting in to Delhi after midnight local time.
The flight from Vancouver to Tokyo was bearable as long flights go, made easier by the fact that I had two seats to myself. I dozed a little bit, read and watched a documentary about how organ traffickers in Nepal dupe poor people into donating kidneys in India for a few rupees. I also got up regularly to walk around in an effort to avoid deep vein thrombosis, known as economy class syndrome.
Well I’m off now to explore Tokyo.
