Someone did a double take and dropped their shopping because I walked past them in the supermarket today.

I'm not sure how well I will readjust to uk life... western looks are considered so beautiful here that im starting to feel all hot problems.

Someone did a double take and dropped their shopping because I walked past them in the supermarket today.

I had read about this happening, but didnt expect it to be true, as most other bloggers were banging on about being chased down the street by people who thought they were gods or something, and how being told how gorgeous they are seriously hinders their way of life. It's not all that, trust.

Usually, its people i'm actually talking to who just snide into the conversation a nonchalant 'you are velly beautifuru'. Or the ease in social situations that make blonde people aggressive.

However there was this one time...

I was at the port at a time of no ferries, so all was quiet. I thought I would take the chance to experience Yaoi Kusama's red pumpkin alone. I climbed inside the artwork and marvelled at the way the sunlight created new everchanging polkadots, and how the colours of the sky and pumpkin were reflected onto the concrete, creating a softer more natural, meditative place, bringing the instillation into a deeper sphere than the exterior pop art visuals frequent.
I heard a noise behind me.
It was a small throat clearance, perhaps a polite japanese way of asking me to move from the doorway, so they could see the work.
I shuffled along the claustraphobic pumpkin wall. It was a man in a suit.
"Konnichiwa''.
"Konnichiwa'' I replied.
"Are you sightseeing?''
I explained that I lived here, in japanese, (because its always good to practice) and I asked him what he was doing. He told me, and then said something I didn't understand.
"Summimasen I'm sorry wakarimasen I dont understand.''
"Eh...'' he stammered, ''you're so beautiful!''.
...

I mumbled thanks then squeezed my way past him, and inelegantly clambered back out of the pumpkin. (I mean, what do you say!)

A note for all men trying to compliment a woman: dont do it in a small space whilst you are blocking the only exit!

But mummy I don't want to go to bed

Japanese parenting totally perplexes me.
On the one hand, Japanese children are the most well behaved, adorable little cherubs ever. The smallest of toddlers will clamber into a seat at my cafe and sit perfectly calmly and quietly and eat a full meal with no distractions or toys to amuse them. (My brother still has problems with this and he is 18.) Primary school children walk to school alone at 6am. You never hear japanese babies cry.

However, the parenting is like everything you've ever heard in the uk reversed! Babies do not have a set bedtime. A lot of the time, japanese couples, with their 1or 2year old babies in tow will arrive just in time for last orders! I remember 9pm being a late nigh tfor me when I was 11! Also, the amount these kids eat is atrocious. I struggle with the size of the curry rice we serve, yet kids the same size as the plate are expected to finish every bite.

There doesnt seem to be a 'healthy routine' pandemic here, and there are no hoots given about health and safety, or getting your 5a day.
Perhaps the west has it alll wrong; after all Japan keeps pumping out the most hardworking, clever and awesome at computer gaming children in the world.

Or maybe the kids just turn out like that to try to impress the busy
parents who they never see.

I work part time and I literally LIVE at work.

The Japanese work ethic is unrelenting!
There is never a jobless moment, even if that job is seemingly pointless.
For example, it is quiet season, and we have cleaned every inch of the cafe, folded 100 plastic bags into little triangles, and practiced different ways to cut a caprese salad.
And these are just the jobs I am paid to do!
In my time off I have helped to dismantle and rebuild my bunkbed in the guesthouse I live in (why this was necessarry I do not know) cleaned a ton of toilets, and run errands for people. Plus there is the eternal Japanese language study, but lets not talk about that.....
But this is just the done thing. Japanese people are ALWAYS busy, and always genki* about it. They are cheerful about the ridiculous hours they work, and filling their free time with visits to friends, odd jobs etc. It is unexpected to actually fill your free time with leisure activities ('Wow you're TRAVELLING at Christmas? So you won't stay on the island??!!). Its a fun environment because there is always something to do.
But it is enjoyably exhausting.

I remember a friend at Uni saying he couldn't wait for a 9-5 so he could be a Weekend Warwick. I was bemused at the time, but now I TOTALLY get it!

Thanks for reading,
I now have to (typically) run to work....

MATTE NE**!

*happy and bouncy and energetic; on top of the world
**See you later