Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 04:11 am
1. A ham, cheese, mayonnaise, and super double extra black pepper sandwich. (This is the "American Breakfast" at the coffee shop here.)

2. A maneki-neko carved from tigereye.

3. A plastic pizza. We found the street where any restaurant supply you can possibly imagine can be purchased, from cutlery to cash registers. This includes the plastic food that sits in the window. I was awfully tempted to buy a glass of wine or an ice cream sundae to sit in my kitchen forever. I also liked the plates of food with forks or chopsticks hovering over them, connected by noodles. My pizza happens to be cut into twenty-five little pieces to make a puzzle out of it.

4. A cotton kimono-shaped robe in deep green with little flowered fans all over it.

5. Sesame crackers. (yum.)

6. An assortment of things that look like rice cakes but taste like: peanut brittle (beige), sesame (white with black specks), seaweed (green), strawberry (pink), or soy sauce (brown). All of these also contain peanuts.

Everything here is packaged a lot. We've purchased AA batteries that were individually wrapped inside their ten-battery multipack. When we left our hotel room yesterday morning we had glasses of water by the bed; when we came back, they had both been covered in cling wrap, I guess so the water wouldn't get dusty or something. When I saw that plastic pizza in the store, it was inside a clear plastic bag, set inside an aluminum tray, inside a clear plastic box that was taped shut, inside another clear plastic bag with a twist-tie on it. After I purchased it the shopkeeper put the whole assembly inside a paper bag, taped that shut, then put the paper bag inside a plastic bag with handles and taped THAT shut. Wouldn't want to risk me getting access to the actual product, or anything. :-)

(It's ten after nine in the evening.)

PS: Yes, I'm still coughing in huge loud red-faced eye-watering fits. I'm starting to sleep through the night though. I'm definitely healthier than I was a week ago.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 04:42 am (UTC)
very interesting stuff, this. i'm wondering about how the packaging mania grew to be what it is. but wait - this *is* a culture noted for being especially averse to germs and contamination.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 05:40 am (UTC)
Yes, I think that's a big part of it. (Side note: we see quite a few people here wearing face masks. We are told that this is the polite thing to do if you are sick. So I did, for a bit.)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 05:47 am (UTC)
i actually sort of like that idea, of wearing a mask if you're sick.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 05:49 am (UTC)
Everyone seems to agree that it's pretty much useless -- most of the air you breathe goes around the sides and up beside your nose -- but it's all about the sensibilities and the politeness, doncha know.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 05:55 am (UTC)
oh, of course.

it also is a sort of visual warning, maybe?
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 03:02 pm (UTC)
Yes, that too. Oddly enough the people I've seen wearing masks have almost universally been *not* coughing or sneezing... same with me the day I wore mine. (In my case the mask helped humidify the air for me.)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 08:12 am (UTC)
I like their American breakfast, LOL.

Did you just dive right into the time zone change and run on vaca adreniline to overcome the time change or did you need to rest up and adjust?
I am amazed at business travelers who can be in Toyko one day, London the next and still be in the state of mind to do business.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 02:57 pm (UTC)
The time change didn't bug me much - I think going west is easy for me. It's only seven hours west. Plus I wasn't sleeping anyway because I was coughing all night! Going back I expect to have the IQ of a turnip. :-)

I too am amazed at travelers who can do that. Wow.
ckd: small blue foam shark (Default)
[personal profile] ckd
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 08:58 am (UTC)
#4 sounds like a yukata.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 11:03 am (UTC)
I adore yukata after a shower or massage.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 02:59 pm (UTC)
I can't wait to toss mine in the laundry so it softens up, and then just snuggle in it.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 02:59 pm (UTC)
Yes, that's exactly it. Every so often a shop would actually call them yukata, although most of the signs would say kimono. I think the shopkeepers know that Westerners readily understand the word kimono. :-)
ckd: small blue foam shark (Default)
[personal profile] ckd
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 09:30 pm (UTC)
Yes, indeed; the places that had signs in English often said "cotton kimono".

When [livejournal.com profile] hr_macgirl and I were in Tokyo, we went to a department store to buy her a yukata. We spoke effectively no Japanese, and the saleswoman spoke no English.

It was a wonderful and amazing experience. We said "yukata", she pointed at [livejournal.com profile] hr_macgirl, we nodded, she measured height by eye, walked over to the shelf, picked up a package, pointed at the numbers on it (which matched [livejournal.com profile] hr_macgirl's height in cm), we picked a pattern we liked, and we bought it. Everyone smiled at each other and we said "domo arigato".

I so want to go back.
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 04:09 am (UTC)
"cotton kimono"

*nod*.

The story you tell sounds very familiar. I've bought a lot of stuff like that. (Mostly food.) I can say how many of something, and with some think time I can parse numbers of yen, but other than that I'm pretty much in the point-and-nod-and-say-thanks category. And yeah, it's a wonderful trip so far! :-)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 10:15 am (UTC)
...how much they would wrap you, for their own safety, if only they could... ;)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 03:05 pm (UTC)
I suppose the traditional kimono is the epitome of wrapping a human in many layers for pretty presentation.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 11:03 am (UTC)
My sister once told me that in many contexts in Japan, huge smelly farts in public were much more socially acceptable than a sneeze, presumably because the farts are filtered, and/or aren't seen to be illness conveyances. (I haven't asked her lately, she's had gradually more experience with Japan over time, first as a student, and off and on over the years as a cross-cultural emissary for a couple of different companies.)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 01:21 pm (UTC)
nothin' stinkier than a flat fart joke.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 03:03 pm (UTC)
I too have heard that farts are okay, although I haven't really noticed lots of them.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 11:16 am (UTC)
Oh, this packaging thing has got me wanting to wrap everything in my house in plastic wrap and tape!
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 03:04 pm (UTC)
And pretty pretty pretty paper, too! It's all about the presentation... I bought a box of sweet bean thingies, and I ate them all, and now I almost can't bear to throw the pretty stuff away.
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 03:06 pm (UTC)
*scream* Oh no! CLUTTER!
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 04:07 am (UTC)
Ohhhh yes. In fact, the square dance friend who showed us around today says that Japan is starting to change their ideas about packaging because of the garbage problem.
ckd: small blue foam shark (Default)
[personal profile] ckd
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 09:33 pm (UTC)
Ooh, sweet bean!

One of my favorite acquisitions during our trip was a box of Hello Kitty head shaped sponge cakes filled with sweet bean paste. I took it to work to amuse my co-workers. One later picked up another box of them when she went to Japan, specifically to bring to work since everyone had liked the ones I brought.
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 04:04 am (UTC)
I think the sweet bean stuff is delicious. I've had a half-dozen different kinds already -- no Hello Kitty sponge cakes, though! :)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 01:20 pm (UTC)
how much of this packaging will you be bringing home?
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 03:04 pm (UTC)
As little as I can manage :)
Tuesday, January 11th, 2005 04:19 pm (UTC)
Is it cut into twenty-five wedges or twenty-five odd-shaped pieces?
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 04:05 am (UTC)
Odd-shaped pieces. It won't be a very difficult puzzle, but it'll be harder than it would have been if they'd been wedges. :)
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 01:05 am (UTC)
Wow, packaging wildness! Do they have the nasty adult-proof thick plastic flesh cutting stuff we get, or is it just numerous (pretty) layers of relatively easy-to-remove stuff?

Hope your sleep continues to improve and those icky coughs from hell go back whence they came. Bleah! Safe germ-free virtual *HUGS* for you!
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 04:06 am (UTC)
Numerous pretty layers, usually. In many cases at least one of the layers is beautiful paper...

Thanks for the health wishes. I think today was not so good health-wise -- we went to Nikko, in the mountains, and it was blustery cold there (all our pictures are white from the blowing snow). I hope that didn't do anything to me. Oh well: I'll recover some day. :)
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 02:50 pm (UTC)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dragon_spirit/598164.html
Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 02:53 pm (UTC)
(This being Mary, I should have logged him out :) )