5-22-03

Well boys and girls, lots has happened since you last heard from me. I FINALLY got two calls back for interviews…that’s two calls back out of almost 30 inquiries/resumes sent. I’m told this isn’t unusual, but sheesh. The interview today was actually a group interview with Berlitz. The big problem with them is that they don’t provide any sort of assistance with housing. I DO NOT want  to enter a search for “affordable” housing in Tokyo…I might find the grail first. The other interview is with some tiny mom and pop school. No idea what to expect…all I know is that some Japanese chick will meet me at the train station when I arrive tomorrow.

Chris’ singing is going well. His group started performing for the public on Sunday, and they seem to be a hit. He likes what he’s doing and seems to enjoy the company of the other four guys. Hey Greg, can you imagine what it would be like to love your job and like/respect your co-workers?! Of course I have a job i like back home…there's just more silliness and less Disney at the Library (hi Tom, hi Sarah). 

OK, so that’s the business end. Let’s talk about Japan. I know this one is long and appears to be about one thing, but this ONE THING has taken up most of my effort for the last three days…I’ve got some venting and describing to do.

MG Does Mass Transit
Being a Florida girl, I knew next to nothing about mass transit just four months ago. In London, the beautiful goddess Kelley Galvin taught me to use the London Tube. Everything was in English, color coded, and had passengers who like their own personal space—pretty easy sailing. Thank God the Tube taught me the basics of reading a subway map, but Tokyo is a different world indeed. 

The Tokyo mass transit system is HUGE. Tokyo Station is the busiest in the world, and a few others on the system come in second and third. There are people rushing everywhere almost all of the time. Walls and walls of people and miles and miles of track to navigate.

First off, there are two separate systems: the Tokyo subway and the JR (Japan Rail). Although the two use many of the same stations, the gates and platforms are separate. In addition they use different systems to pay. If your journey requires both train and subway, you have to have two separate tickets bought at different places. Both use color- coded maps for navigation, but the colors don’t correspond between the two. So orange on a subway map means you’re on the Ginza Line, but on a JR map you’re on the Shonan-Shinjuku Line. 
Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt. The JR maps and stations are pretty good about have the romanji names (phonetic spellings of Japanese place names using characters we can actually read) and automated ticket machines that have English screens if you need them. Sadly, the subway does not always have this. Sadder is that I’m almost completely illiterate by Japanese standards. The problem there is that you have to know the exact location of your stop so you can buy a ticket with the appropriate fare. It’s a guessing 
game each time (and really, it’s making my brain hurt just thinking about it). The worst part is that while I’m standing at the ticket machine trying to decipher all of this, a polite but disapproving line of Japanese people in a hurry forms behind me. 

A super cool thing about the JR Line is that you can buy what is essentially a train debit card (called a Suica card). You put this thing in 
you wallet, and all you have to do is pass your wallet over the scanner (no opening or taking cards out or having to remember to retrieve them at the other side of the turnstile). Now how’s THAT for Japanese innovation? If/When you get to the correct platform, there are marks on the platform that show you where the train doors will open.…and they’ll seriously be *right there*. Japanese precision baybee! People very politely line up in neat little lines. People mostly let the passengers get off before getting on. Then people push their way on the train. And they push and push and push. In fact, there are people who are *paid* to literally push and shove as many people as 
possible onto a train car. A train pulls up, and at first you think that there’s no way in hell you could possibly fit another human on that thing. WRONG! Until you see a train pull up with human beings smashed up against the glass of the windows and doors because they are so smooshed on the train, you won’t believe it. When the doors open, people sometimes actually fall out of the train because they were so tightly packed in. It’s like a fraternity stunt gone bad…but it happens all day, everyday. Being on a train that packed in 
unpleasant. People are breathing on you and you can hear and smell everyone and everything. Annoyed because a lady’s umbrella is poking you in the ass? Tough poo my friend, your arms are likely pinned next to you, so extraction is not a possibility.

The Japanese rarely talk on the train or subway. They sleep. Sitting, standing, kneeling, crouching – doesn’t matter to them. They sleep. They sway with the train. They nod around the bends. But still they sleep. I’ve decided that a retreat into slumber is about the only rational reaction to being treated worse than the much-pitied sardines. But truth is that even when the train is not so crowded, they sleep. And the ones who aren’t sleeping are playing with their infernal cell phones. Click, click, click go the buttons. They read e-mail and text messages all the time. In fact they do it everywhere…walking down the street, driving cars, riding bikes – click click click go the cell phone buttons. School kids as young as 8 or 10 have their own phones, and click click click. 

The last thing that gets me about the trains and subways is that no one eats or drinks. Seriously, it’s super rare to see a speck of food or drink. No coffee, tea, soda, chips or candy. It’s just considered rude and no one does it. The average Japanese person spends about an hour getting to work…you’d think that they’d want to maximize their time by grabbing a sandwich or bagel or something. But it’s just not the way things are done (which annoys the crap out of me because I almost also am in need of a dietCoke fix). 

Despite what sounds like a bunch of complaints, the system moves hundreds of thousands if not millions of people each day. It’s inexpensive (much cheaper than London’s Tube – and much much much cheaper than having a car since gas in Japan is 3-4 times more expensive than in the US), it’s almost crime free, it’s clean, and it’s as efficient as possible considering.

Thus far, I’ve been lost, on the wrong train, headed the wrong direction, caught going up the down stairs, and have backed up more ticket lines than I care to think about. But it’s what makes getting around possible, and as soon as we’ve mastered this thing, there’s no stopping what we can do or see here. 

Well that is it for this one. I’ve got another brewing and so you may get two messages back to back.
I miss you all. Take care.

Love,
MG 

PS – I have been told that throwing yourself in front of a train/subway is a very popular way to commit suicide here. They actually have patrols who walk the lines to make sure that no one is about to off themselves when the train comes. But here’s the Japanese punch line: I’m also told that if you throw yourself in front of the train, your family is legally and financially responsible for all costs associated with train delays, returned fares, damage to the train and clean-up. It’s considered the preferred way to kill yourself if you want your last act to completely screw your family.