Showing posts with label salarymen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salarymen. Show all posts

Friday, February 24, 2017

premium friday

The government came up with a "brilliant" way to get the working class to "take a break" every last Friday of the month.

They are calling it "Premium Friday" and it starts today.

Workers are asked to leave at 15:00...

Bummer that this doesn't apply to Satoshi's workplace.

Most people who are part-timers will work less hours which means they will receive less wages.

Most companies are busiest at the end of the month too, closing their books...

Japan also has a "no-zangyo" (no overtime) day weekly on Wednesdays, but if you ask me, a workaholic society will hardly be able to retrain their ways...

Have a nice weekend, I'll continue our recent adventure to Matsuyama on Monday!

Friday, January 10, 2014

salarymen pride

Did you know Japanese salarymen (business men) have pride? I call it "stupid pride".

They refuse to wear their coats when they go out for lunch. Hands stuck deep into their pants pockets they run across the streets to eat lunch shivering all the way, no jacket on, just their dress shirts.

When the temperature was changing between Fall and Winter, I suggested to Satoshi that he wear his coat to work.

He said, "it's too early in the season to"...um, who said?

I told him, "but if you're cold, you should wear something, otherwise you'll catch cold"

(and secretly I was also saying, "if you catch a cold then you'll give it to me....")

But nope..."stupid pride"

Right now, he wears thermals over his underwear, which tends to bunch up.

Not very nice when wearing a suit.

And then I told him about these boxers for men that have haramaki attached to them. Haramaki literally means stomach wrap.

I told him, if he got a pair he wouldn't have to wear the thermals over his underwear and it wouldn't feel so bulky under his suit.

He scoffed at me.

Still, I dragged him over the New Years break to the store and convinced him to buy a pair.

He wore it the other day and came home saying...

"Kat, this is the best thing ever!"

Guess who was laughing now...

It's Friday here, and a 3-day weekend.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

work transfers

About this time of year and again during the Fall, Satoshi's company has transfers.

If you are being transferred, they usually give you 2 weeks notice. Within that two weeks, you need to move and be able to report to work on February 1st or if it is in the Fall, October 1st.

Can you imagine packing up all your belongings and moving within 2 weeks? (If you are being transferred overseas the notice is about two months prior)

Oh, and you'll have to find your own housing. Sure the company will compensate you a little, but still.

Recently, Satoshi's co-worker, got transferred from Osaka to Tokyo. He has a family (wife and child) and a mortgage, so his wife and child will stay in Osaka.

This type of transfer is called "tan-shin-fu-nin" (tahn-shin-foo-nin = to work away from your family). Can you imagine paying your mortgage and paying rent?! Ridiculous.

You might ask why his wife and child don't move with him to Tokyo.

Well, depending on the age of the child, transferring schools will disrupt their "daily routines" and may even affect the child's study behaviors, maybe even risking bad grades (which will screw up everything for getting into college).

Anyway, that is the main reason why a lot of businessmen who get transferred often end up going to their new assignments alone.

And if you think 2 weeks is short notice, I've heard that banks in Japan give their workers notice on a Thursday and they must report to their new assignment by the following Monday. The reason for this is so that they can't "mess-up" accounts or do anything "bad" to affect the bank system (a.k.a. retaliation).

I guess the whole system is similar to the military, but I'm still thankful Satoshi has a job.

How do transfers work in your country or for your job?

Sunday, January 23, 2011

salaryman rant

After being married for 11 years, you would think I'd be used to having to look after "someone" after they come home from a night of drinking.

*ahem*

Part of the job of being a housewife in Japan means you are part magician because you can need to be able to fix "anything".

This especially means rips in pants, and sometimes the rips are in places that sewing machines cannot go, really.

Oh, and being a housewife in Japan means you also need to be part detective too, because you need to know where that someone put their glasses down the night before (WT??)...sigh.

Well, these pants are goners, thank goodness your knee didn't need stitches and I'm really glad you didn't bonk your head unconscious and made it home safely.

I've ranted about this before and I probably sound like a nag, but please stop drinking this way. And please stop sleeping in the bathtub (with it filled!)

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

"breakfast"

During the week, Satoshi usually comes home from work really late.

Like 23:00 or 24:00 (sometimes even later and it isn't because he is out drinking with clients or friends, like most "salarymen" (business men) are).

To feed him a "regular sized" meal at that late hour would be asking for trouble.

Most nights I feed him veggies or soup. Or if it is really late, like after midnight, just a glass of milk.

Kinda sad, since I know he is starving, but unless he comes home earlier, I don't want to risk him getting indigestion or other illnesses from eating so late.

Plus, feeding him a regular meal at that late hour, he wouldn't be hungry the next morning.

So most mornings, I feed him "dinner".

This could be loco moco with a side of chili.

Loco moco is one of Satoshi's favorites from Hawaii.

I cheat with package gravy but he is still happy with it.

Now that spring onions are in season, sauteed, they go nicely with the loco moco.

One morning was taco rice. A favorite of ours from Okinawa.

I think he likes the combination of chips and salsa, but I like it because it tastes "mexican".

Sometimes I serve him mentaiko (spicy pollack roe) or fish. Paired with rice and some tsukemono (pickled veggies).

Sometimes natto (fermented soy beans).

I try to feed him rice rather than bread because that is what he grew up on.

I also try to give him fresh fruit and some yogurt. I know it doesn't match with Japanese foods, but it is probably the only meal for him to get some fruit and calcium in.

Keeping late hours during the week, I try to squeeze in as many zzs as I can and usually wake up a half hour before Satoshi's alarm goes off.

This usually means I only have half an hour to prepare breakfast, though it usually takes him longer to pull himself out of bed. (He is definitely not a morning person! And who could blame him with his inconsistent sleeping habits.)

Because of the limited time in the morning, I usually cook what I will serve him the day before, then heat it up for his breakfast, especially if it is something complicated or takes some time to prepare.

In the morning, I also make a musubi for him to take with him to work which he usually eats at about 19:00 or 20:00 to tide him over until he comes home for "dinner".

Before we met, Satoshi's breakfast was a cup of coffee. Now that we are married, and he eats "breakfast", he says he can't live without it.

By the way, my breakfast is usually oatmeal, toast or granola, fruit & yogurt and my dinner is usually what Satoshi had for "breakfast".

I think I've asked you before, but what do you eat in the morning?

Friday, May 22, 2009

d.m.v.

Wednesday, we went to renew Satoshi's Japan drivers license so I wanted to share with you an email I sent to my family and friends in 2001 regarding my experience with Satoshi at the D.M.V.

"Yesterday, we went to renew Satoshi's drivers license. It operates from 8:30am to 10:30am and 13:30pm to 15:30pm. So we left home at about 7:00am, the bus to the station was PACKED!

After we got to the train station, there were so many "salarymen"(businessmen) travelling to work and coming to work. Cigarette smoke filled the whole station, even with all the windows open, it was pretty bad (kind of like Vegas, except the windows were OPEN!)

When we got to the destination by train, we had to catch a bus to the license office (this took about 20 minutes to get there).

We walked in thinking that it wouldn't be too busy (this was Satoshi's thinking) and it was PACKED! There were at least 300 people already standing in line! Japan is known for their lines so, Satoshi stood in line after line....

Line 1: Check to make sure that you are allowed to renew (only 1 month prior to expiration).
Line 2: Pay for license (about US$23 for 3 years).
Line 3: Make any address changes, etc.
Line 4: Eye exam
Line 5: Turn in forms
Line 6: Take picture
Line 7: Go to listen to a 30 minute lecture about safe driving.

After you listen to the lecture, you receive your new license. Amazingly, we were out of there in about 1 hour!"

UPDATE: A 3 year license with no accidents or violations, allows you to get a 5 year license, this costs 2800 yen (about US$28). The time that you can check-in is now shortened to 8:30-9:30am and 13:30-14:30pm. The rest of the drill is the same, including the lecture. Satoshi says that if you've had accidents or violations you need to listen to a l-o-n-g-e-r lecture (that should keep you violation/accident free).

It is Friday, hope you have a great weekend!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

foodie monday

Monday started off blazing hot. Satoshi had the day off, so we headed to Umeda for some errands.

It actually took us several years to visit this soba shop. Makino is located near Nishi-Umeda in an area called Fukushima.

If you took a look at this shop from the outside you might just walk right past it. You can't tell it was a soba shop.

Inside the interior was clean. There were 3 tables of 4 and 3 counter seats. There was no smell of re-used oil and most of all, no smell of tobacco.

Someone once told me that you can tell a true soba shop, if the owner doesn't allow smoking. The same goes for sushi shops. (I know of one soba place that won't even allow his customers to wear perfume!)

Anyway, this place is known for their cold sudachi (lime) soba. When we got there, it seemed as though everyone ordered the same thing.

After ordering though, we were a bit disappointed....The bowl was so small!

The noodles were nice, a bit chewy and the broth ice cold. Perfect for a hot day. But at 1100 yen (about US$11) a bowl, it was expensive.

Satoshi could have order an oomori (larger portion), but wasn't willing to add 400 yen (about US$4). He was so hungry, he even ate his sudachi (limes), rinds and all, and immediately said, "we need to have something afterwards".

And so we did, we walked to nearby Herbis, a shopping area in Nishi-Umeda, to their food court.

We popped into a shop called Harbs. Harbs is a Japanese chain, so you can probably find something close to you. The slices of cake at Harbs are humongous by Japanese standards.

I remember when we first moved to Japan and found this place. I felt at home with their "American sized" pieces of cake. We hadn't been here for several years and were shocked at the prices. Most of the cakes run from 600 yen (about US$6) a slice to 1200 yen (about US$12)! And coffee is 600 yen (about US$6) a cup!

After our "soba appetizers" though, we were ready to eat anything! I ordered the blueberry tarte (900 yen a slice! US$9) and iced coffee (600 yen--about US$6) and Satoshi went for the lunch set (1400 yen...about US$14).

Satoshi's lunch set came with his choice of pasta, a salad, a half slice of cake (he chose marron (chestnut)) and a drink (coffee/tea).

He says he got the best deal (although tons of food!) My tarte was whipped so it was very light. I also loved all the fresh blueberries on top.


After our second "lunch", we walked around Herbis. This shopping area is very high end. Most of the shops look like this.

One of the funny things I always see are "salarymen" (salesmen/businessmen) sitting anywhere and everywhere, papers spread out, on the cell phone, doing business. This guy was lucky, at least he had a seat to sit on, most of the guys are crouched down with their papers on the ground.

As we walked back to the Hankyu Station, we noticed it was really dark! We could smell rain coming. And sure enough, it came down in buckets with thunder and lightning.

Apparently, all of Japan was raining and flooding...scary stuff!




Despite everything that day, it was still a great foodie Monday.

Makino
6-11-13 Fukushima
Fukushima, Osaka
Phone: 06.6453.2828
Open 11:30-14:00 (or until things run out)
18:00-22:00 (or until things run out)
Closed Wednesdays

Harbs
Herbis Plaza B2
Nishi-Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6341.0901

Monday, June 09, 2008

banbatei

About 3 minutes from the Hankyu Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi station, there is a tiny shop that serves curry soba.

The restaurant, Banbatei, was featured in a foodie magazine last year and I just came upon the article recently.

Since Satoshi had the day off, we decided to check out this place for lunch. When we got there, there was a line of people out in front.

There are only 24 seats--5 at the counter and 19 on tables. After about 10 or 15 minutes, we were seated.

If you are eating alone or as a pair be prepared to share your table with someone. This is called aiseki and it is quite normal in Japan. We too had to share our table with someone.

Since it was lunchtime, the table next to us were filled with salarymen (businessmen). They were busily eating their curry soba and perspiring buckets all the while. Several times they grabbed tissues to wipe their faces from the tissue box provided on the table.

I ordered the sudachi (lime) soba--750 yen (about US$7.50). I have a hard time eating hot foods, I usually end up burning my tongue (they call this nekojita (cat's tongue)) and then not being able to enjoy my food, so I usually prefer going for the cold stuff. This bowl of soba was served with grated ginger, tempura kasu (the bits from frying tempura) and sudachi. It was very refreshing and just enough for me to finish.

I'm glad that I didn't order the curry soba, the bowls were huge (about 10 or 12 inches in diameter)! Satoshi ordered the seafood curry soba--1180 yen (about US$11.80). When he ordered they asked him what level of spiciness he wanted and he chose normal. He was said it was good and he was perspiring from the heat of the dish more than the spices.

Banbatei
1-6-7 Koufuen
Nishinomiya, Hyogo
Phone: 0798.66.0995
Open 11:00-20:30 Closed on Sundays & Holidays

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

tokumasa

A good way to keep warm during the winter in Japan is to eat a nice, hot bowl of curry udon.

Satoshi had the day off on Friday, so we went to Umeda. He had some errands to run, so I wandered around to kill some time. As I was wandering, I came upon a tiny restaurant that served curry udon.

This restaurant had their menu outside and also some articles from various magazines that they were featured in.

There is one foodie magazine in Kansai that "if you can be featured there, you can make it anywhere", or so to speak...this restaurant happened to be featured in it, so I knew it had to be good.

After Satoshi was done with his errands, we met up and I took him to the restaurant. It was peak lunch hour and it was packed!

I've never lunched alongside of salarymen (businessmen) until today, but you could feel the tension in the air as everyone was trying to eat before their lunch hour was over. There was very little chatter and no lingering, just eat and go!

It was elbow to elbow!

Everyone wore a paper bib--wouldn't want any curry splatters on your Armani suits.

I ordered the nami curry udon teishoku (regular curry udon meal). This came with a bowl of rice with a raw egg on top! In Kansai, you usually get rice alongside of noodles (talk about carbo loading--Satoshi ate my bowl of rice.) The curry starts off a bit sweet then the fire kicks in.

My nose was running and mouth was burning, but it was addictingly delicious.

Satoshi had the daily special--menchi katsu curry udon (hamburger cutlet curry udon). One large deep fried hamburger, cut into 4 pieces.

I really liked this curry udon, the soup was thick, not watery like the soup usually eaten with udon.

If you live in Japan, this place is actually a chain, hopefully you can find a restaurant near you.

Tokumasa
Osaka #4 Station Bldg (Osaka Daiyon Building) B2
Phone:06.6347.1903
Open 11:00-19:00, no smoking during lunchtime (11:00-14:00)

There are only 19 seats at this place, so go early to get yours.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

tsukiai & crochet

What a long day today was...I had my bead crochet class.
We made this napkin holder.

And this necklace was a project that I wasn't finished with by the end of our last class.

Last night and tonight, Satoshi had "tsukiai" parties with co-workers. "Tsukiai" means association, and they do this by going drinking. Last night's "tsukiai" was a farewell party for some co-workers and tonight's "tsukiai" was a welcome party for new co-workers...why they couldn't put the two together is a bit odd to me. Ask Satoshi and he'll tell you that "tsukiai" is the MOST IMPORTANT LAW of being a company worker (salary-man as they are called here)...yeah, yeah...go drinking, but be able to wake up in the morning and don't fall asleep in the "furo" (bath)!

Anyway, since he didn't need dinner last night, I decided to make myself something simple, baked rotini with pesto cream sauce. It came out pretty good and I put together a salad to go with it.


After my class today, I popped into the Hanshin Department store. If you've ever gone shopping in a Japanese Department store, you'll know that in the basement they have their prepared foods and grocery section (for you aisle roamers out there this is the place to roam!). I went to check out the prepared area for a bento or something for dinner. I went to one of my favorite vendors, Mamehachiro. I like this vendor because they use a lot of beans in their dishes. I bought a seafood kakiage donburi. Kakiage is a kind of tempura. Tempura is usually shrimp or vegetables that are separately battered lightly and then fried crispy. Kakiage are different ingredients mixed together such as shredded carrots, sliced onions, green beans, corn which are lightly battered together then fried. Donburi means bowl. It was very filling.

I also bought myself dessert, ohagi. Ohagi is mochi rice that hasn't been pounded into mochi (rice cakes) yet, then is covered with "an" sweet red bean paste. This ohagi had a strawberry in it (sorry the picture is a bit blurred). It was very good and not too sweet.

I didn't have time to take a nap so I'm kind of hanging a bit...

Friday, December 09, 2005

trying to save the planet?--a little venting

During the summer, the Japanese government had a campaign to cut down the emissions of greenhouses, it was called "Cool Biz" (I think it stood for Cool Business). This campaign encouraged everyone to raise the temperatures of their air conditioners to about 28C (82F) and dress a bit more casually: no necktie or jacket.

Satoshi's office participated in this and he was so happy because he really hates to wear neckties or as the businessmen (or salarymen (as the Japanese call them) here call it "kubiwa" or neck rope...If you ask me, I really don't know why all these businessmen have to wear suits anyway.

If you aren't dealing with clients face to face, why do you need to dress up? (I guess I think this way because I'm from Hawaii and the guys usually just wear aloha shirts and dress pants for any event (work, weddings, funerals)). Anyway, you could tell which companies didn't participate in this project, they were the ones carrying their suit jackets over their arms or in their hands. (need a hanger?)

Well, in October, the Japanese government came out with the winter version..."Warm Biz". This project encourages everyone to lower the temperatures of their heaters to about 20C (68F) and dress warmer--wearing a sweater or vest over a dress shirt, using thermal underwear, etc. Satoshi's office isn't really participating in this project, so it's back to wearing ties and suit jackets for Satoshi.

At home, we're also trying to do our share, our heater is set to 20C. I wear MANY layers in the house and try not to use the heater during the daytime. Our apartment faces the south, so our living room area gets the sun all day long. It usually gets very warm and toasty, so I usually don't turn the heater on during the day.

My suggestion to the government if they want to help to save the planet---cut down on the number of people smoking...

It seems there are about 70% of the people who smoke here (maybe it's just because there are 8 times the population here than in Hawaii?)

Some restaurants here "provide" smoking and non-smoking sections---um, if I'm sitting in non-smoking and the customer sitting at the next table is in the smoking section, can you actually say that you have separate sections? I think they need to have their own room to smoke in and not come out from it!!

I guess you could say I'm a bit peeved by smokers here mainly because most of them have no manners, they throw their butts into the storm drains, rivers and where ever they feel like it. If smoking is not allowed in areas, they take out their portable ashtray (it looks like a smashed paper cup) and smoke a way.

Sometimes a smoker is walking about way ahead of me, but the smoke from his/her cigarette comes to coat me...(ugh, and I just washed my hair!!) I have stopped hanging our clothes outside because there is someone on either the 1st or 2nd floor of our building that smokes and "perfumes" our laundry...

For you smokers out there with manners, good for you, but I think you should still try to stop. Food will taste better (and I'll be able to enjoy my food too if I'm seated next to you), and the fish and plants that live in the rivers and streams will actually be able to "live" , the amount of pollution that flows to the ocean from the rivers and streams will decrease and save the animals and plants living there--helping the planet all together.

There, I think I've gotten that out of my system...for now...