Tokyo Sights

Walking back to the office last night for a late night conference call, I took one of the small streets. There's a bar on the street, where I assume the hostesses all wear traditional yukata (summer kimono) since a gaggle of 4 girls wearing yukata accompanied a clearly inebriated man out the door. As I was walking by, I saw the guy literally take his hands and cup them around one of the hostesses breasts and she just laughed it off, along with the other girls.

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There are two sets of sliding doors in my lobby - the first one opens automatically but the inner set requires you to use a key fob to open for security reasons. As I was in the vestibule between the two sets of doors, digging out my key fob, I saw a GIGANTIC insect (that looked like a cockroach but the flying kind) about a foot away from me....exactly between me and the key fob reader. I literally stood frozen for about 20 seconds before I realized in order to get away from the bug, I was going to have to inch closer to it first so I could open the sliding door. As soon as the door opened I ran through the lobby after screaming a little scream.

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I've been to a couple parties/gatherings and met a lot of guys who are wearing wedding rings and yet totally out till 2 or 3 in the morning talking it up with lots of random girls. If it was one or two married guys, I'd just shrug it off as an anomaly, but I think it's actually the norm here as there are SO many married men who appear to love going out to parties and meeting girls whereas I have yet to encounter a single married woman who was out partying without her husband.

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My Nihongo teacher taught me today that in Japan, there are two "iidesu." Literally, it means, "that's good." If you nod your head and say iidesu, it means "that's good." If you shake your head and say iidesu, it means "that's bad."

Deb: But they're the same words!
Sensei (smiling): yes, isn't it very convenient that it can mean two meanings?
Deb (to herself): UM, NO, it's very confusing and SO reflective of the whole Japanese don't say what you actually mean thing, PLUS what if you are blind and can't see if they are nodding or shaking their head?