Tokyo Stories

You can find reading glasses in many public places, like post offices and police stations. Most places just have a single degree of strengths, but here, I saw three: strong for 60 year olds, weak for 40s, and somewhere in between for 50s.

According to my mother, who is already old enough to need reading glasses (sorry mom), following are the motivations to use them:
- Within your hub. These places are typically placed near your homes, you do not bring all your belongings with you.
- Only for a short while. You need reading glasses to quickly fill some forms, quickly borrowing them is handier than bringing a pair of your own.
- Tedious to take out. Even if you had one with you, it is tedious to take one out, especially if your hands are full.

Once you hear why, it totally makes sense. I wonder, is this the solution taking place in other countries as well?

The above image is a copy from a magazine called Deco Venus, introducing gadget decoration trends among young women in Japan. It looks like a dessert recipe filled with fruit, ice cream and whipped cream, but they are all fake and the column is in fact showing how to personalize Nintendo DS.

In terms of styles, they divide into six categories: Simple, colorful, pink (seems like it's such an important color that it had to be a league of its own), princess, men's, and volumy (bulky).



The book essentially provides you two ways to personalize, either by DIY following instructions in the magazine, or by simply ordering them. Products range from stationaries to mobile phones, but because of the man power and the number of stones they use, price can go up to 300 Euros, which are not cheap at all.

Source: Deco Venus

An American lady asked me, "Japanese tea cups, why do they come in different sizes?" It took me a while until I realized what she was asking. Basically she wanted to buy a pair, but she was frustrated because none of the pairs she saw in shops, came in an identical size.

Japanese tea cups are often sold in pairs or by a set of 5. Pair cups are often purchased as a gift to newly wed couples, big ones for husbands, and small for wives. And the idea of having a dedicated set of everyday dishes, that is also applied for chopsticks, rice bowls, and miso soup bowls. Recollecting how things were with my parents, we never ever mixed them up. I recall few cases when I used guest chopsticks, but those were the times I had a massive appetite as a child and had bit off a tip of my own chopsticks by mistake.

The more I think about this, this is essentially quite different from many cultures I have so far seen. In some countries I have visited, I noticed that people had a set of plates, cutleries, and cups with exact same shapes, and they did not belong a particular member of the family. The closest thing I have seen is the napkins for French people. They mark their own napkins with napkin rings so that they know which one is for who.

The difference is probably due to table manners: when you eat Japanese food, you are supposed to lift soup/rice bowls and bring closer to your mouth. In fact, bring yourself closer to dishes or tables, are considered to be very lousy. This naturally sets quite a strict criteria as tools have to be ergonomic, fitting into your own hands.

This actually brings me a new question: If Japanese are so keen on how dishes fit into their hands, why don't we have mobile phones with more diverse form factors with anthropometric considerations?

Returning to the topic of tea cups, if you are looking for guest tea cups that are sold in a set of four, you should forget about it. Sets will never come in fours as the number 4, shi, is pronounced exactly the same as the word death. Unlike the table manners, this is a common belief in Korea and China as well, thanks to the influence of Chinese characters across the Far East.

While public transportations campaigns not to wear make up in public spaces, the need itself does not seem to cease on women's side.

For the past few years we've been seeing foldable mirrors, provided in different sizes and colors. Such products became so common, that we started to see some cheap ones in 100 yen shops.

But now, a new variant called Mobile Hollywood Mirror has come in town. Price is around 1500 yen (about 9 EUR). Basically the product has a batter container on its hinge, and you can lit small lights placed on left and right sides of the upper mirror. Quite smart, as the weight and the form factor did not increase significantly yet enabled women to wear make up even in dark places.

Unfortunately I am not a good representative to say how strong the demand is as I do not wear much make up to begin with. And the term Hollywood Mirror, is that one of those Japlish terms?

In above photo, there are two envelopes with two 10,000 yen bill inside. One is a proper way, the other one is not. Can you identify three mistakes?

Last week I worked as a coordinator and organized a few home interviews. As I was preparing for the payment, my mom saw how I prepared the envelope, which looked like the one at the bottom. Then she pointed out my three mistakes, and corrected as above.

Answers:
1) The face in bills. Should all be facing the front side of the envelope.
2) Bills should be crisp and new, not old and wrinkled.
3) Envelope should be plain. Should not use the ones that are used for mail delivery.



By the way, I should also add that there are also manners required on the recipient side: Even if anyone insists, do not look inside to check how much money is inside. When I gave the money away, not a single person checked how much was inside on the spot. Showing a doubt of the containment is already a beginning of impoliteness here.

While this seems like a very sophisticated manner, I am quite frustrated. I would rather have the content checked to make sure the business is good and done. In China, everyone instantly checked how much was inside. Of course actions are more obvious, but I felt quite comfortable in that context because that was the way people were responsible of each other, preventing serious consequences in case the content did not match what one claimed.

For small tips to weddings and funerals, how does your country deal with cash giving?