Jap Blog 18th of July 1996


Hisako didn’t show for my tour of Kyoto. Hardly surprising really. I dropped in at a Sumitomo Bank to take some cash out of my credit card (almost impossible to spend anything on credit card in Japan – cash is king) and they wouldn’t let me have any money. Incidentally, the bank employed an older guy to stand at the door, greet you, and show you which teller you need to see. Talk about over employment. Rang mum and my sister, on a phone inside the bank, but they were not home or I couldn’t get through so I rang Mr Loppy in Bordertown to get the Commonwealth Bank’s phone number. Spoke with Tim Lawrence at the Bordertown branch, whom I know from school, to provide assurance of my identity.

The problem was, even though I had thousands of dollars in credit on my credit card, my limit was only $500 and so I was only able to withdraw $500 in cash on a weekly basis. If I had wanted to buy something for $3000 and had enough funds that wouldn’t have been a problem. Don’t make the mistake of heading to Japan with about $80 in cash and the rest stuck in a credit card. Ah, the naïve traveller.

Managed to get my credit limit increased to $1000. The female teller in Sumitomo bank couldn’t accept that I had been in touch with my bank in Australia when I asked her to try the transaction again possibly because I had been using a green phone. The green phone was only for local calls – how could I possibly have called Australia. Good old Telstra Phonehome card.

Persuaded them to try again and to their astonishment the money was available. The phone calls to Australia cost me $A88 and I could have called the telephone number on my Visa card handy numbers card that I had inside my wallet and saved me all of the expense.

Walked to Nishi Hongan-ji. Just huge. So was Higashi Hongan-ji. You must remove your shoes when entering the temples. Walked to a massive garden but it was closed. A small temple with a cemetery caught my attention [author's note: Pack them in don't they? People in Japan are cremated after they die]. So hot today. Had a look at Kara-mon at Higashi Hongan-ji.

I’ve noticed that nobody hands pamphlets out to white people and Japanese have the unusual habit of parking their cars, turning the air conditioning on, and going to sleep. In a country where petrol isn’t cheap it is most unusual. Also, there are almost no bins to put rubbish into. You are supposed to finish your drink/ice cream outside of the shop where you bought it. On the television, suspected criminals are named and filmed but handcuffs are not shown. Intriguing. Watched a bit of “Alf” and it was very well dubbed into Japanese. It’s even possible to watch American programs in Japanese or American. English for signs is American English. In some pamphlets it is more Japanese English eg “friendly” becomes “friendry”. This country is so service-oriented. So many people to greet you, especially in the banks, and there are heaps of bean counters. Service girls use such a high-pitched voice and they are too polite. Just shut up and do your job. Japanese commercials are full of people singing and bouncing about on the screen.

- posted by Hammy @ 8:39 am