Saturday, January 30, 2010

culture shock(s)

One thing you may notice when you eat in Japan, is that many people leave their bags to hold their table.

I've sat next to people in Starbucks or other cafes and they just get up, leaving their belongings to go to the bathroom. No one (well, me) watching their bags.

Trusting, yet scary.

I too, am guilty of leaving my bag (though not an "LV") to hold my seat while I go to order something.

The other time I was in Starbucks, I was kinda blown away. The whole time I was there, this Louis Vuitton suitcase sat next to the garbage.

At first, I thought the owner was the guy sitting to the right of it, but it wasn't.

He got up and left and the bag was still there.

No one came to check it out (it could've been a bomb right?)

After about an hour, the owner, who was sitting farther inside of Starbucks, came to pick it up and left.

I was amazed that no one stole it and that no one thought it a suspicious item.

When Satoshi and I went to Kobe, I noticed that a lottery window was located right next door to the bank and thought it kinda odd.

I asked Satoshi about it and he said that long ago, a certain bank used to run the lottery. After many mergers, this particular bank is now in charge, so most their branches have the lottery window next door.

We don't have lotteries in Hawaii, so the whole concept was quite intriguing to me.

13 comments:

Sara Mari said...

Yeah there is no way that LV suitcase would last even 5 seconds in the US. People even steal things of no value, so something like that is just asking for it. I hope people in Japan don't start catching onto how easy it'd be to be a sneak thief there!

KirkK said...

Hi Kat - Fascinating.... it is kinda refreshing to know that there's still an amount of trust existing. WE have a huge lottery here in California, I really didn't know what to make of it when I first moved out here.

Tamara Marnell said...

Lotteries at the bank? Sounds ingeneous to me. People come out with coins in their pocket just waiting to be frittered away....

90% of the middle-aged males in Indiana buy lottery tickets every week. They sell them in the alcohol shops, the grocery stores, the gas stations; it's rare to go into Kroger and /not/ see someone lined up at the ticket counter.

Rowena said...

I really am digging Japan each time you share this little tidbits. Unfortunately MotH won't let me play the lottery here :-(

On another note, I was all set to make the kimchi sandwich and guess what? The kimchi had mold! I'm sure it wasn't in there more than a month old. I've let it ferment for weeks on other occasions and nothing grew on top. My tough luck...sigh.

K and S said...

Actually there are pickpockets here Sara Marie :(

Thanks Kirk :)

Interesting Tamara!

Rowena, Moldy kim chee? You must've been disappointed, I know I would've been.

Take care everyone!
Kat

jalna said...

This is just so amazing to me. I have such a major fear of my camera gear being stolen that every single piece of equipment that I bring along with me cannot leave my body. Even with reassurances I refuse to put anything down, and I sometimes end up looking ridiculously overloaded.

K and S said...

I can understand how you wouldn't want your camera to leave your side Jalna! Better safe than sorry.

Take care.
Kat

Term Papers said...

It sounds interesting.

K and S said...

Thanks Term Papers :)

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

It's been about 10 years but one of my co-workers left her briefcase/laptop on the train in Tokyo with computer and her wallet in it and they found it, tracked her down at the hotel and delivered it back to her. Always amazing to me!
;-)

K and S said...

That is amazing Debinhawaii, did you know that unclaimed items are sold at a big sale? You should see the amount of lost umbrellas they sell!

Take care.
Kat

Anonymous said...

OMG! So VERY interesting!

Paz

K and S said...

Thanks Paz :)

Take care.
Kat