Shamed

I am feeling completely shamed by the fact that my friend Kuri, who has a toddler and has recently moved into a new house, updates her blog approximately 100 times more often than I do.

There is the usual litany of excuses. One being that I recently spent almost two weeks in Japan -- my much-loved second home. It was a work trip, and I felt woefully deprived of adequate shopping opportunities ("You have 20 minutes in Jusco" -- RUN!). But, most disturbing, were the changes I observed in Japanese culture.

1) The JR shinkansen conductors do not bow with the aplomb and pride that they used to.

2) The JR shinkansen conductors do not even check anyone's tickets in reserved seats on the train (which resulted in Sweetie and I having to boot someone out of our seat, who then moved to another reserved seat, only to be booted out of that one too by new passengers).

3) Service is not what it used to be. Sweetie and I dropped in on a cute coffee shop in the train station mall and it was so appalling that on my way out, I warned a woman with two small children who was waiting for a seat. We waited 40 minutes for our coffee and tea, which were supposed to come with cookies and cake. We waited another 20 minutes for our cake and cookies, which I had to ask for TWICE (actually walking up to the kitchen myself in one case), and needless to say, our coffee and tea had long since been consumed by the time the cookies and cake arrived. All the staff were running around like complete idiots -- we observed our waitress alternately serve as waitress, dishwasher, and kitchen staff. Someone was furiously washing dishes, while no one could seem to muster the time to put two cookies and a pre-sliced piece of cake on a plate.

In addition, while staying in a rather expensive hotel, the hotel power went out for THREE HOURS one morning (it went out while I was showering for work) and the hotel offered NO explanation and no compensation (fortunately, we were only on the 5th floor). This was in the middle of winter in a major northern Japan city. There were several inches of snow on the ground. The room became intolerably cold during that time.

And to top it off, when we asked if we could check out two hours late they next day, they grabbed a calculator and told us how much extra it would cost!!! Hel-lo!

Also, Sweetie sent a shirt off for dry cleaning, and it came back looking like no one had bothered to iron the sleeves or shoulders. The staff at the front desk looked at me like I had three heads when I took it back and said it was unacceptable. No "moshiwake-arimasen"s and not a single bow of apology. It was more like a disbelieving, "Soo desu ka???"

4) One of my perhaps greatest disappointments was while staying at a ryokan and eating their overwhelmingly large dinners served in the room. We were served up piles of fish and sushi one evening and I was delighted to see one of my favorites, uni (sea urchin). (I've recently tried giving pescetarian-ism a try after 11 years as a vegetarian, as I've become increasingly plagued by respiratory illness). Although I was slightly dismayed by the obvious supermarket packaged-tray that the uni was served on, I figured that we were, after all, inland, so maybe they couldn't get the fresh stuff.

But, my forgiving attitude took a turn, when I glimpsed the back of the uni tray and a sticker that listed the origin of that uni as THE UNITED STATES.

I nearly wept.