As we travel to our next destination and following on from my Sydney bloopers blog, I will share with you some of our funnier moments in Tokyo. As you can imagine, there is much we didn’t understand having zero concept of the language. The most we knew; Konnichiwa (Hello) and Arigatou (Thank you). As far as signage went, we had no idea. This leads me nicely into blooper one;
1. Hello hello
On day one walking around Tokyo, Mr Travel Bee had the only two words we knew confused. Every time he paid for something or left a restaurant he said in a cheerful voice “Konnichiwa”. Miss 13 thought it was hilarious and waited until late in the day to correct him. The Japanese themselves were so polite they showed no hint he was incorrectly using the word. Instead, they smiled and nodded.
2. Plop goes the sushi
There we were in Taka’s favourite sushi restaurant. He had just complimented Master 16 on his chop stick ability when I picked up the most delicious piece of sushi only to have the bottom fall out of it. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it dropped straight into my small bowl of soy sauce sending sauce in all directions, including all over my clothes, my beer and the bench.
Trying desperately to hide the evidence (with the face washer we were given on arrival) I was surprised when the waitress appeared from behind me whizzed my bowl away and replaced it in one swift movement. Our chef gave me a brief knowing look, then continued to prepare our next delicious morsel as if nothing had happened.
3. Round and round in circles
At the conclusion of our time with Taka, he left us in Tokyo station. We were standing in front of a map at the time and he asked if we would be okay to get back to our hotel. We assured him we were.
Turns out we weren’t. The boys and girls split up and both had an equal amount of trouble just getting out of the station. The boys had decided to go back to an electronics shop which meant finding the correct line to catch a train. Master 16 set off with confidence before five minutes later finding himself back at the same Starbucks we started at.
Meanwhile, the girls wandered leisurely through the shops keeping an eye out for an exit. Our intention was to walk back to our hotel rather than subway as we knew we were only about 10 minutes away. Some two hours later we were still looking for an exit (admittedly we had found a few distractions along the way like character shops, cake shops and ‘Ramen street’).
We had a funny little celebration when we finally found, not just any exit, but the main station entrance (quite by accident). By this stage it was dark and we enjoyed the city’s evening buzz as we walked back the hotel.
4. Slide not pull
A fairly common mistake, but after watching me pull a toilet door to enter, Miss 13 was mortified when a workman instructed her not to wait for me but to use the disabled toilet but was then unable to open the door. Of course she couldn’t read the sign…. Slide not pull!
5. Hot and cold
Japan is well known for its vending machines. Drinks machines in particular are everywhere but what you may not know is that they serve both hot and cold drinks (we didn’t!). Miss 13 found this out the hard way when she ordered what she thought was a boba tea. Turns out it was corn soup!
6. Fried plastic….. twice
Our first experience at a Japanese BBQ was interesting. To start with Mr Travel Bee opened his face towel and like magic his open fire sucked it’s plastic wrapping in. He rescued it but it was rather shrivelled and crispy.
For some reason after all four of us ordered the same thing, Miss 13 and I were both given a raw egg with our beef. We were very confused, firstly about why we got it and secondly what yo do with it! It came with 2 bowls and an egg separator. For some reason Miss 13 and Mr Travel Bee decided they must cook it in the bowl over the fire. Neither realised the bowl was plastic until I shouted! Slight melting of the bottom!
7. Line…… what line?
Multiple times in Tokyo I was very focused on what I was doing and failed to notice people lining up in-front of me. The family cringed as I bustled my way forward, only to turn around and notice many faces starring at me (they are too polite to say anything)……If only I knew the word for sorry!!
TTB
The Travel Bee 