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 Lost
in
Translation (and in transportation!)
By Rotarian Teri Safranek, Rotary Club of
Escondido
When traveling I try to visit a local Rotary Club and
complete a make-up.
It’s a great way to meet people and learn about local
customs. I’ve
had the pleasure of traveling to Japan recruiting students
for the community college where I work in
Southern California.
My first visit to Japan started out with the
unpleasant experience of starring at the baggage claim
conveyor, watching it spin around and not finding my
luggage. After
an 11+ hour flight this just isn’t fun.
Mind you, the suitcase with all of the marketing
materials and gifts arrived, which in hindsight was the
preferred suitcase to have in Japan, but the suitcase with my
clothes never appeared.
I spent the night in
Tokyo
and vividly remember looking out the window from the 60th
floor and feeling like an ant.
This city was amazing; so many people and so many
buildings.
Ironically, the next day I began to feel like a giant.
At 5’7” I’m above average height for an American
woman, in
Japan
I can see over the crowd.
My travels took me three-hours north of
Tokyo
by bullet train to
Morioka
in the Iwate prefecture.
I had the clothes I had traveled in - nothing
professional to wear.
I tried to buy a dress and shoes but they weren’t
available in my size.
I was Gulliver in the
land of Lilliputians!
I gave up my search and just had my translator
explain that my suitcase had flown somewhere else.
When we called on a school, I removed my size nine shoes and
left them alongside the “Ken and Barbie” sized shoes,
pushing my feet into slippers that left my heels hanging
off. I was
invited to sit on couches someone had obviously forgotten to
put legs on, with my knees up to my chest I tried to look
like I was comfortable.
Each hour long meeting included a cup of grassy green
tea. They spoke
in Japanese, I sat and nodded as if I understood the
translator (she was Japanese and worked for our program in
America).
At the end of the appointment came the never-ending
bowing gestures and returning to our shoes, at least mine
where easy to spot!
We attended the local Rotary club meeting in downtown Morioka.
This club sponsored Mayu, our Rotary International
exchange student who had lived with us the year prior.
Mayu had become a part of our family; it broke our
hearts when she returned to
Japan.
The club welcomed me enthusiastically.
The key differences I noticed between our clubs were:
very few women members, the men smoked during the meeting,
and they gave gifts to members for their birthdays instead
of giving them fines.
I have no idea what the program was about, but by now
I was getting used to sitting and listening to people
speaking Japanese and nodding.
At the end of the week my luggage arrived and my translator
returned to Tokyo
to visit her family. That night in my room I had a brief
moment of panic when I realized that no one at this hotel
spoke English and I didn’t know the Japanese word for
fire.
I decided to go to sleep and not worry.
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to turn
off the light!
I had shared the room with the translator; she turned it off
nightly after I had gone to sleep.
I finally pulled the room key out of the slot by the
door (this system was required to get the lights to go on)
and slowly walked across the room hoping not to fall.
In the morning, I found the light switch; looked like
a radio dial, go figure.
I went downstairs for breakfast where we had dined each
morning only to find the doors locked.
It took awhile to learn that breakfast was served on
the top floor of the hotel on Saturday mornings. I’m not a
big fan of fish, especially if it’s raw.
I discovered sticky rice topped with strawberries and
whipped cream was the solution.
Mayu and her Mom arrived after breakfast and took me under
their wings for the next two days.
I enjoyed meeting her family and seeing Eddie Junior
again, one of the puppies born to our dogs while Mayu was
living with us.
My memories of that trip include lots of laughter.
While Mayu and I were in a mall I went to the ladies
room alone. Facilities in Japan are very sophisticated; their
toilets “sing” (you push the musical note on the toilet
control panel and wah-lah a babbling brook sound plays!)
If it’s cold, you push the button that heats the
seat. A
frustrating feature for me was trying to figure out how to
flush. So there
I was searching for the flush button and I saw a green
button, to my logic, it seemed right.
I pushed it, and as I did I realized that I had
pushed through a piece of plastic.
I thought that was odd and since the toilet didn’t
flush, I kept searching until I was successful.
I left the stall and while I was washing my hands a
policeman came running into the bathroom yelling something
in Japanese – seems I’d pushed an emergency panic button.
I smiled at him, dried my hands and held in my
laughter until I joined Mayu and told her about my
misadventure.
If I could have brought anything home from Japan it would have been Mayu - and
maybe one of those fancy toilets.
As it was, I returned with wonderful memories, one
suitcase filled with gifts from Mayu’s family and another
with my clean clothes – that’s one advantage of your luggage
getting lost!
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