A Fresh and Rejuvenating Restart

For quite a long time, I could not update this blog. Still I used to receive some comments on the blog. I tried to reply to some of them, but admit my failure for majority of the comments. Interestingly almost 90 percent of the comments are in "Cost of living in Tokyo for a foreigner"

I realized the importance of this blog when I was away from here for almost two years. You may wonder why? This is the sixth anniversary of this blog. I started writing this blog just for fun at first and then went curious to learn 'the new platform' from where I could address. Over the past six years (including the two years of absence) I learned that the posts I wrote here were useful to many people.

Many of the visitors to this blog asked for vital information to frame their life changing decision. There may be some online resources for getting general information about Japan and the cost of living. The prime purpose of starting this blog six years before was not to write about the cost of living in Tokyo. One of my friends in Singapore asked me the details of expenses in Tokyo for her article in a magazine. After sending the details to her, I thought of sharing excerpts of that content in this blog. Somehow the search engines brought many visitors to this post.

There may be other online resources for cost of living in Tokyo. Nature of expenditures for a foreigner is different from that of a Japanese national living here. It is quite natural for people who get job in Japanese companies to go curious about Japan and the cost of living. People are eager to get some useful information, especially when they are far away from the place where they have to go and make a living. Though, there aren't any obligations, there may be a factor of social commitment to each individual to be useful with one's neighbors. In an online social platform such as this blog, every visitor is close at the length of a hand that we can feel his presence in front of our eyes.

This prompts me to restart this blog. I don't make any commitments. This blog was born on a golden week. This is the sixth golden week since then. This is the spring season and once again the nature outside has robed herself in floral dresses. The air is fresh and rejuvenating and I feel this is a good time for a restart.

Two years of life in Japan

It is more than two years in Japan!. Still the moments of departure from Cochin airport remain fresh in memory. It was not so long before that I left India to Japan. The period spent in Japan is around 5% of my life till now, but the diversities and excitements of experiences have been vast and have substantial effect in life.

I did meet a young man from China at Morishita last week, who was in Tokyo for a short business trip. While sharing general things like the socio-political and cultural differences between China and India, he got curious in my stay in Japan and attitude towards life in Japan. My answer was short: Life in Japan is calm and peaceful.

When I say the life in Japan is calm and peaceful, it just reflects the general attitude of a majority of foreigners living in Japan. This ‘calm and peaceful life in Japan’ image should be embroiled with the private or professional life. The experience of working in Japan, that also for a Japanese company is totally different from that of working for a company from any other countries. The calm and peaceful atmosphere prevails in the general life affairs in Japan.

Almost all basic necessities of are easily available and easily accessible in Japan. One of such thing that will strike in the mind of a foreigner in Japan is the ‘convenient stores’. They are really convenient and make the life simpler and easier. We don’t need to wait behind long queues to pay the utilities bill when it can be paid in less than one minute in a nearby convenient store. The food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks and many kinds of eatables and juices are available all the time, all the days in a week.

Convenient stores are called Konbini’ in Japanese language. It is written in Katakana as コンビニ [Ko-n-bi-ni] and this is one of the Katakana words I liked to use frequently while talking with friends. As sensei compares jokingly, Konbini is the friend and Konbini is the spouse of many of the workaholic and lazy people. Convenient stores are now a synonym with a life partner for many of the bachelors in Japan.

Another striking point during the last two years is the obedience to the law and order in Japan. This can be translated into the discipline in public places. The life in Japan is like a life in a company called Japan Incorporated. Whatever be the roots to this existing discipline and obedience to the law, it is a great plus point for the Japanese society, which they might have cultivated with consistent efforts over many years. Such kind of public discipline can not be implemented with the aid of external forces within a short period. It is the inborn nature of Japanese people to obey the rules and regulations. This is one of the concerns when Japanese companies bring foreign people from different cultures to Japan that the new comer to Japan may feel uneasiness to easily absorb into Japanese culture. It takes long time to get adjusted with the new social structure and in many cases the foreigners does not get involve in the mainstream. They resemble the floating element that may fly away after some time. There are cases where foreigners who can manage communication in Japanese language get involve in Japanese social and cultural events along with local Japanese people. If the language barrier is removed many of the routine concerns of foreigners will be solved.

The life in a company called Japan, ruled by some rules and regulations, is convenient when the new comer to Japan starts learning what is good and what is bad in Japan. One of the great information sources maintained by Japan Police is really helpful to foreigners to understand the rules in Japan. Rules Regarding life in Japan is a must read document which is written in English.

There are many websites dealing with the life in Japan especially made for foreigners in English language. Japan is one of the leading countries in terms of broadband internet users, second after South Korea, but tops in terms of fiber to the home broadband internet connectivity. The websites and online information sources dealing with the life in Japan for foreigners are helpful to those who wish to come to Japan. One of such useful sites, that is worth to add to the favorites in your browser is Your Complete Guide To Life In Japan!

Looking back to the two years life in Japan, by knowing only survival Japanese language to communicate, I feel what is more required to live in a different culture is the ‘empathy’, which will drive us to fusion.

Sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka? - Pushing people into the crowded trains

On an average, three to four visitors of this blog comes from a google search for “Pushing people into the train in Japan”. The google analytics gave this statistical data of visitors from different parts of the world to this blog. It was interesting to know that people from 79 countries out of 167 countries searched for “Pushing people into train in Japan”. This shows the popularity of this “pushing” in Japan in the outside world.

It took around 10 months after reaching to Japan for me to realize this phenomenon and on November 2008 for the first time I noticed one such pushing. I might have come across similar scenes but could not have noticed while rushing for own entry into the train. As many things are unique for Japan, it seems, this pushing people into the train is one the unique phenomena to Japan. I like to call it ‘phenomenon’ irrespective of the creation of this action. It might have formed as part of the subway journey requirements over a period of time.

Unlike in many other countries, the subway discipline is much stronger and strictly followed in Japan. Even if the trains are late due to some unexpected reason, passengers keep their patience. Japanese people generally would not deviate from their disciplined behavior and they follow the beeline into the trains too even if they know that they are going to be late if not rushed to the crowded trains. Trains towards Tokyo are terribly crowded in the morning hours. For almost all, it is a rush holding the time in hand. If any of the connecting train is missed or becomes late, reaching at the office will be delayed. Being late to the office is considered a shame in Japanese companies, where work is given the topmost priority.

What prompted me to write this blog post with a heading like ‘Sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ is one of the interesting conversation heard recently in the crowded Toei Shinjuku train, which I could managed to board from Higashi Ojima to Morishita. There was snow in the morning and due to troubles in the Keisei line, the trains in the Shinjuku line were also got delayed. I think, this was the reason for delay, if my understanding of the announcement in Japanese language made on the platform was correct! I have to frankly admit my inability to catch Japanese words.

When the train stopped at Nishi Ojima station, two stations from Higashi Ojima, and the doors opened, I could see many ‘heads’ waiting outside that were eager to enter to the train. Hardly there was space for them enter. The people inside the train were already crammed that entry of some more people into the train was almost impossible. It was hard for the closed door to open at the Nishi-Ojima station as the crowd inside was sticking to the doors. The time was almost 9:00 and everybody knew that they were going to be late in the office. That might had been the same feeling of people waiting at the platform too.

I was sure, only one or two managed to put their legs into the train, but with them in that position the doors could not be closed. It was then the driver appeared on the scene. The two passengers who managed to put their legs inside the train were struggling to get their body inside when the doors tried to close. It was impossible to close the doors with their body almost outside!

I could see the ‘heads’ and hear some sounds. I could hear a male voice asking ‘Sumimasen, Oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ and then a female voice ‘onegaishimasu’. Then the crowd inside felt a ‘Push’ from outside. The pressure from outside might have pushed the owner of the female voice inside the train! We were almost squeezed and there were grudges and exhaling sounds inside. The doors were closed and the train moved.

For me, the incident was an opportunity for revision and practice of one of the often used Japanese words ‘Oshimasu’. Oshimasu is one of the Japanese words I learned in lesson 16 of Minna no Nihongo I book. Oshimasu is the polite form for pushing or pressing. Minna no nihongo have examples of sentences using oshimasu and osu to. Osu is the dictionary form of Oshimasu. We learned the oshimasu, oshite, oshita, osanai and osu form to make sentences where we need to press or push any kind of button or keys.

Use of Oshimasu in subway trains to push the people into the train was a new knowledge for me. I went skeptic on what I might have heard. When confirmed from friends and sensei, I got an idea of the usage of oshimasu in subway trains also. The meaning of the conversation ‘sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ is ‘excuse me, is it OK if I push you?’ and the female voice replied politely ‘Yes, please (do)’.

This is not really an extraordinary or odd incident to write a blog post, but being a foreigner having no such experiences in the past, it stimulated me to think of the discipline, obedience, politeness and after all the compassion in the society where I do live. Is it not the manifestation of ‘compassion’ in Japanese society that I have heard through the words ‘sumimasen, oshitemo daijoubu desu ka?’ I mean the compassion in the sense of consideration, care, concern and kindness. I do not intend to use compassion in the meaning of ‘sympathy’ or ‘empathy’ here. Pushing people into train is a form of that consideration from the side of the person who pushes passengers into the crowded train. He helps them to reach their offices in time!

雪が降っています

Yuki, the snow in Japanese language is one of the words I like most. When I did learn to use the ‘te’ form in our Japanese language lessons, I was almost obsessed to repeat the sentence ‘Yuki ga fute imasu’ means ‘It is snowing’. ‘te’ form is used to express a continuous action.

Snow is ardently attractive to me and the Japanese word for snow carries some mysterious beauty with it. Yuki is one of the names of Japanese girls too. I like the kanji for Yuki 雪. The Kanji character for snow or Yuki bears a modified Kanji character for rain. Rain is called ‘Ame’ in Japanese language and is written as雨. Kanji brings the nature into scripts. We can see the rain drops falling from the roof of our universe in this Kanji character or we can imagine as we open the window, we see the water drops falling and we call it rain! Snow is another version of rain and so it carries the kanji for rain too, but on a modified form.

Thus Yuki ga fute imasu is written in Japanese language as 雪が降っています. This is a combination of Kanji and Hiragana. Though I have been learning Hiragana and Katakana in our Japanese class, Kanji is still a dream project. It may take years to learn Japanese Kanji.

This year this is the sixth or seventh snow fall in Tokyo today. Last two years there were only one snow fall each. Though we got more snow falls, only twice it became heavy. On February 1st and today snow accumulated on the ground and remained for some time. Today it was second of such snow fall in the morning, but not very heavy as happened in the first day of February. The snow accumulated on the tree tops and on the play grounds, but was melting soon.

Taking the opportunity, some of the students got an excuse for absence from the school and play on the ground. There were not many, but in the morning some of them made their way to the play ground. We managed to capture some of the moments of today’s snow fall. It was morning 7:00 and my hands were shivering while standing at the balcony.

Melancholic pages of my life in Japan – departure of Remus-san

It was raining today in Tokyo. The rain added more cold to the already cold climate. The rain, which is used as a symbol in literature and movies, it seemed to me, was not merely coincide. Film directors have used rain, to express the pain of separation, death, miseries and depressed thoughts. While coming back from Narita airport today after sending off Remus-san, I was thinking of some of movie scenes where the rain symbolized the pain of separation.

Every departure is painful, but departure of some people, who are close to our heart, makes us depressed. The life amalgamated with pleasures and sorrows will not wait even a single moment for anybody’s consolation. I do not intend to search for the roots of sorrow or pleasure here. Today is one of the saddest days I have ever experienced after mother’s departure from Japan.

Today may not be a suitable day to write all the thoughts into this blog about the departure of Remus-san. As planned, Remus-san left Tokyo today. For sure, it is not just a departure for me. Remus said goodbye to Japan and I am just back home from the airport. Though I feel that today, it may not be a good day to write about his departure, I am unable to resist from sharing those painful moments of departure.

Either the otherwise crowded subway station was empty or I might not have noticed it. The mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of a good friendship which was started almost two years before. I have written about Remus before also in this blog when we friends gathered for a party at his apartment. Japanese language friends reunion

The friendship started from Sakura, when I was on a short transfer from the head office. We used to dine out some days at the Indian restaurant near the JR Sakura station. When Remus was moved to the head office, I was happy to get a companion.

Remus helped me a lot to set up my family, before they come to Japan. He was the one guided me and even purchased for me most of the house-hold items. Since I am not good at selecting the things, I followed his selection. He booked the flight tickets and helped me recharge the PASMO card and the list of things goes on……. I know well that friendship can not be listed out on a piece of paper or blog. What is coming out here is just the plain thoughts from my mind, when I am trying to console myself.

Remus was my lunch partner too at McDonalds and KFC. We shared our thoughts, fears, ambitions, plans and future. We shared the knowledge and discussed things of common interest. For my kids, he was Remus uncle. They loved to play with him during his visits to our home.

A true friendship, which can not be expressed by words, is something we cherish, is something we keep close to our hearts always. The life with many physical departures of beloved friends keeps on going with out waiting for us to recover from the twinge. The time will heal………this is what Remus told at the airport and I agreed.

The life in Japan, away from the home country, with good friends like Remus, was smooth and prolific. The voids created by the physical separation may not be filled up easily. I considered myself rather strong willed and unshaken. At the final moments in front of the departure gate, I noticed my words tremble and vision smudge as the eyes started filling……..

The end of this post is without any conclusion as this is one of the melancholic pages of my life in Japan.

A day out listening to the murmurs of sakura leaves in Komatsugawa Park

The weather was good with moderately warm environment. The shadows played hide and seek game with the light. The shadows were dark grey in color…..shadows everywhere in all cases are colorless. Shadows may have nothing to do with dreams. With leaves of sakura trees and maple leaves immerse in dreams with tantalizing murmur, the Komatsugawa Park looked more pleasant.

We could see ants and centipedes crawling. That was one fine Saturday we decided to eat out at the Komatsugawa Park. There were Japanese people sitting on the wooden benches in the park. Eating out is a common thing in Japan. Holidays are more enjoyable when all family members relax under the shadow of trees with small kids playing nearby.

The life in Japan is calm and quite. For senior citizens, Japanese government will take care of all medical expenses. They also get pension from government for their daily living. Ward offices will pay money for small children. Children below the age of 3 get 10,000 Yen per month from the ward office. Children above the age of 3 get 5,000 Yen per month till the age of 15. Many of our friends in Japan will buy toys and new dresses for their kids with this money. The money will be credited to the bank account of head of the family once in every four months.

Our children stopped when they saw a cat on the park. They insisted me to take snaps. The cats in Japan are also disciplined well. He posed for us! A grandma walking near to us stopped and watched us. She looked keen and expressed surprise by seeing our daughters.

The Komatsugawa Park is just less than one minute walking distance from our apartment. In fact the apartments name itself is Komatsugawa Park Mansion. Japanese gardens and public parks are well known for the maintenance and cleanliness. The visitors to the park with their pets, mostly dogs take care to collect the fecal droppings from their pets in a plastic bag and carry it along with them! The public discipline and regard to the law and order is at highest value in Japan.

The dogs in Japan are well cherished by their masters. Most of the dog lovers treat their pets more or the same way as their kids! Sometimes they will be carried to public places on a stroller with all kind of royal attention! The grandma looked astonishingly on us also carried her dog. The dog was silent even after seeing the cat. The scene reminded me of the Japanese lessons we had at OVTA in which the life of a dog was described. The dog in that story was jealous of the cat that was lazy and desired to be at master’s home everyday without doing any work.

The climate has been favorable for a full day out with kids. The coming weeks will witness much rain compared to the foregone days. After the rain Japan will be hot. While walking back to home, we saw the cat still watching on the birds sitting on the bushes. Cats pay more attention and concentration in each and every action than us. As we stepped back home, the sakura leaves whispered to bushes and the cat was still listening to it.

365 days of blogging life in Japan

If time, hours, day, months and years have something to do with human life, today is one of such important day in my life. May 17 had witnessed important events in the life earlier also. I don’t believe in celebrating my birthdays, but when it comes to notify my friends that it was on May 17 last year I started this blog, I should not hesitate to do so.

Yes, today is the 1st Anniversary of this blog. My life in Japan is one year old today!

Dear Blogger friends, your valuable suggestions and comments are anticipated. Thanks in advance.

Day and night, as written by Hawking, may probably be a relative phenomenon depending on the position of the observer. Though observed from within the mind, it was not so long ago that this blog started appearing in the google searches. The land of rising sun has ignited enough thoughts at the hearth of the mind.

While commute on buses and trains, the observer within was silently witnessing the activities outside. The observer inside was restless to learn new things when talking with Japanese people of different nature, while interacting with them and while reading through the culture of Japan and the society. It was this restless learning of new things in Japan that formed the reason for the birth of this blog.

Blogs does not happen automatically, but happens out of a restless desire to express own feelings and opinions, to share the new knowledge we learn in life, to find out a vent for nasty emotions generated out of the unpleasant experiences from all corners of life.

This blog on my life in Japan was a product of such restless mind and disorder. The disorder, not only in the society, but also within, urges for order on everything comes in contact. This blog did not happen out of sudden spurt of emotions in favor or against anybody, but happened out of a strong desire to tell the world outside thorough what I have been going through in Japan. The world outside including my relatives and friends responded equally well since the birth of this blog.

Today is the 365th day of blogging life in Japan. Google provided a blogging platform where I stand and share with the rest of the world what I have been experiencing in Japan. Thanks to all those who have been visiting this blog. Special thanks to Manisha and Anima for following this blog. I have learned many new things from their blogs.

Have a nice day to all readers!

Signing off ..........

Best Regards
Jayaprakash
May 17, 2009

When the castles of good images of Japan falls down in the mind…..

Some of my preconceived notions were getting jolts when encountered with an incident of discrimination though not directed at me. I saw it happened at Morishita Toei Shinjuku station while waiting for train towards Higashi Ojima. Though I tried to convince myself that the acts of racism were not due to the skin color of the victim, I could hardly succeed in convincing myself. There were no other reasons to believe it was not due to skin color. If I could guess correctly, probably it was due to the hate towards a particular race.

And Japan is known for it as many of the personal bloggers declare with their own experiences. I defended many of the negative opinions expressed about Japanese people through this blog.

In acts of discrimination there are always three parties involved. The one who shows the hate feelings, the victim of discrimination towards whom the acts of the racists are expressed publicly and the third one are the witnesses. I was at the third position of witness and was watching the discriminator’s actions as he walked through the plat-form from where the victim was standing in the queue.

At first I thought of not writing about this incident as it may project Japan and its majority good and kind people in a detrimental manner. The discriminator here may be an exception from the vast majority of friendly Japanese people. Though an odd event, I could observe contrary to what I have been telling to my friends that I have never seen any kind of discrimination in Japan. This one of course was pure racist comments he spat on the plat-form with his antagonistic foul mouth.

Let me come out openly with what happened. I was coming down to the plat-form in the escalator at Morishita Toei Shinjuku station. The time was around 6:40 in the evening. The pink car is no more reserved for women. I used to board into the first compartment/car since it will reach first at the Komatsugawa exit by the time the train reaches Higashi Ojima.

There was standing a person who might be from one of the many countries of African continent. The physical characteristics of people including the skin color gives sufficient clue to guess the region and race of them. The person in black was gentle in his position, dress and looks. The moment he entered in a queue, I could see the Japanese young man who was already standing in the front looked at the guy in black and uttered some words in Japanese. The J-man walked away with an angry face and he showed as if he spit on the plat-form. This was to show his unlikeness to the person in black.

We, the witnesses could not see any reason for the J-man’s anger except the one that the B-man stood in his back of queue. They had to travel together once they enter inside the train. The J-man might have dislike towards the B-man’s race. There were no other reason I could guess in mind.

The witnesses of the J-man’s venomous words were just witnessing and did not show any surprise at his action. That is the great thing with Japanese people I have observed. Japanese people have an expressionless face towards many of the events in public.

What was the reaction of the B-man? He was engaged in eating chewing gum as if nothing new has happened. Some of the people walking were looking at his reaction, but he was not looking at anybody. He was gentle in his stand and the J-man was the ugly one showed up his foul mouth at the public place. Who is the winner here!

This one event looks different and dirty among other pages of life in Japan so far. Though not a victim of Japanese racism and discrimination towards foreigners, it hurts my feelings. At many incidents, some witnesses bear deep wounds than the victims. Still I bear the wounds and remember the moment I get down to the plat-form. That plat-form was the place where the castles of flatter on Japan built from the images of beautiful and kind people fell down in my mind. Still I like to believe this is an odd incident.

Pushing commuters into the train in Japan – A page from daily life in Japan

Today there was an unusual crowd in the Toei Shinjuku line in the morning. Generally everyday morning travel is on the heavily packed trains. Most of the commuters will get down at Morishita.

Yesterday due to heavy wind, there were some delays in the Tozai line. I heard an announcement in Japanese saying that something happened in the Tozai line due to wind and trains will be delayed. Combined with the common sense I guessed the rest part of the announcement. My Japanese speaking level is still at low!

Later in the evening while watching television (terebi in Japanese) I realized the danger effects of the storm. There was an accident in the Narita Airport and two pilots of FexEx courier service met with death. 16 of the international flights were cancelled due to the accident.

Heavy wind is not an uncommon thing in Japan, especially during season changes. Japan is witnessing a season change at present. The winter is just finished and the spring will start within a few days. The start of spring will bring more colors to the life of Japan. Sakura trees are getting themselves prepared to welcome the spring. It is a festival to the eyes, the Sakura flowers blossom. The cherry blossom is typical to the Japanese life and it is almost symbolic to the psyche of Japanese people.

Coming back to the crowded train today, I have been witnessing a strange scene at railway stations for many months. I have seen crowd in the railway station and crowded trains in my country also. But in Japan what is strange is the station staff help to push people inside the train. They use all their energy to push commuters inside the train. Japanese people are co-operative and they adjust to the maximum extent. When the trains are crowded or otherwise too, Japanese people do not make any noise. They are silent throughout the journey and walk out of the train without making any noise. They move in line slowly towards the escalator to the exit.

Most of the commuters will have a book with them. They are busy with their book while waiting for the train and travelling. Some people read while walking also. This keeps them busy with the things they like to do rather than looking around and talk with others and making public nuisance. The public discipline of Japanese people is noteworthy to mention here. How to bring a whole nation to such a military discipline?

When the station crew push the struggling passenger inside, people inside adjust themselves as far as they can to accommodate one more co-passenger. Pushing passengers is the typical thing I have seen in Japan.

Japanese obsession towards cleanliness makes the crowded trains also tolerable. The passengers are clean and gentle. They wear decent clothing that makes the journey comfortable even in such a crowed train. Public morality is also high in Japan. The reasonably low crime rate and immoral activities at public places makes the public life in Japan more convenient.

This is just a page from the daily life in Japan, not representing any reinforced ideas based on many years of experience. As some of my friends like to comment on my views, probably I am yet to know the real Japan! Wonder I though how different it will be than what I have been passing through!

My Kitchen in Japan - McDonald's Outlets in Japan

When I start from my country to Japan, I could not imagine how I am going to manage food at Japan. I was told by friends that you are going to face problem with food and language. Language problem may be to some extent overcome as I will be posted at the office where many of my Japanese colleagues can communicate in English.

Food was really a nightmare for me! I depended on bread and jam for the initial days, tried some Japanese food. Many Japanese food tasted OK for me, but nothing came out my way to be a regular food. My mother at homeland was also worried as anybody's mothers do.

My problems was the lunch! We have one hour lunch break. Initially I tried at our company canteen. I treid Japanese food eventhough it tastes totally new to me. Within one week, I found my kitchen at Ito Yokado at Kiba.

There is my Kitchen - The McDonald's ! Yes, the McDonald's at Ito Yokado near Gatharia, Kiba, Koto ku, Tokyo.

Who told foreigners will face problem for food in Japan. Rather, I will think these all are a part of propaganda against Japan. Japan has the maximum number of McDonald outlets in the world except U.S.

Japanese people are crazy to eat McDonald burgers. My favorite burger is the recently introduced Shrimp burger which costs 270 Yen. The set (Setho in Japanese) which consists of Shrimp Burger, Fried potatoes (I like to call it fried potatoes instead of french fries) and medium size Coca cola, costs me 650 Yen. That is the cost of my lunch. And my 'lunch box 'setho' will be waiting for me at McDonald at 12 Noon every Monday to Friday.

At the middle of all my food problems, my friends criticize me for having lunch at McDonald, for having 'junk food' daily. This is what they have been informed through media against McDonald ! Now my eating out at McDonald outlet at Kiba is a matter of discussion at our Japanese class on every Saturday.

McDonald showed me a way to live in Japan, if I am not exaggerating the taste of McDonald food. The Ebi-Fileto, which I take on atleast 3 days a week along with fried potatoes keep me alive in Japan. Then there is a natural question, why you can't cook ? The answer is this blogger currently have some problems with health, which prevent him straining the body. Cooking is a strain?

Yes, cooking is a strain when McDonald is there around you !

McDonald's Japan official site says: Since 2004, adoption of world-wide success cases to Japan, re-introduction and continuation of proactive investments, full-implementation of customer base expansion strategies, and driving of company reform through the enhancement of personnel awareness were implemented to further drive globalization. In addition, the following initiatives were implemented during the period: (1) further enhancement of QSC (2) introduction of new products, such as ‘Premium Roast Coffee’, ‘Premium Roast Iced Coffee’ and ‘Mega Muffin’ (3) reinforcement of 100 yen Mac menu with ‘Shaka-Shaka chicken’ (4) expansion of 24hr drive-thru & front counter operation (5) refurbishment of stores to provide comfortable dining area (6) investment for people development (7) expansion of e-marketing, and (8) franchising program. These initiatives generated great synergistic effects and resulted in further expanding our customer base. During the period, the highest daily sales record was renewed twice (June 28 & 29, 2008). Monthly sales record is growing for 18 consecutive months, and system-wide sales is showing positive growth, year-on-year, for 29 straight months.All these brought about the following strong consolidated performance during the FY 2008 interim: consolidated sales of 202.891 billion yen, consolidated current profit of 6.854 billion yen, and 6.192 billion yen net profit for the period.

All these McDonald food is consumed by Japanese people. And still Japanese people are the most healthier people in the world, and Japanese people live more than people from any other contry live. Many times, I will have a seventy plus year old Japanese grandma near to me tasting her McDonald burger!

Still, you search in the google or Yahoo! about Japanese McDonald outlets, you will get the negative propaganda news about McDonald at the front pages. They are so powerful to make their presence at the front pages of search engines!

But, tomorrow, I will have my Ebi Fileto!