Etiquette

My dad came up last week to see me, which was nice. The reason I tell you is that he ordered me a book when he was in town, and I have just been to collect it.

The book is "Customs & Etiquette of Japan" by Helmut Morsbach. Small and truly pocket-sized, it contains many tit-bits of information concerning the slightly unfamiliar ways of the Japanese. It's geared slightly more towards someone going to Japan on business, though there is still a lot to be learnt from its few pages. I shall document some of the more interesting things here.

For example, did you know that:

• some unisex public toilets are unsegragated?
• leaving rice in ones bowl indicates that one wants more, but it is an empty glass means one wants it filled?
• a Japanese bath involves laddling water over oneself whilst standing next to the bath, taking care not to get soap in the water? One only gets into the bath when one is completely clean.
• most Japanese toilets in the home are of the squatting variety, and often have no lock on the door? A subtle system of knocking and counter-knocking has thus evolved to determine whether the room is vacated or not.

I'm trying not to let some of the stranger customs put me off, and hopefully I will never have to cope with the weirdest ones. Though I don't know how I'm going to manage that exactly; maybe I'll be let off for being a gaijin (外人)?

Release Dates

It's looking like the PlayStation3 is going to be launched in Japan in Spring 2006, exactly when I'm over there. I've always been envious about the millions who got to play the games first, in Japan and in America, whilst us in Europe had to wait up to a year to get our mits on things. Now I can be one of the first, provided I can justify the (almost certain) astronomical price tag. Some reports suggest it's going to be around ￥40,000-50,000 (about £200-250), though it's the priviledge you pay for... and the ability to be one of the first to post about a new game on GameFaqs.

Also in the pipeline for release is the "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" movie. This straight to video (or is it DVD nowadays?) is scheduled for release on 14th September 2005, though I doubt my Japanese will be good enough by then to understand anything. In fact Advent Children is supposed to come out a day earlier in USA, though, again, little ol' UK is missing from any lists.

Completed Forms

Just handed in the mound of application forms (well, there were four of them). They were due in by Monday, but we got a little reminder email that made me (and the rest of us, so I hear) get a move on with it. I don't think any of us are sure whether we've filled them all in properly, especially since we didn't get any assistance or instructions on how to do them.

I don't expect much of it matters, since only one was crucial: the "Application of Eligibility". This form gets sent to Japan, where it is checked. They then send you back a "Certificate of Eligibility". Once you have that you then go a Japanese Embassy: there's one in London, and one in Scotland somewhere. Luckily I live near London, so this isn't much of a hassle, but I'm not sure where everyone else is from. The whole thing seems a bit drawn out, in my opinion, but I don't mind as long as it all works out.