Monday, October 05, 2009
Go Stretching Time
October 5th is the fortieth anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus and while there's not much else I have to say about that, I'll be damned if I didn't acknowledge that right away because I love Monty Python. It's a shame that Graham Chapman died twenty years ago (almost to the day, by the way) because he seems to have taken the rest of the group with him. Oh sure, they've all kept busy with individual pursuits over the years, but the remaining five members have never found time to work together since.
And now for something completely different.
While riding the train home from Osaka yesterday afternoon I got a surprise glimpse into the Japanese psyche, or at least that of my wife. The three of us went to the city for some errands, including the purchase of a new rice cooker. Did you know some of those things run for over $1000? Not just the big ones either, these were ordinary kitchen-sized models. What on Earth can those machines do that justify that kind of a price tag?
But I digress...we were heading home with our less-than-$100 rice cooker when Go started getting fussy. We knew it was a combination of multiple needs: he hadn't been fed or changed in a couple hours and he was overdue for a nap. We took turns holding him and trying to comfort him, but he wanted what he wanted and he wasn't interested in our offerings of love and affection. We just had to get him home so he'd relax.
Mako surprised the hell out of me when she said we should get off at the next station and tend to Go. I asked if she knew of a changing table or something but that wasn't the plan. She just wanted to take him off of the train because she felt bad about inconveniencing the other passengers. While I shared her compassion for the others, I also knew that the best way to make Go happy was to get home as quickly as possible. I tried to argue that we should just stay the course (we were five stops and about fifteen minutes from home) but Mako insisted.
We got off the train and tried to calm Go down with an offering of tea and lots of bouncing/swinging/attention. It didn't work and he continued to cry on and off while we stood on the platform. When the next train arrived ten minutes later, we had no choice but to get on and he kept on crying. Mako looked at me like she was mortified but I tried to reassure her. It's not like we were dragging the baby out into the world here, we were heading home. I felt bad that he was noisy but I also knew we were doing everything we could to quiet him down. It was out of our hands - shō ga nai as the Japanese would say.
When we got to our town and prepared to change trains for the last few minutes of our trip, Mako against suggested we leave to tend to Go before riding the train home. This time I insisted that she stop bending over backwards for strangers. We were a two-minute ride from home; the other passengers could bear a crying infant for two goddamn minutes. She relented, he cried, but we made it home and took care of everything.
In the end, her embarrassed retreat from the train meant that it took an extra twenty minutes to get home and Go cried for most of that. I know it didn't do him any harm in the long run but what good did it do to anyone? One train carload of people were spared a few minutes of Go's wailing in favor of the unfortunate bunch of people on the next train. No one gained a thing by delaying the inevitable, least of all us.
The Japanese have a catch-all word to cover being a nuisance or a bother to others: meiwaku. When it comes to public transportation, there are plenty of signs and warnings to passengers to not meiwaku those around them, usually by showing restraint (enryo). I'm sure both of these words were in the forefront of Mako's mind yesterday and I sympathize with her, but there are times when meiwaku is not a sin. If my boss calls while I'm on the train, I don't enryo I just answer the phone and try to be quick about it.
The same rules apply to a cranky Go: he is most definitely meiwaku but I would never choose to enryo at the expense of my baby. Indeed, that's a time for everyone to simply persevere (gaman) and endure a little noise.
I certainly hope it doesn't cause a problem for Mako when Go starts crying on the plane in December. He is guaranteed to meiwaku during that long flight and there certainly won't be anyplace to get out and wait for him to stop. Then again, airplanes have changing tables and the means to feed him at any time. I hope that's enough.
つづく...(Click here to read more)
And now for something completely different.
While riding the train home from Osaka yesterday afternoon I got a surprise glimpse into the Japanese psyche, or at least that of my wife. The three of us went to the city for some errands, including the purchase of a new rice cooker. Did you know some of those things run for over $1000? Not just the big ones either, these were ordinary kitchen-sized models. What on Earth can those machines do that justify that kind of a price tag?
But I digress...we were heading home with our less-than-$100 rice cooker when Go started getting fussy. We knew it was a combination of multiple needs: he hadn't been fed or changed in a couple hours and he was overdue for a nap. We took turns holding him and trying to comfort him, but he wanted what he wanted and he wasn't interested in our offerings of love and affection. We just had to get him home so he'd relax.
Mako surprised the hell out of me when she said we should get off at the next station and tend to Go. I asked if she knew of a changing table or something but that wasn't the plan. She just wanted to take him off of the train because she felt bad about inconveniencing the other passengers. While I shared her compassion for the others, I also knew that the best way to make Go happy was to get home as quickly as possible. I tried to argue that we should just stay the course (we were five stops and about fifteen minutes from home) but Mako insisted.
We got off the train and tried to calm Go down with an offering of tea and lots of bouncing/swinging/attention. It didn't work and he continued to cry on and off while we stood on the platform. When the next train arrived ten minutes later, we had no choice but to get on and he kept on crying. Mako looked at me like she was mortified but I tried to reassure her. It's not like we were dragging the baby out into the world here, we were heading home. I felt bad that he was noisy but I also knew we were doing everything we could to quiet him down. It was out of our hands - shō ga nai as the Japanese would say.
When we got to our town and prepared to change trains for the last few minutes of our trip, Mako against suggested we leave to tend to Go before riding the train home. This time I insisted that she stop bending over backwards for strangers. We were a two-minute ride from home; the other passengers could bear a crying infant for two goddamn minutes. She relented, he cried, but we made it home and took care of everything.
In the end, her embarrassed retreat from the train meant that it took an extra twenty minutes to get home and Go cried for most of that. I know it didn't do him any harm in the long run but what good did it do to anyone? One train carload of people were spared a few minutes of Go's wailing in favor of the unfortunate bunch of people on the next train. No one gained a thing by delaying the inevitable, least of all us.
The Japanese have a catch-all word to cover being a nuisance or a bother to others: meiwaku. When it comes to public transportation, there are plenty of signs and warnings to passengers to not meiwaku those around them, usually by showing restraint (enryo). I'm sure both of these words were in the forefront of Mako's mind yesterday and I sympathize with her, but there are times when meiwaku is not a sin. If my boss calls while I'm on the train, I don't enryo I just answer the phone and try to be quick about it.
The same rules apply to a cranky Go: he is most definitely meiwaku but I would never choose to enryo at the expense of my baby. Indeed, that's a time for everyone to simply persevere (gaman) and endure a little noise.
I certainly hope it doesn't cause a problem for Mako when Go starts crying on the plane in December. He is guaranteed to meiwaku during that long flight and there certainly won't be anyplace to get out and wait for him to stop. Then again, airplanes have changing tables and the means to feed him at any time. I hope that's enough.
Labels: family, Japan, Monty Python, number one son
つづく...(Click here to read more)
