Today was a special day at work, as it happens to be 3.2, a day of Setsubun (End of winter & beginning of spring). Setsubun is a kind of event where Japanese welcome spring by banishing evil spirits by throwing beans. Ogawa-san took us to see this special event to a nearby shrine temple. At the temple there was so many people gathered to witness the event. Behind me stood a crowd of TV cameras and reporters filming the event, and in front of me stood a crowd of excited Japanese ready to catch bean bags that were thrown towards them - believing catching one will bring good luck for the coming year, or so Ogawa-san explained to me.
I had read about Setsubun event before, but never did I knew how crazy Japanese go over a bag of beans. People were not fighting over them or anything, but it sure did look like it when a bag of beans fell on the ground and people rushed to catch it. I thought one was enough to bring good luck for a person, but there were many who tried to catch more than one for themself. Later did I learn, that inside these bags, some held a winning ticket (a number), and when returned after the event, one can win a prize, I don't know what exactly. That explains why some were very enthusiastic about getting more than one bag.
I didn't catch any bag of beans, but Ogawa-san got three, and shared one with me. It was very kind of him, even though if I understood correctly, one does not recieve good luck by picking up the bean, it has to be catched when thrown (again, not sure about this). Anyway, it was overall a fun experience and one that I will treasure in my memory - first Japanese special event.
After the event was over, we returned back to work, but along the way I got to see Japan's parlament and supreme court building. They were huge and beautiful! Unfortunately I couldn't get a better picture of them. They are a lot more beautiful in person. Something to mention about this area is that it's full of police since the area holds many important goverment buildings. The policemen were very nice, nothing like in Finland (in my experience). They smiled at me when I looked towards their direction, and they made me feel welcome. In my past, police in other countries has always looked at me like I had a bomb in my pocket or something, but Japanese police treat foreigners with a warm smile and trust, or so I believe.
Today's workday was very productive and fun. Now that I have got a hang of things and know the rythm, the office feels like home to me. I really enjoy the work environment and I love having long conversations with Ogawa-san and Kato-san in Japanese. I listen a lot and answer briefly, but I understand a lot of what they say. Ogawa-san sometimes uses English to convey his message, but more often than not, I understand him better in Japanese than in English. Ogawa-san has teached me a lot about Japanese language and I have learned so many new kanji, and through kanji comes new words as well. I have been here less than a week, and already my Japanese has grown more strong than it was when I arrived here. I notice great difference in my confidence when speaking Japanese, and I'm no longer afraid to use words that I don't know so well. Through trial and error I learn what works and what doesn't.
(No picture to offer)
To end this day, here's a picture of my evening shopping at a local market. The total cost of these were a little over 10€. Every day after 20:00 markets give discounts of their bento products, thus making already cheap food even more cheaper. I mean, by god is it cheap! These kind of premade food would cost a fortune in Finland. They are nothing special for a Japanese person maybe, but for me these taste like heaven. I literally can compare them to restaurant food, it's that good! Just today I bought a warm lemon tea from konbini (no picture, sorry), and I kid you not, it was the best tasting drink I have ever drank in my life, cost me around 1€.
Lastly, at work during lunch break, we went to a nearby fast food restaurant, which used a machine as a way to order your food. You did not talk to any casher or waitress. From a touch screen near the entrance I could select my desired food and portion (small, medium, large, special large) from a menu. It came with a free warm tea, and you could order more tea free of charge as many times as you wanted. I must say, I like tea over soda drinks, even though I am used to drinking coca cola with fast food in Finland. This food was considered fast food, yet it was healthy. Usually when people say fast food, first thing that pops in my mind is pizza and Mcdonnalds. In here, it's everything but that. Japan does have McDonalds and pizza hut, but people clearly prefer native fast food like the one you see in the picture.
I actually already ate some of the food before taking this picture, it looked more beautiful than this when served. The yellow soup on the right is Misosiru, easily one of my most favorite soups of all time. This meal cost me around 5€ and it kept me full for the rest of the day.
Tomorrow I don't have work, so I figured I will visit Akihabara. Akihabara is a town in Tokyo which sells all kinds of electronic, games and anime, as well as other interesting things. What's special about Akihabra is that it sells stuff which is old to Japanese people, but new to us, since we tend to get their latest products a year later after it's considered old technology to Japanese people. Sunday I probably will stay home studying more Japanese, since I want to learn new ways to express myself when talking to Ogawa-san. Thus far I have been using only "Soo desu ka" (Is that so) and "Wakarimasu" (I understand) all the time, and I feel like I have burned those two words to a point where they don't mean anything anymore. I also want to learn more grammar so that my sentences sound less broken and more confident. I understand a lot of Japanese, but speaking it is its own skill. Japanese is a truly a beautiful language and one that I want to master to a native level.