Our sleeping mats were initially rolled up in the corner. In Japanese they're called 布団 - Futon! Haha, I didn't know that was a Japanese word!
Traditionally, the washitsu is devoid of any furniture, just tatami mats. It serves as an all-purpose room. You can use it as a living room, a dining room or a bedroom. You just bring in the furniture as needed based on the time of day or function. So you normally unroll your futon and prepare your bedding every evening. Then in the morning, you roll your futon back up to make space for the rest of the day.
Other elements of a washitsu that you can see above are the sliding doors (fusuma). Also, there is an alcove in the corner (tokonoma) where they sometimes have a decoration like a vase of flowers and a hanging scroll that is changed seasonally. Above us is a ranma, a supporting beam that separates the room, but is intricately carved to let light and air through. So cool! We are in love with our tatami room!
Another reason we are staying an extra night in Aichi Prefecture is because we are meeting up with a fellow motorcycle rider! Michael contacted us on ADVRider, one of the forums we copy our blog to, and he lives in Nagoya, not too far from where we are. He offered to come down to see us and asked us where we'd like to meet.
So I gave him the address for the Coco Curryhouse around the corner from us and he laughed! That's like meeting at the local McDonald's. Or I should say, the Makudonarudo.
I told him we are living like locals!
Hanging out, having a nice Japanese curry lunch with Michael and his girlfriend Nori
It's so nice to talk to another motorcycle rider, and they've both traveled extensively as well. Michael is originally from South Africa, and Nori spent some time working in Singapore. We exchanged a lot of stories about life in Japan and on the road.
I'm not sure if they realized, but we were really picking their brains on how to live in Japan. Because we really like it here and had a million questions like how hard it was to learn the language, how accepted you are as a foreigner, etc. Nori told us that it is a very closed culture, and not just for gaijin. She was born here but upon her return after a few years working abroad, she was treated very differently, not as a nihonjin - 100% full-blooded Japanese person - anymore.
She said that the expectations for foreigners are very low. They just presume that you're not going to be as smart or as hard-working as a futsu-no nihonjin (term for "ordinary Japanese person" meant in an exclusionary manner), and that her years living in Singapore pretty much branded her a lazy gaijin when she returned. Also, Japanese culture is very patriarchal, and that they don't treat women as well here as in other more progressive countries.
I think as newcomers to Japan, we've seen this country through some rose-coloured glasses. It's always interesting to get more in-depth insight from people living here full-time. But it's also telling that despite their criticisms, Michael and Nori have no plans of moving out of Japan either... There's good and bad in every place.
There are *some* good things in Japan!
