Mon 19 May 2003
Contest update…and an actual entry
Posted by Marc under Japan Wierdness
[8] Comments
Contest Update: Pictures have been taken by the competitors. They will be posted within the next two days for you, the eager judges, to pronounce once and for all who the superior photographer is. “And yea, it shall be written on web parchment and given to the people so that they shall know the victor.”
Actual entry: Japan is truly a country of paradoxes. For example, the incredible convenience of bill paying compared to the agaonizing process of going to the bank. I have just found out that I can pay all my bills at any local convenience store. They come with a bar code that the register-guy just scans in, and then I pay him. That’s it, bills paid! Terrific, right? But let’s say I want to go to the bank for some reason. Not the ATM, but the actual BANK.
“Banker’s hours” are apparently global, which isn’t that much of a surprise, but it’s annoying. But the REAL problem with the banks here is their ridiculous inefficiency. Here’s an anecdote which happened to me about a year ago, when I went to visit Ben in Tokyo. I wanted to get some change for a 10,000Yen (about $100) bill, so I went to the bank. I went to the main counter, and the polite woman indicated that I should take a number from the machine. Normally, I would have found this acceptable, but I was the only one in the bank!
So, I kind of made a questioning face, and she gestured once again to the number-dispenser. I took the number quizzically, and sat down. Sure enough, right after I sit down, there’s a little “ding”, and my number is called. So I go to the counter and try to explain what I need in my poor Japanese. The teller pushes a form across the counter. I’m trying to understand why I would need a form for this simple procedure, and I think maybe she’s misunderstood me, but NO, I do in fact need a FORM to get CHANGE FOR A BILL. So I fill out the form, and she gestures for me to sit down again. I’m starting to look for the hidden camera at this point. After about 30 seconds, there’s another “ding”, and she hands me my change. This entire procedure took between 5 and 10 minutes, what with the sitting and the form, so I’m just in shock. I leave the bank with my change in hand feeling like I’ve just left beauracratic hell.
And that kind of situation is common in every big institution in Japan; bank, government, post office, etc. It strange that they are so ahead of us in technology and convenience, and yet so behind in efficiency. I don’t think I’ll ever understand it, I’ll just try to get used to it.
Here’s some pictures of me and Akemi. We went out to dinner, and hung out in a cool area of the city called Namba. The rest of the pictures will have to wait for the contest to begin tomorrow.
May 19th, 2003 at 4:54 pm
I hear you, Mark. Before I came to this country I thought that Japan was a land of efficiency. Wow. Was I wrong. I’ve changed my stance on this topic. They are not efficient; they are, however, very thorough. I can’t decide whether this is something that is just different from our ways in the West, or something that is just plain ANNOYING!
The bank is bad. But, then there’s the POST OFFICE! The Post Office is in an entirely different league than the Bank.
May 20th, 2003 at 1:02 am
That’s funny … Banks are funny. In my home land of the United States, I use the word bank as a curse word. For example, Bank THIS or Bank YOU.
Then I went to Japan …
I went into exchange my traveler’s checks into Yen and it took me 40 min. I thought, oh, it’s because my Japanese is bad. However, I went back two days later and it was another 40 min … and they knew this time from the get go what I wanted.
But, they were so nice and I didn’t have anything better to do.
So, now – I use bank as a benediction.
Bank,
Michele
May 20th, 2003 at 3:04 am
You want inefficiency? Try my local movie theater trying to handle the crowds for “The Matrix:Reloaded.” Gwynne and I were not to be stopped, however. Has it come out in Japan yet?
May 20th, 2003 at 8:57 am
Not yet. It doesn’t come out here until June, the bastards. People here are probably even MORE excited than the States, if that’s possible.
May 20th, 2003 at 9:09 am
Its not that we are ahead of them in efficiency, it is that we are behind them in beaurocracy
Give us time.
BTW, went to x2 this weekend with Noah. It was better than the first. Hope to see matrix tomorrow or wed.
May 21st, 2003 at 2:31 am
I thought about this post, and realized that there is a second Japanese cultural phenomenon at work – the one that keeps them from saying “no” directly – “displacement”. The bank is inefficient, but it has a lot of power and a lot of history and it’s slow to change. But people are disgruntled about it. They wish it would change, but how to do it with all the bureaucracy. Well, why not pay your bills at the store? You’re already going there, and they are accustomed to moving people through quickly, and they are wired for credit cards and bar codes – click! Smart idea, and you’ve circumvented the impediment.
May 21st, 2003 at 9:13 am
Well, let me just share one of Rhode Island’s jewels… it literally took us FIVE DAYS to get both our driver’s licenses and car registrations changed from NYS to RI. Besides sitting at the DMV for over 3 hours at a time (for more than one day) they had me racing around a state I only knew for a week having everyone and their mob-related uncle inspect our cars (way more steps than in New York). The best part is that my license just expired this winter after only 1.5yrs and I had to wait another couple of hours to get it renewed…. sorry I guess that was a little pent up crap!
May 21st, 2003 at 11:19 pm
FIVE days to get your driver’s license changed – you’re so lucky! It takes TWO WEEKS to get a bank card from Matsui Sumitomo (my bank in Japan), and ANOTHER TWO WEEKS if they send it to the wrong address, like they did with my card. Getting anew bank card shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Oh well. I now have a card.
…….benefits of not having a bank card: I spend less!