Every time I have a shower, I leave my glasses on the sink just outside the shower room so that when I come out I can put them back on right away. This has never been a problem until last night, when unbeknownst to me my glasses fell off the sink and landed on the floor. I stepped out of the shower room and felt something break as blind-me's foot came down on poor glasses' arm. I took this as a sign and decided to go out and get some new specs.
I always forget what it's like to go into a heavy-on-customer-interaction store in Japan. Immediately as we entered (my Japanese friend Keiko had driven me), we were greeted with the usual chorus of "irasshaimase"s and a young man in a well-pressed suit rushed to meet us at the door. "Welcome," he said and gave a bow. "My name is Mori Junichi. What may I help you, honorable guest, with on this day?". Keiko explained that I was looking new for new glasses. He glanced at me.
"Is your honorable guest-friend perhaps wearing contacts?" he turned his attention back to her.
"Yes, I am." I said to him. He looked at me in surprise and amusement.
"Ah forgive my assumption. Please come this way. If it's not too much trouble, could you possibly remove your contact lenses so that I may conduct a check on your eyes?" He led me to a small sink. "I will prepare for you a complimentary lens case, of course!"
"It's okay. I brought mine," I told him. Once again he looked at me in surprise. He left to wait next to Keiko and I heard him say, "Her Japanese is very good, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," agreed Keiko.
"'I brought mine', she said" he repeated my words excitedly.
When I came back out he took two precise steps towards me and, ensuring his feet were precisely together, raised his arm and half-bowed to indicate where I was to go. In Japan, something I think makes so much sense, when you want glasses you don't just bring in a prescription. They have a small area where they test your eyesight on site. It's free and ensures your prescription isn't dated.
Mori-san led me to the small eye-check area. He performed the routine series of tests all the while complimenting any Japanese I had to use in the process (this is very typical among Japanese people... whether you can easily read tomes of Japanese literature or just say Konnichiwa, they are always quick to applaud your efforts). Interesting fun fact! In Japan they don't have the usual roman-letter "E" eyechart that we all know. Instead they use Hiragana and nearly-full circles where you have to indicate where the opening to the circle is (up, down, left, right).
After the short series of tests, the man said "Please forgive my intrusion, but if it is alright with honorable guest it is perhaps best to try these lenses" as he carefully set a large pair of glasses on my head and carefully tucked the arms behind my ears. "Great apologies for the inconvenience but please wear these for 5 to 10 minutes and read something during that time. If during that time you develop any headache please inform me and I will certainly adjust them for you." So I did.
I found a pair of glasses that I liked and we went to the counter to pay for them. A new man with an equally perfectly fitted suit bowed, introduced himself, and motioned for us to sit in comfortable chairs. I told him the frames I wanted and very delicately he took them from me with two hands, his head bowed, and placed them on a small folded cloth. He set down two decorative Japanese-paper placemats on the counter in front of us.
"Before we begin, here is our complimentary menu," he said, and once again with two hands offered us a small laminated drinks menu: Green tea, Seaweed tea, hot or iced coffee. I decided against Keiko's advice to order seaweed tea and we gave them our orders. Within moments a woman appeared and gave us our drinks, mine in a beautiful traditional tea mug, Keiko's coffee in an ornate teacup on a plate. The woman stirred in milk and sugar for Keiko as I filled out my address on a form. The man presented me with options for the lenses and asked if I would like to pay now or pay later. I decided to pay while I was there and the grand total was under 90$ Canadian-- including the frames AND lenses! "Please forgive us for the delay," said the man and bowed, "But your frames will be ready tomorrow."
I finished the last of my seaweed tea (which tastes more like soup) and Keiko and I left to go to our car outside. The man who had helped us at the counter walked us out and stood at the entrance, arms at the side and feet pressed tightly together. As we got into the car he bowed, and as we drove off he turned to bow in our departing direction. As we rounded the next corner I turned around once more and saw he was still bowing and I knew that he would only stop once we were completely out of sight.
Oh, Japanese hospitality.
