The No-Front Door Item

After living in Japan for 1.5 years it's pretty rare that I experience culture shock. The closest I come tends to be when I visit a new place in Japan that's far from my city and see things that are done a bit differently than in Kanazawa.

But this (brief) anecdote reminded me of one of the many ways Japan differs from the Western World.

Yesterday I got home late from work at my Mountain School. I was tired from the day's events and the apartment was cold, so I crawled under my duvet while the heat blasted. I had arranged for an electrician to call me to set up an appointment to fix my hanging light, but they hadn't called and I figured they would try again tomorrow. I found myself falling into a nap when...

DING..........DONG. Went my doorbell. I had a feeling it was probably the electrician, even though he was supposed to call and set up an appointment, not come over. I decided to ignore him. My room was a disaster, no place to fix a light. So I closed my eyes.
DING.........................DONG. Ignore.
A few moments passed before there came a knock. I was tempted to answer but then I'd have to explain the embarrassing situation of my room, which might be incomprehensible to someone who likely always lived in a state of tidiness. I closed my eyes again and waited for the inevitable sound of the visitor returning down the outside stairs in defeat. But it didn't come.

Instead, much to my alarm, there was the unmistakable sound of my front door being opened and someone about to make their way in. I ran to the door and sure enough, there in the doorway looking surprised (but not guilty) was the electrician. "I'm here to fix the light," he said. He frowned. "Is now ok?"
"Sorry but.... I have a fever," I explained in a faux weak voice. "Can you come back on Thursday?"
"Hm. Thursday we're closed. I'll come back tomorrow. Okay?"
"Uh, sure."
And with that I closed the door and made sure to lock it.

This may seem like a scary-intruder story and in any other country it probably would be. But I had forgotten that in Japan, your small hallway (where you leave your shoes) is considered to be "public property", so while visitors will surely ring or knock first, it's not unheard of or impolite for them to step inside without permission and wait. This stems from back in the day when traditional houses had (and still do) have hallways that had an extra door into the house... kind of like indoor porches in Canadian homes.

Still though, what a surprise. And a good lesson to lock your door when you're trying to have a nap!