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Column no. 80 - 71

You will see columns in the past; what I noticed about/in Thailand, about differences between Thailand and Japan and so on.
I'm wondering how long I can continue writing a column... :D

190-181

80-71

no.80 - Sales pitch on the phone

27/Mar/2006

My wife came from Bangkok, Thailand and lives in Japan for xx years. Her Japanese needs to be developed more, but even so, when she is at home, she answers phone calls.
Talking about phone calls, we often have a sales pitch. For example, looks like this kind of a conversation is taken place when I'm not at home;

(In Japanese)

Salesman: "Hello. I'm xxx....."
My wife: "Hello. Yes...."
Salesman: (For example) "We would like to introduce ...., and,...then,...so...." (and he/she continues and continues....)
My wife: (In a while) "Well,... I don't understand Japanese..."
Salesman: "... Oh ? Well, then, someone there who understands Japanese ? "
My wife: (In a moment) "Nop!" (You understand it ! :D)
Salesman: "Okay, thank you. Bye." (Hang up the phone.)

My wife says, " I really don't understand it ". Oh, I can imagine that ... :)

no.79 - Walk across the street

21/Mar/2006

I guess this is the same in other countries, but cars come and go very fast in Thailand, especially in Bangkok. (Well, this is kind of same in Japan, also.) And when you want to walk across a street, if you go slowly, it's a little, or very dangerous. Of course, it depends on drivers, but they don't pay attention to walking people very much and if you don't hurry and go, you might get involved in a traffic accident.

My wife who came from Bangkok, has lived in Japan for xx years, but when she walk

across a street in Japan, she still pays a very careful attention to the traffic. (I often go across a street with no thinking about it and she gets mad. I'm like a kid. :D)

By the way, my wife's mom hires a Tuk-Tuk (cool, zippy and convenient vehicle) in Thailand even when she just wants to go across a street because she is scary.

When you go to Thailand, be careful about cars. :)

no.78 - Charges for foreigners

12/Mar/2006

When you go to a museum or a park, they may charge you admission fee, right ?
In Japan, if my memory is correct, admission fee is the same for anyone (different between adults and kids, though), but in Thailand, it's sometimes not between Thai general public and people from overseas. (Higher for foreigners ! Well, it's okay, though. :D )

I still remember one thing very well;
It was when we went to a historical park in Sukhothai or Kam Paeng Phet by car. You had to pay admission at the gate.
At that time, everyone (my wife, my wife's sister and her husband) look back at me all at once then tell me, " Hey, wear sunglasses, get down, hide, down, down, hurry, hurry ! " in the car. Looks like anyone will notice that I'm a Japanese and they will charge me higher than usual.
Because I'm a good boy, I did it as what they told me. Everything was calm and we passed the gate while I was hiding down at the back seat in the car. After a while, they said, " Just kidding ! " and laughed and laughed. Whaaaat !?!?

Well, it's okay... It was a peaceful day... :D

no.77 - Lucky color of days of the week

05/Mar/2006

The column last week was about lucky color of the day of the week for your birthday. This week is lucky colour for something else such as economic fortune, general fortune and human relationship fortune of the day of the week in Thailand.

< Economic fortune >

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Purple	Orange	Black / Brown / Deep Blue	Red	Pink	Light Blue	Green

< General fortune >

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Green	Purple	Orange	Blue	Yellow / White	Black / Brown / Deep Blue	Pink

< Relationship fortune >

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Light Blue	Red	Yellow	Green	Orange	Pink	Black / Brown / Deep Blue

For example, when you want to buy a lottery ticket and if it's on Monday, you should wear clothes in purple.

Should I give it a try ? :D

no.76 - What day of the week were you born ?

26/Feb/2006

Can you answer if someone ask you what day of the week you were born ?
(I can not, even though my wife asked me again and again. Because it was a long long time ago when I was born.... ? :D )

I was very surprised that everyone I met in Thailand knew that ! Why ? It looks like that's because it's popular to read your fortune such as human relationship with the day of the week in which you were born.
(If it's in Japan, blood type fortune telling corresponds to this, right ?)
(By the way, in Thailand, blood type fortune-telling is getting popular now. I heard that, not only fortune-telling but they use it to choose food for a blood type.)

The colour for the day of the week is below.
By this, they wear clothes or choose accessaries in the color of their birthday or of the day. (Of course, it depends on people.)

< The color of the day of the week >

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Yellow	Pink	Green	Orange	Blue	Purple	Red

When you visit Thailand, you should check what day of the week you were born beforehand. :D You can find out the day of the week bellow.

http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/boyorgirl/l/bldayofweek.htm
(http://about.com/)

no.75 - Thanks for the last time ...

19/Feb/2006

The column last week was about Saint Valentine's Day, and this week is related to it and is about " Thanks for the last time ...".

In Japan, when someone did something for you and you would say Thanks at that time, and the next time you see him/her, you would say thanks for the last time he/she did something for you again, aaaand the next time when you see him/her again, you would say thanks for what he/she did for you before again. Like this, you mention about what he/she did for you again and again. Have you ever had such an experience ? :)
This might be only in Japan (?) but in Thailand, you say Thanks at that time (if you have no chance at that time, you will say thanks next time) and that's it. You would not say thanks again and again for what's already finished like in Japan.

For my wife, after she came and started to live in Japan, my family or my relatives expressed thanks about what happened long time ago again and again and she often wondered what it was... :D

There is a cultural difference about saying thanks. This is very curious to me. :)

no.74 - Saint Valentine's Day

12/Feb/2006

You can't wait ? This coming 14th Feb. is Saint Valentine's Day ! Are you ready to give someone chocolate ? :D
I guess you don't know, but in Japan, Saint Valentine's Day is the day when women give chocolate to whom they want to express their love once a year, but it's different in Thailand.

In Thailand, men give flowers (mostly red roses) to women. It seems that it's the same that the day is when men express their love to women, though.
(I heard that men show love to women first, not from ladies to men. I guess young people are different... :D)
Not only men to women but friends give gifts of flowers to each other.
(This is among ladies. If men do this to each other, hmmmm.... ? )

Looks like students buy some flowers nearby as a gift and give it to their teachers or friends in school.
Department stores or restaurants where young couples gather have heart-shaped decoration or play love songs on Saint Valentine's Day.

By the way, they don't have "White Day". What should they do about gifts in return ? :)

no.73 - Sneeze

29/Jan/2006

In Japan, when you sneeze, people say someone is talking about you.
(In the US, it seems like it's said like "Your ears must have been burning")
This is the same in Thailand. When you sneeze, you are told like someone is talking about you or someone misses you.

For instance, when you sneeze, your friend will kid you like, "Your boyfriend misses you !" or "your boss misses you (because he/she wants you to work more)". This is not so good, though. :D

By the way, "Sneeze" in Thai is "Jarm". If you want to say "I often sneeze", it will be "Pom/Dichan Jarm Boiboi". (Pom/Dichan is "I"; Pom for male, Dichan for female, Boiboi is "often".)

no.72 - Snow

21/Jan/2006

We have a lot of snow this year in Japan. It snowed also in Tokyo today.
As you know, they don't have snow in the very warm country, Thailand. In the north part of Thailand, the climate is cooler than in Bangkok but still they don't have snow. This is why my wife didn't know how it would snow like before starting her life in Japan.

On the first day of snow for her in Tokyo, she went outside and enjoyed it very much even if it was cold and late at night, saying "Wow", or "Whew !", "Why !" and walking around.
(These days, even if it snows, she gives me kind of a funny reaction like "Hmmm...." because it almost makes her stay at home.)

I don't know about other places, but they have ice rinks in Bangkok.
See ya. :)

no.71 - Jolting airplane

09/Jan/2006

In my daily life, I have no chance to take a plane, but usually you go to Thailand by air. (I'm wondering how many days it will take from Japan by ship ...)
It' okay if the airplane flies with no shake, but it must be very scary even if airplane shakes and you know it wouldn't go down.

When I came back to Japan before, the airplane flew in the rain crowd and had a awful rough flight. Not only it shook but it suddenly went down so often. My heart was in my mouth. In the end, my wife couldn't have a sleep at all with a horrible fear. On the other hand, looks like I fell into a peaceful sleep while I didn't notice that. (My wife told me later about this with an amazed look....)

Hope you'll have no trouble this year. Happy new year !