Me and my fiancee went to Tokyo over the weekend, and we came back with several burning questions that I think can only be answered by a local. So if we have any Japanese dopers, here goes!
Where do you eat the food you buy at Isetan/other departments stores?
We stayed near Shinjuku San-chome, and we sometimes wandered around the Isetan basement looking for food. No lack of food to be found there, and definitely no lack of people buying the food, but strangely enough, we never saw anyone actually eating the food.
There aren’t any seats or benches nearby, and no parks, so where are you supposed to eat? Are you supposed to bring it back to the office?
Do you work/go to school on Sundays?
We went out on Sunday at about 8am, and there were already people in office wear and school uniforms walking around! Do people really go to the office at 8am on Sundays?? What about school?
Do people still live in Japanese style rooms, with the tatami mats and beds on the floor?
Us being lousy tourists, we asked for a “Japanese style room” and promptly messed up making the beds. But do normal Japanese people still sleep in this manner? Or is this seen as something quaint?
Loved Tokyo!
where are you supposed to eat? Are you supposed to bring it back to the office?
Yeah, pretty much. Or find a bench somewhere, take it home to put in the fridge, etc.
Do people really go to the office at 8am on Sundays?? What about school?
Um…I actually don’t know. I assume some of them probably were. I think I usually figured that kids in uniforms on the weekend don’t keep personal clothes, but quite possibly they were going to juku.
Either way, most people don’t.
Do people still live in Japanese style rooms, with the tatami mats and beds on the floor?
Beds on the floor (i.e. futons) are the norm. Western beds are making their way in, but in general are seen as being impractical for the generally small living spaces. Futons can be folded and put away.
Tatami floors are middling rare–mostly just because they’re nicer and harder to care for than linoleum or wood. Personally I’d go for tatami floors if I could. They have a nice feel.
Eat it indoors, i.e., at home, work, etc. Some people will eat food on a park bench, but it’s not so common unless there’s a special event.
Quite a few people work on Sundays. They might have other days off, or they might just be meeting with associates for lunch, but wear a suit anyway. Schoolkids often have club activities on the weekends.
Lots of people sleep on the mattresses (shiki-buton) on tatami mats. My wife’s whole family, for example.
You chose a nice weekend to come here!!
Most of the stuff is already covered, but ill have a go with what I have heard and seen.
I eat food indoors usually, but sometimes if the weather is good I eat next to a canal or in a park.
Some companies might pay overtime money for weekend work too(not mine!).
I used to work during some Sundays in my old company, but we didn’t have to wear office wear.
I have heard from various sources, that the kids wear their uniforms for possibly the reasons below
Cant be bothered to put on street clothes
They have some club activities sometimes, like Isamu said above for which they are required to wear uniforms
Schoolgirls like how they look in their uniforms and prefer to wear them all the time.
Japanese style beds are quite common, tatami not so much. I know only 2 cases (and they were easily old enough to be my grandparents) who had both. Its amazing how big a small room can look after the futons are folded away. But it is the folding away that is the problem for me!
1- The food is usually taken home to eat. If you want to eat something there, you’re supposed to head up to the top floors, where the restaurants are.
2- Most people don’t work on Sundays, but probably more people do there than the US. However many Japanese people (esp. middle-age men) don’t really wear American style casual wear. They still dress more casually on Sundays than weekdays, but that may mean sport coat and no tie. Could that be what you were seeing?
As for school uniforms, some students do wear them when they don’t have to. My school (private and very liberal) didn’t even require uniforms in school, but quite a few students wore them volutarily.
It really depends. In my generation (born mid-70s) when growing up, it seemed fairly common for our parents to sleep on futons in tatami rooms, but for us children to have beds in our own rooms. A typical modern condo or small house has one tatami room, and carpeting or hardwood floor everywhere else. Some families use the tatami room as the main bedroom, others sleep on beds and use the tatami room as a family room.
I’m not a Japanese local, but I have lived there. 2 of the 3 apartments I lived in had one tatami room and that’s where I slept (on a futon). My own experience would suggest that tatami in at least one room is still quite common, although whether it’s where people sleep, I don’t know.