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We got a message from Yu-san again.
Yu-san! Thank you!
She's been sending us a lot of requests, hasn't she?
Yeah!
So, in the other day's podcast, we talked about the difference between Kanto and Kansai's escalators.
I remembered that the meaning of "passing" is different in the east and west.
In Kanto, it's "O-saki-ni-dozo"
In Kansai, it's "Ore-ga-saki-ni-iku-kara-ugoku-na-yo"
I asked a girl from Wakayama about the difference between Kanto and Kansai, and she said "it depends on the person".
I think that's the scariest thing to hear.
Have you ever been confused by the local rules?
Okay, wait. I had the same understanding of her friend.
Of like "hito-ni-yoru"
Oh really?
Like in Tokyo too. Isn't it "hito-ni-yoru"?
Of like when... How do you say that in English?
"Passing"? I don't know, but I'm just going to pass it.
Passing... When someone passes...
When someone passes, right?
It depends on the speed of the car.
Speed and the timing of the car when that person passes.
Oh really?
Yeah, when that person is going really fast, right?
And I'm about to turn.
And when you see no signs of that person stopping, and he passes...
That means "get the fuck out of my way".
I am driving, so you just stay out of my lane, bitch.
That's the sign.
And when that person is slowing down and passes, that means "go ahead".
I'm offering you the path, so go ahead.
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That was my understanding. Is that not true for you?
I mean, I've never met the situation that someone passes you to say that "not coming, this is my turn, I'm going".
Because in that situation, they will like beep, you know.
So I've never met that situation.
So to me, it's only like "go ahead".
It's only understanding to me.
Wait, isn't the horn... I think horn.
Horn?
I forgot.
Yeah, the...
The horn?
I think it was horn. I forgot.
But I'm just going to say horn.
The horn has two ways too.
It's the same.
It's the same as the "push", "passing".
Oh yeah, like when you gently like go ahead or like "go get away".
Yeah, when you gently horn as you're slowing down, that means "go ahead".
And when you horn just a little bit longer as you're speeding, then "get the fuck out of my way".
Sure, sure, sure. That's right.
That's what I understand, same as my understanding.
But about that "lightening", "passing", my understanding was just only for the "go ahead".
Oh, okay.
I mean, of course if the car like...
Obviously.
Like obviously coming like without any, you know, stopping motion, just like this, I won't go, of course.
Of course, right?
But...
But you'd be confused of like...
I mean, I've never seen that, so...
Okay.
Yeah.
I think our good friend Weiwei does the "passing" as a "fuck you" kind of sign.
Because he's an aggressive guy when it comes to driving, right?
Yeah.
Like when I see when he turned the corner, then he does that to tell that I am here.
Okay, I understand.
Like I have no plan to stop, so be careful.
Yeah.
So that's one different way.
Yeah.
Right.
But yeah.
But also as a straight long road, he does that too, I think.
I think I've seen him do it.
I've never seen that.
I've never met the situation.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So that's this "hito ni yoru" and also "depends on the situation" actually.
Yeah.
Depends on the situation, yeah.
Sure.
Wow.
Any...
Yeah?
But obviously the car like seems not stopping at all.
Without seeing any "passing" you can tell that he's going to be coming.
Right, right, right.
It's obvious, right?
Yeah.
If I just continue going, you guys would crash.
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Yeah.
Right?
I wonder what...
How that's interpreted under the law.
Like under the eyes of the law?
So I don't know.
Like if there was an area where...
Okay, so for you, you thought that in Tokyo, like when someone "passes" then it means to go ahead, right?
Yeah.
Well, on the other hand, that person meant, "I was doing it to tell you to not cross the road."
And then you guys crashed.
Yeah.
I wonder whose fault it would be.
Right?
True, true.
Under the eyes of the law.
Yeah.
Because I don't think the law doesn't really define the meaning of the "passing", right?
Yeah.
So...
True.
Just curious of what it would be.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you know, when you do "passing" as in sign for "go ahead",
it's always you are starting to stop.
Like really, really slow.
Yeah.
So I guess...
Yeah.
We can tell that.
Oh.
But yeah.
If the crash happens...
Yeah.
I guess the person who's trying to cross has to be more careful and watch the road, I guess.
Yeah.
Watch the flow of it all.
Yeah.
Of course, there's always like the traffic light.
True.
Or like the main road and sub-road.
True, true, true.
So maybe that defines the...
Yeah.
Right, right, right.
Maybe.
Right.
But yeah, that's a difficult one.
Uh-huh.
Any difference in culture you felt?
Local rule.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Local rule.
Yeah.
Do you?
Um...
I felt the difference in the local rules within different stores of Starbucks.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
I think I've told you this when we were celebrating Wada Chan's marriage.
But I just moved into a different store when I was a full-timer at Starbucks.
And so I was in a position to take control of the store.
Yeah.
So and I didn't realize that there were a different rule playing, right?
In that new store that I was in.
Yeah.
And I had friction with the part-time job workers and we got into an argument.
Yeah.
Well, not an argument.
Well, one of the part-timers just was like...
Just walked away from the scene and looking pissed.
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Yeah.
So I was like, "Oh, shit.
Okay, what happened?"
And I took some...
I took a lot of my time to try to cope it, cope that situation, to try to like smoothen
out that situation.
Yeah.
That was a local rule that got me into trouble.
Okay.
Store rule.
Yeah.
Store rule.
Yeah.
Is that normal?
Yeah, I hear that a lot actually.
A lot of times we call for helps within stores.
Like, "Oh, we're out of the part-timers.
We need help."
And then we would send people to other stores to help them out.
And then they'd struggle with the local rules within the store.
And they were like, "It was a little bit stressful working at that store."
And yeah, we have that.
Yeah.
But in that case, you are the right person, right?
You do the right things.
Yeah.
Because you are the official...
Yes, I did the right thing.
Yeah.
But it was a shogunate situation, I feel like.
I was new there.
I mean, I guess some thoughts were in me for the fact that I wasn't fully
understanding the local rules there.
I mean, I do kind of have, I guess, a responsibility for understanding the
local rules of the stores that I'm going to be in.
So, yeah, it's kind of like a shogunate situation, I felt like.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
All right.
So thanks for listening, guys.
Thank you.
