00:01
Welcome to Kevin's English Room Podcast.
In the last episode, we talked about
learning new things.
You wrapped it up
with a pretty big
container there.
And at the very last, you said
you didn't know how to use the
washiki.
Yeah, I remember one thing.
As I was at my parents' house, I had a conversation with my grandma, who's
91 now. Okay, wow. Yes, and when she was young. Okay.
So after she graduated from
the school, I guess like high school kind of
you know, and then she worked at the Marubiru.
Marubiru? Tokyo Station? Yeah, Marubiru. That was a new build.
Okay, okay. Yeah.
It was like, so she lived in Tokyo, close to Asakusa, you know, you know, really like traditional Japanese,
you know, places. Okay. And then she started working at Marubiru. Yeah, which is like the newest, latest.
Which they have the youshiki no toire. I guess probably like the very like earliest time
that they have youshiki no toire. Yeah. Yeah. And my grandma, she did not know. Okay. What it was.
Obviously, it was Marubiru. She, and she was like
like office guard, you know. Yeah. And she wears like, you know, jackets and like wear
leaps and wears some
some, you know, high heels. Yeah. And like walk like that and get into the youshiki toire. Okay.
And didn't know how to use that. And she, she, she stood up. Oh!
Because washiki toire is the only one she knows. Yeah. Yeah. It's how to use it.
Yeah. So she stood up with the high heel. Okay. On the youshiki toire.
And then uses that.
And after a few, few days,
kind of nomikai in the company, they talked about that. Yeah. She was, she didn't know.
And her colleague was like, talked about that thing in public. Yeah. And she was so embarrassed.
Oh!
So did the people around her find out that she was using it incorrectly? I guess like one of our friends like found it.
I see. Yeah. I see. And they talked about it as a funny story. I see. A little secret funny story.
But one of our friends talked in the public as a funny story. And then, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. That, okay.
Opposite one, right? That's the opposite one, right? Because yeah, your grandma also didn't know. Didn't have the chance to look at other people. So.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's the same trap there. Right. Same exact trap. And also it's like a toire, koshitsu toire. There's nobody. Yeah.
03:06
You can learn from. Absolutely. There's no video of that. I know. No one teaches you that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, I've always wondered why on some of the, in the koshitsu toires, there's a picture of like, don't sit like how your grandma used to sit. Yeah. Yeah.
I was like, who would do this? But like, okay, now I know. The people that only knew though, washiki toire. Right.
That's the, okay. Yeah. For them, like, you have to. Have to crouch down. Yeah. Right. You have to crouch down somehow. Right.
I see. So she stood up with high heel with that. You know. Narrow edge. I'm surprised she didn't like fall into the toilet, you know. Yeah.
It's slippery up there, so. Wow. So, right. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Wow. So that was, that's the story I remember.
I still like, I'm still like, kind of scared that there's some something that I'm like, know that I'm doing it normally, but like, truly everyone else is doing it differently.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's obviously, it's possible in Mayan too. It is possible. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Something maybe. Yeah.
Yeah. So like, sorry, sorry, grandma, to say this in public, maybe you're not, you're not, I'm sorry if you feel embarrassed. Oh, it's okay. Yeah. Okay. It's a funny story.
Yeah, it's a funny story. Sorry. Yeah. But yeah, so I've been living in Japan since I was a little baby. Yeah. I've been always with my parents.
Yes. For example, like how to use the toilet, how to pee, how to do everything, how to wash your hands, how to, you know, everything. Yeah. I've taught from my parents. Yes.
And I've seen sometimes parents did. Yeah. Like, oh, that's what, you know. Right. But your situation was a little different. You came to Japan when you were junior high. Yes.
Which is too big. Yes. To learn. For you to like, right. You don't get to see the basics. Yeah. You're too big to put in one koshitsu with your dad. Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's not gonna happen. Yeah.
So, yeah, it's really possible that you. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. For example, what else? What else possibly?
Possibly. I mean, for example, I don't know. For example. Yes. Like those koshitsu things are really dangerous. It is dangerous, isn't it? I don't know. Like when I shichaku a clothes. I think I'm doing it normally.
06:05
What? Do y'all. OK, let's say I go into a koshitsu and let's say you want to try on a T-shirt. OK. OK. T-shirt. OK. Do you take the T-shirt that you have right now off completely naked or do you wear on top of your normal glove?
I have two options. OK. One is I completely be naked and then wear that. Yeah. Just like usual T-shirt. Yeah. That's one. And also if it's like big T-shirt, like loose silhouette, you know, big ones, silhouette ones. Yeah. And then I probably still wearing the T-shirt that I'm wearing, which is a little tight. Yeah. And then put it over top of that. Yeah. OK.
Yeah. Same here. Same here. Yeah. If I like if the one I'm trying out is like a tighter one. Yeah. And it would sort of affect. Yeah. If I had it inside, I would take it off. Yeah. But if it doesn't, I would just I would keep it on as much as possible. Yeah. I kind of understand it. Yeah. I don't want the new clothes to touch the skin. Yeah. I think that's kind of not. Yeah. Because that's still a product. Right.
So not only for me. I try to keep it on as much as possible. All right. That's good. Same here. Yeah. That's good. That's good. Yeah. That's good. Taxis. How about taxis? When you get on a taxi and they ask you, what do you say to that?
So if I have a certain route that I want to go, then I tell that. OK. But if I don't have any. How do you communicate that? So one, you ask them. And I want to know. OK. Because. OK. Yeah. How should I explain the route? OK.
How? Where? Like, I'm really big on taxiing. Yeah. So I just want to know the professionals. And that's one. Yeah. Another one is like, I'm going to ask the fastest taxi driver. That's the one. I see. Yeah. I have two choices. But what do they say when you ask them? What's their answer?
Yeah. And then he would reply like. Yeah. I see. Yeah. OK. Is it a basic knowledge that you know all these street names? Because every conversation I have with a taxi driver, they're like, what the fuck is Kokudoichi? I don't know where that is.
09:03
OK. Like, do everybody know the Kousaten name and like the Odori name? And like, I don't. Is that a common knowledge? So. True. I don't think it's really, really common to anybody, though.
But it's just like, you know, for example, when you when you go to Osaka from here. OK. Which stations should I take? And which stations, which line you should use? Kind of. Like, which like big, like Tomei? Tokaido. OK. You're talking about the railway. Yeah. Or stations. Yeah. Just like that. If you know it.
Like, if you're like, if you know it, it's cool. Like, if you use trains every day, daily basis. Yeah. Then you surely know that. Yeah. Or if you drive every day, you surely, you should know that. Yes. That's it. Yeah. So it's not strange that if you don't know any of the conjunction names and everything. But if you know that, you're cool. You're cool.
So, I mean, I kind of have a similar vibe. Yeah. Like, I would want to be the right person to be like, ah. Like, I thought that would be cool if I didn't say it. But I try to learn it. But that thing's pretty complex. Oh, yeah. Have you tried to learn that before? Have you tried to look into it? It's pretty complicated. Pretty complicated.
It was not easy. Yeah. Yeah. I only know the ways and conjunctions that only I know. It's like, I only... But you know some. Yeah, I know some. Some of them. OK. But some of them. But some of them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's difficult. Yeah. I know. It's difficult. Yeah. It's cool if you can say like, I know, right? Yeah.
Do you know where, let's say, the Shintomei-doro goes to? Shintomei-doro. That's like from Tokyo to like Nagoya, obviously, right? Tokyo, Nagoya, Tomei. Yeah. That's true. And I know you have Tomei and like Shintomei. It's like a new... It's like in the mountain side. It's like parallel. Yeah. Is it mountain side one? I don't know. Yeah. I'm not sure. My guess is too. It's like a more northern side of the Tomei. Tomei is south.
Shintomei is like north. Yeah. Is my kind of like understanding. Yeah. In really blurry image, I remember like going like Tomei is like that way and like Shintomei is more like mountain side. Yeah. I'm not sure. Yeah. I'm not sure at all. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. But it's like, it's something, it's not necessarily you have to know. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Right. Right. Right. Yeah.
12:21
Right. I guess the average Japanese is struggling with that, too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But if you know that, it's cool. It is. I agree. I agree. Great. All right. Thanks for listening, guys. Yeah. Bye-bye.
