Mountain Mania

So far I have been very lucky with my stay in Japan, and with my jobs as well. I am currently working in an Onsen Hotel in Manza. The mountain site is simply a dream come true, with crystal clear night skies – a nice diversion compared to Tokyo’s starless sky – and we have already had our first snow.

as you can see... you can get high. Even with only a little snow!

Sulphur pit and snow :)

Shrines even in the mountains

But every job has its down sides. My shift is split into two parts. The first shift starts at 7:30 and lasts until 10AM, the second shift begins at 15:30 and lasts until 22:00PM. I don’t have to schedule time for breakfast or dinner as we are given a 30 minute break during each shift to eat. However, you have to show up for work ten minutes before the actual shift starts. I’ve been told this is a regular procedure here in Japan. Obviously I was very lucky regarding this rule so far, as my previous jobs in Tokyo did not require me to perform 20 minutes of volunteer work every working day. But, according to my Japanese friends, volunteering is the norm. A quick analysis shows that I am losing 1.200 Yen (15 AUD, 15,62 CAD, 9,84 GBP, 15,36 USD) per week, 4.800 Yen (60,06 AUD, 62,50 CAD, 39,39 GBP, 61,48 USD) per month and 24.000 Yen (300,32 AUD, 312,50 CAD, 196,94 GBP, 307,34 USD) during my five month stay. (I only have a two month contract since the economic situation is still fragile). I wouldn’t want to know how much the unpaid work for the year adds up to for the entire working population! My job doesn’t pay all that well, so my loss is quite low. However, there is no exception for well paid engineers, specialists and managers regarding the rule. In the western world, the unions would mount their barricades. Yet here, this is considered completely normal. Still, I’m not all that compelled to complain. Besides the extras I mentioned last week, I receive two free Japanese lessons each week! As it turns out, the lessons are worth more than what I lose through the volunteer work. For my Japanese colleagues, this is actually unfair. Japanese lessons are the only lessons that are offered, which is useless for anyone who already speaks the language. It might even be beneficial to the hotel to offer other languages for those who already speak Japanese.

Manza Onsen Hotel

And here’s a little something for penny-pinchers who go to the gym from time to time: Here, you could easily save the money from a monthly membership. Anyone who has to heave 300 solid wood chairs in a row onto the tables twice a day and put them down after cleaning the floor, carry 44 pound meal pots several times per shift from the kitchen to the buffet, and still have enough strength left over to clean really doesn’t need the gym any more. Even though the work is hard, I like it a lot. I have learned much about Japanese meals and how to cook them. My colleagues are very nice and explain everything to me. I never find the work tedious and there is always something to do. Since I work in the kitchen and in the dining room, work is diverse and time flies.

Japanese Mountain: You Rock

The hotel itself reminds me a bit of Club Mediterrane or Club Aldiana of the European Alps (actually, there is a mountain range in Japan which they call the Alps as well). Indeed, conversations with fellow men is not handled as laxly as it is in those clubs – the Japanese politeness is never forgotten here – but the buffet is also good, rooms are furnished similarly as well (as far as I am concerned, Club Med still prevails with a TV-set per room – or did so until the late 90′s). This is unthinkable in Japan of course, where rooms in lower price class come with a communal toilet, which we only see in hostels. Like in Kinugawa (week two) the guest can choose between rooms with traditional Tatami mat floor (rice straw mats) without a bed, but with a futon, or a room that resembles that of the west with a varnished wooden floor and its own toilet. Only the most expensive rooms have their own bath. Usually guests wash themselves with other guests in showers right next to the Onsen tubs. And like the clubs there is an event going on every night. While the programs of the clubs concentrate more on sketches, dances, quizzes or comedies, there are mostly musical acts here with – for western ears – quite kitschy songs. I was floored when I heard Johannes Brahms ‘Guten Abend gut’ Nacht’/'Lullabye of Love’ performed on a trombone. Most Japanese people seem to like it. The Japanese tand also has something special. When they are not playing trashy western style music it is at least their very own culture and custom which is nourished and cherished. When you have to listen to U.S. American or British charts for the thousandth time in western clubs, it would be nice to have the chance to listen to traditional Alps cultural music. Even if it’s just to get to know a bit more about the culture. A club dance spared to the guests.

Captain to the bridge!

more than meets the ice

Next week, I will explain why the bath water here is so healthy, what the Japanese Emperor has to do with this hotel and I will discuss more about the environment.

Special thanks to: Hubertus Neidhart from Webspace Provider Network for excellent web page hosting services; Zack Rosenthal, U.S.A (proofreading); Lilith Pendzich;