Japanese Efficiency

Okay, so I`ve been in this country for around 11 days now and I`ve done a fair amount. One thing that seems to be common place in pretty much most of what I`ve visited thus far is the obscene efficiency with which things are done. Of course, I`ve told tales of Tokyo trains being on time (dear God!), but Japan Rail in general is pretty nuts, it seems. You have to be quick to get on a train, they literally stop for about one minute before darting off to the next destination. So far, this speedy destination-reaching efficiency hasn`t caused any issues, but I really won`t be surprised if I foolishly end up late by a few minutes and miss a train somewhere.

But it`s not just a trait of the trains. Restaurants are quite efficient too. All the fast food places I`ve been, like Beckers and the Japanese KFC, have given me my food in about 3 minutes max. Usually quicker. Unlike in Britain, where they dilly dally for ages, trying to cook you some chips that ultimately turn out badly. The Japanese equivalent to fast food is arguably more effecient. If you go to a ramen bar or what have you, you choose your meal from a vending machine and get a ticket. You give the ticket to the person who sits you down inside and then a few minutes later, you`re eating (or if you`re me, you`re struggling to eat with chopsticks or spilling miso soup all over yourself*). Of course this all applies to real restaurants as well (which are generally out of my budget, but I can dream). It`s weird, I worked as a waiter to fund this trip and whilst I felt I was good at my job, there`s no way I could have been as lightning fast as anyone in the Japanese service industry.

*In Tokyo, Alex and I went to Akihabara (sic? I can`t remember) to check out the wonders of the electronics area. After being blitzed by lights and a stupid amount of nerdy goods, we went to grab some food at the Beef Bowl. It started off all well, I was getting used to chopsticks and all that jazz. But then I knocked my bowl of miso soup, spilt it all down my trousers and on the table. But! How efficient the staff were about giving me a hand to clean things. They gave me napkins, a towel. The table was fine quite quickly, but I looked like I`d had wet myself quite badly for the best part of the next hour. Good times!