Late last winter, I experienced the recurrence of a condition I had suffered about 4 months prior to that. My toes would get exceptionally itchy and swell up a little. If I scratched them, it'd get worse. The itching was unbearable and I'm far from the model of restraint when it comes to scratching. In fact, I'm well-known (to my husband, at least) for scratching mosquito bites until they bleed. Fortunately, when mosquitoes are in the house, they seem to favor his gourmet blood to mine so I get few bites.
Since I don't like or trust doctors and this condition wasn't life-threatening (and didn't seem to indicate any larger ailments), I put up with it. I found that it got worse after a hot shower and just learned to avoid letting hot water directly hit my toes while I was showering. I did research "itchy swollen toes" on the Internet and the likeliest candidate, athlete's foot, was one I was sure I didn't suffer. I searched forums where other people had precisely the same problem and sought the advice of on-line podiatrists and no clear answer presented itself.
After about 6 weeks, the first incidence faded. I noticed that it reappeared in conjunction with cold weather and my use of a particular blanket. I figured that I might have grown allergic to the blanket and stopped using it. Unfortunately, the second incidence seemed unrelated to the blanket. The only common factor seemed to be cold weather so I wondered if there might be some sort of underlying relationship to arthritis. My husband suggested perhaps my feet were just too cold, but I was reluctant to cover them because they seemed to get itchier as they got warmer.
During the second incidence, I started to suspect a connection between my problem and wearing damp socks or having wet, cold feet. Our kitchen water heater has powerful water pressure and water often spills over the side of the sink while washing dishes. Our kitchen towel is also about three and a half feet from the sink so washing ones hands results in some dripping of water between the sink and the towel as one makes the trip from the sink to the towel. Since I wash the dishes, I often tread in this water. If I was wearing socks, they'd get wet. At the very least, my bare cold feet would get wet. Because of my concerns that there was a water connection, we ordered some fleece-lined slippers from Amazon Japan. This seems to have done the trick. I haven't had a recurrence of my problem this winter despite the cold weather and using the blanket I feared I was allergic to.
Fast forward to my sister, my friend Shawn, and I playing Guild Wars this past week. We were being attacked by an enemy who was casting a spell on us which had been cast many times before and which I'd been misreading for a long time as "chiblains" (because the text was small and I missed the first "l"). My sister is a reference librarian and seems to know a lot of obscure terminology because she is well-read and is a (somewhat lapsed) member of the SCA. In fact, she knows a baffling number of uncommon terms so I asked her what it meant and she said it was a term for an ailment related to cold which was used in the Middle Ages. With my curiosity satisfied, I didn't give it a second thought.
Yesterday morning, I had a second thought and decided to look it up in the dictionary to get more information. You can see where this is going, but at the time that I looked up the word, I had no idea that it had a connection to me in any way. I just wanted a few more details about the meaning. Of course, the mystery ailment I had was chilblains. There's an excellent page explaining it here, but I'll say for the sake of those not wishing to go there that it is the development of a previously unexperienced sensitivity to cold in the extremities, especially the hands, feet, nose, and earlobes. It is exacerbated by sudden changes in temperature such as going from having very cold feet to jumping in a hot shower (which is why a shower set it off in the worst way for me). Moisture also plays a part in it. Ironically, not covering my feet because that made them itchier made it worse in the long run as it increased the number and severity of extreme temperature changes. It's not a rare problem (10% of people will experience it in some form or another in their lifetime) and it usually happens to otherwise healthy people.
The funny aspect of all of this to me at this point is that my "diagnosis" came because of an on-line game. A lot of people think most of what shows up in games is rather fanciful, made up stuff, but the truth is that many fantasy games use real, but obscure, terminology. Granted, visiting a doctor may have yielded a proper diagnosis, but my experience is that doctors diagnose using the equivalent of a diagnostic dart board when there is no clear cause (or they encounter something they're not familiar with). They have a whole slew of options and toss a dart at possibilities until they are eliminated before eventually hitting the bull's eye. Before they hit it straight on, they usually test you for everything from brain cancer to head lice and scare the hell out of you (and empty your wallet) in the process. Reading up on other people's experiences with chilblains, I noticed that they sometimes had to visit 3 or 4 doctors before they came across one who recognized the problem. Mind you, if I had a persistent or serious problem, I'd grit my teeth and go to a doctor. This just wasn't one of those cases.
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Intestinal Fortitude
When you first arrive in Japan, you are exposed to a lot of facts which may be myths and myths that may be facts. The average foreigner is highly suspicious of most of the little tidbits of information tossed her way. The main reason for this is that, by and large, we're taught in our home countries that we're all the same under our skin and a human is a human is a human. The Japanese, on the other hand, are taught that they are different and unique from other humans and readily accept that there are physiological variations based on ethnic background.
There is some factual data in regards to medical conditions and differences which are clearly ethnically-based so the notion that we may be constructed differently isn't that absurd. There are a lot of examples but a few obvious ones are Sickle Cell disease which mainly affects people descended from or born in sub-Saharan areas and Tay Sachs disease which mainly affects Jewish people. If diseases and certain physical attributes can "discriminate" based on ethnicity, why can't internal biology?
One commonly-mentioned and much disbelieved myth (or fact) is that the Japanese have much longer intestines than those from western cultures. This notion has been used to explain why Japanese people shouldn't consume certain foreign foods. Most foreigners scoff or react incredulously when they are presented with this belief. The credibility of the notion isn't helped by the fact that Japanese people rarely are able to explain why this should be and that there is no readily accessible medical data in foreign languages to support the idea. Some of the Japanese people I've spoken to have stated that such data exists but only in Japanese and only in medical journals. Last night, I got a rudimentary explanation from a student for the first time and did some research into this claim based on what she told me.
One can attempt to view this (bowel length difference) idea objectively without hard evidence and speculate on its feasibility based on related information. Mainly, one can look at the animal world and how intestinal length relates to dietary habits. Herbivores are known to have much longer digestive tracts than carnivores. The reason for this is that they need the added length to break down the vegetable matter they consume in order to extract the nutrients. Carnivores have shorter intestines to allow them to digest meat more rapidly before it deteriorates in their bodies and causes illness.
All of the information regarding herbivores and carnivores in the animal kingdom is absolute fact. However, people are omnivorous (but actually closer to being herbivores than carnivores in terms of their digestive systems). The Japanese contend that they have longer intestines because they are descendants of people whose diets were skewed much more toward a vegetable-based diet than western people who are the descendants of people who included much more meat in their diets. As a theory, this isn't too hard to believe since the modern Japanese diet still contains a lot of soy-based proteins, seafood, and vegetables.
The possibility that longer bowel length is a fact among Japanese (or other Asian) people compared to western people opens up a lot of discussion and theory about how their health may differ compared to westerners. It's been speculated that their slim physiques may be related to longer intestines as digestive processes are metabolically intense. It's also possible that it can increase longevity if more nutrients are extracted from vegetables that are consumed.
The only real question is whether or not someone has ever done comparative autopsies on a statistically valid number of bodies and measured intestinal length and proven this theory. Somehow, I doubt anyone has because the truth is that proving it isn't all that important unless you're Japanese and have health concerns related to your dietary habits. Since most Japanese people already accept this theory as fact, they've already incorporated it into their mindset in regards to health maintenance.
I'm not suggesting that this "myth" is true but rather that we should be a bit more open to the possibility that some of the notions which initially strike us as preposterous may not be so silly after all. Even if they are actually not true, there may be at least some sound logic behind them which make them sound reasonable to the Japanese who believe such ideas.
There is some factual data in regards to medical conditions and differences which are clearly ethnically-based so the notion that we may be constructed differently isn't that absurd. There are a lot of examples but a few obvious ones are Sickle Cell disease which mainly affects people descended from or born in sub-Saharan areas and Tay Sachs disease which mainly affects Jewish people. If diseases and certain physical attributes can "discriminate" based on ethnicity, why can't internal biology?
One commonly-mentioned and much disbelieved myth (or fact) is that the Japanese have much longer intestines than those from western cultures. This notion has been used to explain why Japanese people shouldn't consume certain foreign foods. Most foreigners scoff or react incredulously when they are presented with this belief. The credibility of the notion isn't helped by the fact that Japanese people rarely are able to explain why this should be and that there is no readily accessible medical data in foreign languages to support the idea. Some of the Japanese people I've spoken to have stated that such data exists but only in Japanese and only in medical journals. Last night, I got a rudimentary explanation from a student for the first time and did some research into this claim based on what she told me.
One can attempt to view this (bowel length difference) idea objectively without hard evidence and speculate on its feasibility based on related information. Mainly, one can look at the animal world and how intestinal length relates to dietary habits. Herbivores are known to have much longer digestive tracts than carnivores. The reason for this is that they need the added length to break down the vegetable matter they consume in order to extract the nutrients. Carnivores have shorter intestines to allow them to digest meat more rapidly before it deteriorates in their bodies and causes illness.
All of the information regarding herbivores and carnivores in the animal kingdom is absolute fact. However, people are omnivorous (but actually closer to being herbivores than carnivores in terms of their digestive systems). The Japanese contend that they have longer intestines because they are descendants of people whose diets were skewed much more toward a vegetable-based diet than western people who are the descendants of people who included much more meat in their diets. As a theory, this isn't too hard to believe since the modern Japanese diet still contains a lot of soy-based proteins, seafood, and vegetables.
The possibility that longer bowel length is a fact among Japanese (or other Asian) people compared to western people opens up a lot of discussion and theory about how their health may differ compared to westerners. It's been speculated that their slim physiques may be related to longer intestines as digestive processes are metabolically intense. It's also possible that it can increase longevity if more nutrients are extracted from vegetables that are consumed.
The only real question is whether or not someone has ever done comparative autopsies on a statistically valid number of bodies and measured intestinal length and proven this theory. Somehow, I doubt anyone has because the truth is that proving it isn't all that important unless you're Japanese and have health concerns related to your dietary habits. Since most Japanese people already accept this theory as fact, they've already incorporated it into their mindset in regards to health maintenance.
I'm not suggesting that this "myth" is true but rather that we should be a bit more open to the possibility that some of the notions which initially strike us as preposterous may not be so silly after all. Even if they are actually not true, there may be at least some sound logic behind them which make them sound reasonable to the Japanese who believe such ideas.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
"Nice, Clean Girls"
My life at my former company began as a temporary worker who picked up the slack during the annual busy season between November and March. There were 4 full-timers and 5 of us temps. The full-time workers were John, Jolene, Doug, and my former boss Darryl. Doug and Jolene were both married but John was single. I sat in a cubicle next to John so I got to know him first and best.
Even though I'd been in Japan for two years at that point, I had limited experience with the types of gaijin Lotharios who treat the local women as potential harem girls for their sexual entertainment. To those who don't know, there is an unflattering but sometimes accurate image of some western men who come to Japan for the potential to score and are able to romance women largely based on the fact that they are foreign. These are typically the kind of men who couldn't get women back home for one reason or another and who like to carry on about how western women are inferior girlfriends/wives compared to Asian women. I guess it's easier to say you don't want something because there's something wrong with it than to say you can't have it because there's something wrong with you.
Before all the nice and well-adjusted men who have Japanese girlfriends/wives initiate their hackle-raising maneuvers, I'm not talking about you. Note the use of the word "some (western men)", not "all". Well, maybe I am talking about you if your dander is fluffing at the mention of this topic. If the very notion that there are some predatory foreign men out there who are losers who can attract Japanese women because the culture and communication gaps mask their more repugnant character attributes then you may be one of them. Otherwise, why would you get all worked up about it? If it doesn't bother you then you likely aren't one of them and are confident in your appeal to the opposite sex in any culture.
Anyway, John was my first experience face-to-face with one of these types of foreign men. Previously, I'd associated with men who were pretty decent (mainly married to Japanese or foreign women already, gay, or plain decent fellows who were open to women they encounter but not hunting them down as sexual trophies). He would come in some days looking like he'd slept in the clothes he wore the day before because he actually had done so. He slept with any girl he could and, since he looked like a pint-sized Bruce Willis, he didn't seem to have too many problems locating some accepting women who didn't mind a guy on the short side. He didn't respect Japanese women at all and in fact sometimes called them "honey" when he was teaching them on the phone as a sort of snide joke. His attitude toward them was as something he could use for sexual pleasure.
At some point, John, Doug, and I were having a conversation about John's dating habits and, of course, he wasn't shy about talking about how many girls he'd slept with in Japan. I can't recall the precise number but it was not some ridiculously small or large one. The topic of birth control came up and John said that he never wore a condom. When Doug and I expressed that we strongly felt this was very dangerous, particularly from a disease point of view, John said, "I only sleep with nice, clean girls."
Doug and I tried to convince him that STDs don't distinguish "clean" from "dirty" but he had no plans to start wearing his raincoat when he went splashing in the rain with his "clean" playmates because he was certain they wouldn't splatter any mud on him. Unfortunately, his attitude is not uncommon among either Japanese or foreign people who feel that Japanese people, and the women in particular, are too "clean" to carry or transmit STDs. This was a fact that I was reminded of when I read an unhappy story on Stippy related to this topic (which I recommend others read as well).
The irony is that many foreigners are aware that Japanese businessmen frequent the sex trade in Thailand and other Asian countries they pass through. While I'm sure most of them wear condoms, some of them do not and they are still at risk of contracting STDs from visiting prostitutes. If the knowing gaijin puts two and two together, he'll realize that it's only a matter of time before such men return and infect unsuspecting women and diseases will start making the rounds.
The fact of the matter is that HIV and AIDS are viewed as "foreign diseases" and doctors will lie to patients about their diagnoses if they feel the truth is going to be too hard on the patient. The shame associated with dying of AIDS as a cause of death may result in the cause of death being listed as the disease that the person succumbed to as a result of his suppressed immune system rather than as a death because of AIDS. This misleads people about infection rates and the possible risks that come from having unprotected sex and continues to contribute to the myth that Japanese people are, by and large, too "clean" to spread (potentially fatal) STDs.
Update: There's a thoughtful article on AIDS on Stippy which analyzes statistics in Japan which everyone should read as well.
Even though I'd been in Japan for two years at that point, I had limited experience with the types of gaijin Lotharios who treat the local women as potential harem girls for their sexual entertainment. To those who don't know, there is an unflattering but sometimes accurate image of some western men who come to Japan for the potential to score and are able to romance women largely based on the fact that they are foreign. These are typically the kind of men who couldn't get women back home for one reason or another and who like to carry on about how western women are inferior girlfriends/wives compared to Asian women. I guess it's easier to say you don't want something because there's something wrong with it than to say you can't have it because there's something wrong with you.
Before all the nice and well-adjusted men who have Japanese girlfriends/wives initiate their hackle-raising maneuvers, I'm not talking about you. Note the use of the word "some (western men)", not "all". Well, maybe I am talking about you if your dander is fluffing at the mention of this topic. If the very notion that there are some predatory foreign men out there who are losers who can attract Japanese women because the culture and communication gaps mask their more repugnant character attributes then you may be one of them. Otherwise, why would you get all worked up about it? If it doesn't bother you then you likely aren't one of them and are confident in your appeal to the opposite sex in any culture.
Anyway, John was my first experience face-to-face with one of these types of foreign men. Previously, I'd associated with men who were pretty decent (mainly married to Japanese or foreign women already, gay, or plain decent fellows who were open to women they encounter but not hunting them down as sexual trophies). He would come in some days looking like he'd slept in the clothes he wore the day before because he actually had done so. He slept with any girl he could and, since he looked like a pint-sized Bruce Willis, he didn't seem to have too many problems locating some accepting women who didn't mind a guy on the short side. He didn't respect Japanese women at all and in fact sometimes called them "honey" when he was teaching them on the phone as a sort of snide joke. His attitude toward them was as something he could use for sexual pleasure.
At some point, John, Doug, and I were having a conversation about John's dating habits and, of course, he wasn't shy about talking about how many girls he'd slept with in Japan. I can't recall the precise number but it was not some ridiculously small or large one. The topic of birth control came up and John said that he never wore a condom. When Doug and I expressed that we strongly felt this was very dangerous, particularly from a disease point of view, John said, "I only sleep with nice, clean girls."
Doug and I tried to convince him that STDs don't distinguish "clean" from "dirty" but he had no plans to start wearing his raincoat when he went splashing in the rain with his "clean" playmates because he was certain they wouldn't splatter any mud on him. Unfortunately, his attitude is not uncommon among either Japanese or foreign people who feel that Japanese people, and the women in particular, are too "clean" to carry or transmit STDs. This was a fact that I was reminded of when I read an unhappy story on Stippy related to this topic (which I recommend others read as well).
The irony is that many foreigners are aware that Japanese businessmen frequent the sex trade in Thailand and other Asian countries they pass through. While I'm sure most of them wear condoms, some of them do not and they are still at risk of contracting STDs from visiting prostitutes. If the knowing gaijin puts two and two together, he'll realize that it's only a matter of time before such men return and infect unsuspecting women and diseases will start making the rounds.
The fact of the matter is that HIV and AIDS are viewed as "foreign diseases" and doctors will lie to patients about their diagnoses if they feel the truth is going to be too hard on the patient. The shame associated with dying of AIDS as a cause of death may result in the cause of death being listed as the disease that the person succumbed to as a result of his suppressed immune system rather than as a death because of AIDS. This misleads people about infection rates and the possible risks that come from having unprotected sex and continues to contribute to the myth that Japanese people are, by and large, too "clean" to spread (potentially fatal) STDs.
Update: There's a thoughtful article on AIDS on Stippy which analyzes statistics in Japan which everyone should read as well.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Germ Factory
One of my students came to his lesson this evening with a cold. I'm not talking about a little sniffle or two. His voice was so hoarse it wasn't recognizable. His eyes were very red and his nose was running. It was a cold in its prime and he clearly wasn't in any condition to be speaking English for an hour.
Considering this cold developed two days ago, I don't understand why this student didn't contact the referral agency or me and ask to have his lesson rescheduled yesterday so that he could have attended when he was in better shape.
Even when he's in good health, this student can't keep his fingers off his nostrils and is a veritable fountain of projectile spit when he speaks. Today was rather worse as the impulse to touch his nose or wipe it with his hand then rub his hand on my sofa cover was something he couldn't resist doing with great frequency. Coughing with an open mouth was also the order of the evening. I pretty much wished I could have conducted the lesson from behind one of those white surgical masks that the Japanese are famous for wearing when they're sick.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't be polite so I positioned my chair about a foot further away than usual in case any excited spittle flew my way, moved my coffee cup as far away as possible, and resolved to wash my sofa cover the minute he left.
Since I always serve coffee at this man's lessons, I also had to deal with the cup. One thing I learned awhile back is that dish sponges carry and spread germs far more than people realize. This is because the sponges are used frequently enough that they rarely dry out entirely. I once read that office dish sponges are transporters of teaming swarms of germs because, not only are they used frequently but no one ever makes an effort to squeeze them out to help them dry overnight. However, I read that one way around this is to squeeze the sponge out and toss it in the microwave for a minute (update: in one of the comments, I've been told this takes 2-10 minutes - please read the comment by tito). This will cook the bacteria out and help the sponge to dry quickly.
What this student did reminded me of employees who go to work sick only to infect their coworkers. I realize that people often do this sort of thing with the best of intentions but it's very frustrating to be trapped in a closed room with someone who is sick and indifferent to protecting the other people in the room with him from his illness.
Considering this cold developed two days ago, I don't understand why this student didn't contact the referral agency or me and ask to have his lesson rescheduled yesterday so that he could have attended when he was in better shape.
Even when he's in good health, this student can't keep his fingers off his nostrils and is a veritable fountain of projectile spit when he speaks. Today was rather worse as the impulse to touch his nose or wipe it with his hand then rub his hand on my sofa cover was something he couldn't resist doing with great frequency. Coughing with an open mouth was also the order of the evening. I pretty much wished I could have conducted the lesson from behind one of those white surgical masks that the Japanese are famous for wearing when they're sick.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't be polite so I positioned my chair about a foot further away than usual in case any excited spittle flew my way, moved my coffee cup as far away as possible, and resolved to wash my sofa cover the minute he left.
Since I always serve coffee at this man's lessons, I also had to deal with the cup. One thing I learned awhile back is that dish sponges carry and spread germs far more than people realize. This is because the sponges are used frequently enough that they rarely dry out entirely. I once read that office dish sponges are transporters of teaming swarms of germs because, not only are they used frequently but no one ever makes an effort to squeeze them out to help them dry overnight. However, I read that one way around this is to squeeze the sponge out and toss it in the microwave for a minute (update: in one of the comments, I've been told this takes 2-10 minutes - please read the comment by tito). This will cook the bacteria out and help the sponge to dry quickly.
What this student did reminded me of employees who go to work sick only to infect their coworkers. I realize that people often do this sort of thing with the best of intentions but it's very frustrating to be trapped in a closed room with someone who is sick and indifferent to protecting the other people in the room with him from his illness.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Dubious Accounting
I haven't been posting as much lately because I'm starting to feel a bit burnt out. I'm not burnt out on posting, mind you, but a little burnt out on dealing with heaping piles of tasks that need to be done. Posting when I'm in this state is rather difficult because I don't have much energy to accomplish more than what I'm already doing.
Last week, I did a fair bit of freelance work on top of my private teaching load (which is up to full capacity again after the holiday lull) and my husband has been sick all week. He's been a trooper and worked anyway but it's really left him worn out and prolonged his cold. For those who don't teach, teaching is one of the hardest jobs to do when you have a cold because it strains your throat constantly and requires you to project yourself at least somewhat energetically all the time. It also makes all the disgusting little maintenance things (blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing, etc.) you have to do to alleviate your discomfort much more difficult to do because you've got an audience. What's worse, you've got an audience which is part of a culture that doesn't condone nose-blowing as a socially acceptable behavior.
Since my husband has been working 9-hour days while sick, he's not been able to help out much and requires more care than usual. Some people might wonder why he doesn't just call in sick. There are a couple of reasons for that but one of them is that he doesn't get paid if he doesn't work. For teachers in Japan, I don't believe there is any such thing as a "sick day" though I guess you can take one of your 10 legally-mandated vacation days off as a sick day if you haven't already taken them as vacation days.
In my husband's case, he has no vacation days left but also his paid time off is calculated in a dubious fashion so he gets paid less for taking a day off than he would if he worked that day. This is something that my company started doing the last year of my employment but I think is really sneaky and unethical. My husband's salary is variable based on the number of hours he puts in each month. He does not work for a set salary. If he takes a day off, his school divides the previous month's salary by the number of days in the month and pays him 1/30 or 1/31 of the previous month's salary.
Of course, no one works 30 or 31 days a month so this is a lower wage than one actually makes on a daily basis. The fair thing to do is divide the previous month's salary by the number of working days in the month (generally 21-23). This accounting technique allows his company to pay him about $50 less per day taken off.
When my former company instituted this practice after years of calculating it fairly, they just said that's the way they do it as if that was an explanation for an accounting technique which is clearly designed to screw the employee over. I don't think this is a Japanese practice though. In fact, I'm nearly certain other companies in the U.S. do it as well. Companies do this petty little accounting trick to cheat employees out of their fair wages and then wonder why they, in turn, do petty little things like steal office supplies, milk breaks for a few extra minutes or slack on the job when the boss isn't around. You reap what you sow.
Last week, I did a fair bit of freelance work on top of my private teaching load (which is up to full capacity again after the holiday lull) and my husband has been sick all week. He's been a trooper and worked anyway but it's really left him worn out and prolonged his cold. For those who don't teach, teaching is one of the hardest jobs to do when you have a cold because it strains your throat constantly and requires you to project yourself at least somewhat energetically all the time. It also makes all the disgusting little maintenance things (blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing, etc.) you have to do to alleviate your discomfort much more difficult to do because you've got an audience. What's worse, you've got an audience which is part of a culture that doesn't condone nose-blowing as a socially acceptable behavior.
Since my husband has been working 9-hour days while sick, he's not been able to help out much and requires more care than usual. Some people might wonder why he doesn't just call in sick. There are a couple of reasons for that but one of them is that he doesn't get paid if he doesn't work. For teachers in Japan, I don't believe there is any such thing as a "sick day" though I guess you can take one of your 10 legally-mandated vacation days off as a sick day if you haven't already taken them as vacation days.
In my husband's case, he has no vacation days left but also his paid time off is calculated in a dubious fashion so he gets paid less for taking a day off than he would if he worked that day. This is something that my company started doing the last year of my employment but I think is really sneaky and unethical. My husband's salary is variable based on the number of hours he puts in each month. He does not work for a set salary. If he takes a day off, his school divides the previous month's salary by the number of days in the month and pays him 1/30 or 1/31 of the previous month's salary.
Of course, no one works 30 or 31 days a month so this is a lower wage than one actually makes on a daily basis. The fair thing to do is divide the previous month's salary by the number of working days in the month (generally 21-23). This accounting technique allows his company to pay him about $50 less per day taken off.
When my former company instituted this practice after years of calculating it fairly, they just said that's the way they do it as if that was an explanation for an accounting technique which is clearly designed to screw the employee over. I don't think this is a Japanese practice though. In fact, I'm nearly certain other companies in the U.S. do it as well. Companies do this petty little accounting trick to cheat employees out of their fair wages and then wonder why they, in turn, do petty little things like steal office supplies, milk breaks for a few extra minutes or slack on the job when the boss isn't around. You reap what you sow.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Red on White
Since coming to Japan, I've suffered a whole host of health problems. Some have been chronic (like my back pain and arthritis) and a constant drain on my energy levels. Others have been acute and scary.
About two years after coming to Japan, I developed gall stones and had to have surgery. I attributed this both to a biological predisposition (my whole family has had their gall bladders removed) and the stress of working at Japan's worst language school (at least at that time), Nova. My recovery was slow and painful. No one warns you that you're going to come out of surgery feeling like a victim in a bad knife fight but that's pretty much the way it is.
The next frightening experience was when half my face froze up. This was definitely a stress reaction from an ongoing battle not to work in a sweat shop during the summer. The president of the company at that time shared an air conditioning bank with us and he was on top of a vent and we were totally shut off from any air in phone cubicles. He was freezing and we were dying. Anyway, I developed Bell's Palsy and was put on steroids for two months. It was bad enough that half my face was paralyzed but now I was also a snarling beast who couldn't control her emotions for about 2 months. No one warned me that the hormones that were going to thaw my face were going to make me feel like I was going insane.
Finally, I woke up one day with a blob of red on my eye. I'm not talking about bloodshot or tired eyes. I'm talking about what looked like a glob of deep red ink on a white tablecloth. This was very scary but ended up being the smallest problem with the least painful treatment. I went to the eye doctor and was tested and examined and told this sometimes happens. She gave me drops to put in my eye but I don't think that they really did much.
Yesterday morning, when I was saying goodbye to my husband as he headed off for a swim, I saw that he had one of these blotches on his eye as well. If I hadn't already experienced one, I'd have panicked over this but I knew it was one of those things that happens with age that clears up on its own. In his case, it's clearing up very rapidly. Mine was a bit bigger and took longer to dissipate.
When these things happen, I can't help but be reminded of how your body is breaking down as you age. This was reinforced all the more to me by ganglionic cysts on my right hand that I noticed yesterday. These types of things don't tend to happen to you when you're young. I'm not one of those people who gets worked up about my age or seeing birthdays go by. From an emotional and mental viewpoint, I'd rather be older than younger. However, I could do without all the breakdowns.
About two years after coming to Japan, I developed gall stones and had to have surgery. I attributed this both to a biological predisposition (my whole family has had their gall bladders removed) and the stress of working at Japan's worst language school (at least at that time), Nova. My recovery was slow and painful. No one warns you that you're going to come out of surgery feeling like a victim in a bad knife fight but that's pretty much the way it is.
The next frightening experience was when half my face froze up. This was definitely a stress reaction from an ongoing battle not to work in a sweat shop during the summer. The president of the company at that time shared an air conditioning bank with us and he was on top of a vent and we were totally shut off from any air in phone cubicles. He was freezing and we were dying. Anyway, I developed Bell's Palsy and was put on steroids for two months. It was bad enough that half my face was paralyzed but now I was also a snarling beast who couldn't control her emotions for about 2 months. No one warned me that the hormones that were going to thaw my face were going to make me feel like I was going insane.
Finally, I woke up one day with a blob of red on my eye. I'm not talking about bloodshot or tired eyes. I'm talking about what looked like a glob of deep red ink on a white tablecloth. This was very scary but ended up being the smallest problem with the least painful treatment. I went to the eye doctor and was tested and examined and told this sometimes happens. She gave me drops to put in my eye but I don't think that they really did much.
Yesterday morning, when I was saying goodbye to my husband as he headed off for a swim, I saw that he had one of these blotches on his eye as well. If I hadn't already experienced one, I'd have panicked over this but I knew it was one of those things that happens with age that clears up on its own. In his case, it's clearing up very rapidly. Mine was a bit bigger and took longer to dissipate.
When these things happen, I can't help but be reminded of how your body is breaking down as you age. This was reinforced all the more to me by ganglionic cysts on my right hand that I noticed yesterday. These types of things don't tend to happen to you when you're young. I'm not one of those people who gets worked up about my age or seeing birthdays go by. From an emotional and mental viewpoint, I'd rather be older than younger. However, I could do without all the breakdowns.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Dentist Redux
Part 2 of my trip to the dentist took place this morning. As I mentioned before in "A Trip to the Dentist", I had to have it done in two visits because that's the only way Japanese national health insurance would pay for it. I investigated why this might be the case and didn't find any concrete answers. The best I can conclude based on what I learned was that the insurance doesn't specifically require multiple visits but that this is the only way doctors can charge what they want for their services inside of the fee structure the socialized insurance system forces on them.
The information I found states that there is a fixed fee schedule for any given procedure and that no doctor (or dentist) regardless of experience, expertise or antiquity or modernity of equipment may charge more or less than the fee schedule states. One of the consequences of this is that doctors offer very short consultation times and require multiple visits. The average doctor sees 49 patients a day. Thirteen percent see a hundred patients a day.
Essentially, the doctors have found a way to make more money despite the limits placed on what they may charge. Unfortunately, it's this sort of thing that supports all the arguments against socialized health insurance in the states. The Japanese situation bears out the notion that the quality of care will diminish with nationalized insurance.
My experience also bears this out and it may be one of the reasons why I've come to believe doctors never listen to their patients. My experience in Japan, except when dealing with the doctors who specialize in care for foreigners and don't take national health insurance, is that doctors spend very little time with you and shuttle you out as quickly as possible. In the case of my dental "check-up", the dentist looked at my teeth for no longer than 2 minutes, possibly less, then turned me over the the hygienist for cleaning. I believe that they had me come back for split billing. They could charge once for consultation and a second time for cleaning.
The fee schedule situation also explains the tendency among Japanese doctors to prescribe at least 3 kinds of medicine to patients during each visit. When the cost of the medicine is lower than the scheduled expense, the clinic or hospital the doctor is a part of gets to make more from the medication. Both this sort of over-prescription and short consultation times are specifically discussed in a paper I read here. It's quite interesting and I recommend anyone who wants to understand more about the structure of the health system give it a read.
After having my lower teeth scraped at and polished up, my husband, my sore gums and I went shopping for shoes. My husband has been in rather dire need of a new pair for quite some time. This was a point that was dramatically brought home by yesterday and this morning's rain.
There's a relatively cheap shoe shop in a rundown arcade near Asagaya station that we stopped in on. I was amused to see the shoes with the peculiar name pictured above. I'm guessing that "assy" is a play on a Japanese word related to being water-tight since the selling point on these shoes according to the tag is that they have special heels to prevent water from leaking into them when it rains. My husband didn't buy these particular shoes though. I'm not sure that one could buy a brand named "Dr. Assy" and wear them without feeling self-conscious. Additionally, they were more expensive than he was looking to pay. In the end, he picked up a pair of business shoes for about 4,000 yen (about $36) and new tennis shoes for about 2,000 yen (about $17).
Finally, I'd been craving a Mont Blanc for ages and hadn't been anywhere that sold decent ones so my husband suggested we visit the Cozy Corner near the station. Cozy Corner carries a variety of elaborate sweets that are heavy on the whipped cream and somewhat expensive. I think we buy something from one of these places once every 3-5 years.
I picked out two Mont Blanc from their relatively large collection of varieties. The one on the left is a "forest Mont Blanc". It includes more fresh cream filling and less cake than most of the Mont Blanc you can get in Japan as you can see from the picture below.
Mont Blanc is an Italian dessert (or French depending on what you read) which is meant to resemble a white mountain. The top is made of piped chestnut paste and the base is often meringue but all of the ones I've seen in Japan have cake as the base. The paste is made in a variety of ways but generally involves boiling chestnuts in milk, sugar and vanilla then adding in a little brandy.
These must be pretty popular in Japan because variations of them are sold in most supermarkets and convenience stores. They range from being extremely sweet to fairly bland. I prefer the less sweet variety but I'm afraid the Cozy Corner ones are really sweet. I'll have to keep that in mind in another 3 years or so when it occurs me to patronize one of them again.
The information I found states that there is a fixed fee schedule for any given procedure and that no doctor (or dentist) regardless of experience, expertise or antiquity or modernity of equipment may charge more or less than the fee schedule states. One of the consequences of this is that doctors offer very short consultation times and require multiple visits. The average doctor sees 49 patients a day. Thirteen percent see a hundred patients a day.
Essentially, the doctors have found a way to make more money despite the limits placed on what they may charge. Unfortunately, it's this sort of thing that supports all the arguments against socialized health insurance in the states. The Japanese situation bears out the notion that the quality of care will diminish with nationalized insurance.
My experience also bears this out and it may be one of the reasons why I've come to believe doctors never listen to their patients. My experience in Japan, except when dealing with the doctors who specialize in care for foreigners and don't take national health insurance, is that doctors spend very little time with you and shuttle you out as quickly as possible. In the case of my dental "check-up", the dentist looked at my teeth for no longer than 2 minutes, possibly less, then turned me over the the hygienist for cleaning. I believe that they had me come back for split billing. They could charge once for consultation and a second time for cleaning.
The fee schedule situation also explains the tendency among Japanese doctors to prescribe at least 3 kinds of medicine to patients during each visit. When the cost of the medicine is lower than the scheduled expense, the clinic or hospital the doctor is a part of gets to make more from the medication. Both this sort of over-prescription and short consultation times are specifically discussed in a paper I read here. It's quite interesting and I recommend anyone who wants to understand more about the structure of the health system give it a read.
After having my lower teeth scraped at and polished up, my husband, my sore gums and I went shopping for shoes. My husband has been in rather dire need of a new pair for quite some time. This was a point that was dramatically brought home by yesterday and this morning's rain.
There's a relatively cheap shoe shop in a rundown arcade near Asagaya station that we stopped in on. I was amused to see the shoes with the peculiar name pictured above. I'm guessing that "assy" is a play on a Japanese word related to being water-tight since the selling point on these shoes according to the tag is that they have special heels to prevent water from leaking into them when it rains. My husband didn't buy these particular shoes though. I'm not sure that one could buy a brand named "Dr. Assy" and wear them without feeling self-conscious. Additionally, they were more expensive than he was looking to pay. In the end, he picked up a pair of business shoes for about 4,000 yen (about $36) and new tennis shoes for about 2,000 yen (about $17).Finally, I'd been craving a Mont Blanc for ages and hadn't been anywhere that sold decent ones so my husband suggested we visit the Cozy Corner near the station. Cozy Corner carries a variety of elaborate sweets that are heavy on the whipped cream and somewhat expensive. I think we buy something from one of these places once every 3-5 years.
I picked out two Mont Blanc from their relatively large collection of varieties. The one on the left is a "forest Mont Blanc". It includes more fresh cream filling and less cake than most of the Mont Blanc you can get in Japan as you can see from the picture below.
Mont Blanc is an Italian dessert (or French depending on what you read) which is meant to resemble a white mountain. The top is made of piped chestnut paste and the base is often meringue but all of the ones I've seen in Japan have cake as the base. The paste is made in a variety of ways but generally involves boiling chestnuts in milk, sugar and vanilla then adding in a little brandy.
These must be pretty popular in Japan because variations of them are sold in most supermarkets and convenience stores. They range from being extremely sweet to fairly bland. I prefer the less sweet variety but I'm afraid the Cozy Corner ones are really sweet. I'll have to keep that in mind in another 3 years or so when it occurs me to patronize one of them again.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
A Trip to the Dentist
It's been 10 years since I last made a trip to the dentist. I know that sounds very bad and like I have some sort of phobia about them but the truth is that I don't mind going to the dentist much. In fact, I'd much rather go to the dentist than go to a doctor. Dentists can see your teeth and gums and have a much clearer view of what problems are. They don't even have to ask you much about your problems to do their job.
Doctors, on the other hand, often have to deal with a set of ambiguous symptoms which they have to interpret or do extensive (and often invasive, inconclusive, and uncomfortable) testing to help guide them toward a correct diagnosis. My experiences with doctors are often frustrating, annoying and disheartening.
Luckily, I've never had a bad dental experience in Japan. In the U.S., I had some pretty awful experiences in my childhood but never in Japan as an adult. When I was a kid, two of my lower molars in the middle of each side of my mouth were pulled when I had a cavity because my family was too poor for proper dental care. In both cases, I didn't get enough novacaine or it was injected improperly and it was very painful. As an adult, I've had to live with the two gaping holes left by losing these teeth. They can't be seen but it's messed up my bite and makes for some chewing problems.
The reason that it's been 10 years since I last visited the dentist is that, frankly, it just didn't occur to me to go because I hadn't had any problems. After my long bout of cold and cold-related issues though, the teeth on one side of my mouth were really aching. This isn't uncommon for me after a long illness as I can sometimes have pain due to very minor dental problems when my immune system is suppressed. However, it occurred to me that I may have a cavity after all this time.
The first thing I discovered when arriving at the hospital the clinic occupied the third floor of was that it no longer was in the same building. Within the last year, they were shuffled off to a little building behind the hospital (pictured above). It looks pretty unimpressive on the outside but it's actually okay on the inside. The building is not new but it's very clean and they seem to have more space to deal with patients now than before. It sort of resembles a hair salon with about 5 or 6 dental chairs lined up and partitioned off from one another along two sides of the building. I think one dentist tends to service each side and there are separate doors leading to one or the other.
My husband and I both made appointments and they took us in about 5 minutes apart. I thought the dentist might give me hell for not coming for so long or complain about the state of my teeth but he looked in my mouth for about a minute and said everything looked fine. I did mention the problem with the left side and the pain and he told me this is because part of a wisdom tooth (which has largely migrated out and will eventually be fully-exposed) is still covered by gum and food or bacteria can get in there and the gum will be inflamed.
My husband hadn't been for only a year and he also had a once over and everything looked okay for him as well so we both had a cleaning. Well, to be more accurate, he had a cleaning and I had a half cleaning. I have Japanese health insurance and he does not and it seems that Japanese health insurance is the reason procedures get strung out in Japan. Apparently, they won't pay if you get it all done at once. I'm not sure what purpose this serves except to put out the person who is doing it or to allow for multiple billing but that's the way it is.
To our great irritation, we discovered that we only save about $20 by having health insurance pay for it and we have to waste at least another hour and $3 in train fare. If I had known that, I would have paid it all out of pocket and got it done at once rather than waste the time of going back again in two weeks to get the second half done.
On the bright side, we visited the basement of the Ogikubo JR station afterwards where there is a shop with a lot of yummy import items. Since my husband is celebrating his birthday this weekend (since he worked on the actual day), he indulged on some Dare maple cookies, an orange chocolate bar, and some barbeque Ruffles potato chips. There are also a plethora of pretty nice bakeries in the same area including Kobe-ya (which makes sublime custard tarts) and Anten-do (which makes my husband's favorite banana muffins) so we picked up a few items. All in all, not a bad day out but I could do without the crowds.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Dealing with Medical Needs in Japan
My husband had been wanting to get new glasses for the past several weeks but he wanted me to be along to help him choose frames. Since I've been sick for awhile, we've been putting it off. Today, we finally made it down to one of the local eyeglasses shops so he could get his eyes looked over and buy new glasses. His current pair of glasses is about 14 years old and he could see adequately with them but they were literally falling apart.
Both he and I resist buying new glasses in Japan much more so than we would in the U.S. The primary reason for this is that they are much more expensive here than in the States. They have actually gone down a lot in price compared to over a decade ago but you can still plan on paying 50-100% more in Japan compared to the U.S. My husband bought relatively moderately-priced frames and the cheapest plastic lenses and his cost about $170.
Any time you have some sort of medical issue in Japan, you have a decent chance of running up against the language barrier. Even people who can get by okay conversationally may find that dealing with medical needs is a bit hairy. My husband and I have been exceptionally lucky in this regard since coming to Japan. It seems like we tend to stumble or find a way to access English-speaking professionals every time we need one.
Today's experience with the optician was no exception. The shop had two employees, a man and a woman. The young woman spoke English quite well and handled my husband's exam while the man served me mugi-cha (barley tea) and rushed out to talk to any other customers. It really struck me that this was one of those famous cases of service being better in Japan than in the U.S. These cases are actually far rarer than popular opinion would lead one to believe, particularly when you have a lot of experience with the same type of restaurants average Japanese people frequent and run of the mill stores rather than in the places that specifically cater to foreigners.
My husband and I are both due for a trip to the dentist and made an appointment for a week from today. That is another situation where we've been very fortunate. The dentist we go to is in a clinic in Tokyo Adventist Hospital and he also speaks English as does at least one receptionist who we can make appointments through. Many of my coworkers and friends who have gone to Japanese dentists talk about how they will string out procedures and require the patient to return again and again rather than complete them in a reasonable time. I'm uncertain as to why they do this. The cynical viewpoint would be they try to get you in for as many office visits as possible so they can milk your insurance. The explanation that may be in line with the Japanese character would be that they have been taught that this is a better way to handle dental problems for some reason and no one has ever told them otherwise.
I'm pleased to say that that this sort of stringing along of the patient is not the case at the clinic we go to. Our experiences have always been quite good, or at least as good as a dental appointment can be.
There are dentists in Japan who cater to foreigners specifically but they tend to be extremely pricey and refuse to take the Japanese national health insurance. The same goes for doctors. Fortunately, the Tokyo Adventist Hospital also has English speaking doctors and they take Japanese health insurance. If you're not too far from Ogikubo and dissatisified with your current doctor or dentist, I recommend you consider giving the Tokyo Adventist Hosptial a try.
Both he and I resist buying new glasses in Japan much more so than we would in the U.S. The primary reason for this is that they are much more expensive here than in the States. They have actually gone down a lot in price compared to over a decade ago but you can still plan on paying 50-100% more in Japan compared to the U.S. My husband bought relatively moderately-priced frames and the cheapest plastic lenses and his cost about $170.
Any time you have some sort of medical issue in Japan, you have a decent chance of running up against the language barrier. Even people who can get by okay conversationally may find that dealing with medical needs is a bit hairy. My husband and I have been exceptionally lucky in this regard since coming to Japan. It seems like we tend to stumble or find a way to access English-speaking professionals every time we need one.
Today's experience with the optician was no exception. The shop had two employees, a man and a woman. The young woman spoke English quite well and handled my husband's exam while the man served me mugi-cha (barley tea) and rushed out to talk to any other customers. It really struck me that this was one of those famous cases of service being better in Japan than in the U.S. These cases are actually far rarer than popular opinion would lead one to believe, particularly when you have a lot of experience with the same type of restaurants average Japanese people frequent and run of the mill stores rather than in the places that specifically cater to foreigners.
My husband and I are both due for a trip to the dentist and made an appointment for a week from today. That is another situation where we've been very fortunate. The dentist we go to is in a clinic in Tokyo Adventist Hospital and he also speaks English as does at least one receptionist who we can make appointments through. Many of my coworkers and friends who have gone to Japanese dentists talk about how they will string out procedures and require the patient to return again and again rather than complete them in a reasonable time. I'm uncertain as to why they do this. The cynical viewpoint would be they try to get you in for as many office visits as possible so they can milk your insurance. The explanation that may be in line with the Japanese character would be that they have been taught that this is a better way to handle dental problems for some reason and no one has ever told them otherwise.
I'm pleased to say that that this sort of stringing along of the patient is not the case at the clinic we go to. Our experiences have always been quite good, or at least as good as a dental appointment can be.
There are dentists in Japan who cater to foreigners specifically but they tend to be extremely pricey and refuse to take the Japanese national health insurance. The same goes for doctors. Fortunately, the Tokyo Adventist Hospital also has English speaking doctors and they take Japanese health insurance. If you're not too far from Ogikubo and dissatisified with your current doctor or dentist, I recommend you consider giving the Tokyo Adventist Hosptial a try.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
(Sniffle)
I've been sick now for a week and only had one real day of rest yesterday. One thing about trying to buck up and work your way through rather than relax and take the time to get better is that you don't get much better very rapidly. While I can say I didn't cancel one private lesson because of my cold, I can also say I had a coughing fit in each and every lesson. Talking tends to cause you to erupt into uncontrollable fits of coughing when you have a cold mainly centered in your chest. The annoying thing is that students will invariably assume it's your throat and encourage you to drink water but it won't help at all. What I really needed was an expectorant but I'm too tired to go to a pharmacy to buy one and too stubborn to go to a doctor.
Going to the doctor, is, of course, another highly recommended action. Everyone tells me to go to a doctor as if he will magically cure my cold. I hate the fact that people go to doctors for colds instead of just resting and getting lots of fluids. It's a waste of the socialized health care funds which mainly seems geared toward medicating symptoms sufficiently to allow sick people to go to work and infect the rest of their office and everyone on the train who they cough all over with their uncovered mouths. My students don't believe me when I tell them there is no cure for the common cold. They just think I'm some wacky primitive. In fact, one of them actually said I was adhering to some sort of "primitive" healing philosophy but she used to be a pharmacist so she's probably more fond of medication than most.
The only thing worse than the coughing fits in the middle of lessons is the stuffy nose which can't be blown. In Japanese society, it's considered rude to blow your nose but okay to "sniffle" constantly. That means that you hear people snorting up gobs all the time (and sometimes get to see them spitting them out so everyone else gets a chance to step in them). It's really pretty disgusting but I guess part of being culturally open and trying not to be ethnocentric is seeing such behavior as different rather than gross.
Hopefully, this will soon pass and I'll be back to regular posting and whatnot in the near future.
Going to the doctor, is, of course, another highly recommended action. Everyone tells me to go to a doctor as if he will magically cure my cold. I hate the fact that people go to doctors for colds instead of just resting and getting lots of fluids. It's a waste of the socialized health care funds which mainly seems geared toward medicating symptoms sufficiently to allow sick people to go to work and infect the rest of their office and everyone on the train who they cough all over with their uncovered mouths. My students don't believe me when I tell them there is no cure for the common cold. They just think I'm some wacky primitive. In fact, one of them actually said I was adhering to some sort of "primitive" healing philosophy but she used to be a pharmacist so she's probably more fond of medication than most.
The only thing worse than the coughing fits in the middle of lessons is the stuffy nose which can't be blown. In Japanese society, it's considered rude to blow your nose but okay to "sniffle" constantly. That means that you hear people snorting up gobs all the time (and sometimes get to see them spitting them out so everyone else gets a chance to step in them). It's really pretty disgusting but I guess part of being culturally open and trying not to be ethnocentric is seeing such behavior as different rather than gross.
Hopefully, this will soon pass and I'll be back to regular posting and whatnot in the near future.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Very Hard to Find Items
One of the most frustrating things about living in Japan is that, when you really need an item which is basic and easy to find in the U.S., it can be nearly impossible to find in Japan.
My husband returned to a local fitness club after a long absence so he could start swimming again. Unfortunately, he forgot to put in ear plugs before he swam and got water in both of his ears. He further made a mistake when he used a Q-Tip to try and get it out causing it to block up more. Now he knows that was a bad idea but he wasn't aware of that until it was too late. His hearing has been fairly diminished as a result of this problem and there is some concern that, if it can't be cleared up, he'll develop swimmer's ear.
Since he teaches and needs to be able to hear well, it's rather imperative that he clear this up. After we researched the problem, we discovered that it's common in the U.S. to buy ear drops that will dry your ears up. After enquiring at 3 local pharmacies, he discovered that such drops aren't available in Japan and the only way to deal with this common, minor and easy to fix problem is to run off to a doctor. Hurray for the side effects of socialized medicine. :-p
Rather than waste time and money going to a doctor, he investigated other options. Apparently, common treatment includes putting some drops of rubbing alcohol in your ear to dry up the moisture or a mixture of both alcohol and vinegar to kill bacteria and dry the ear.
In the U.S., both rubbing alcohol and distilled vinegar can be bought at nearly any supermarket or, at worst, a supermarket and drug store. In Japan, finding either of these items requires you to go to stores that specialize in selling items for foreigners. There may be some places that sell them but none appear to be in my area.
There is a wide variety of vinegar in most supermarkets but pure, distilled white vinegar doesn't appear to be in much demand and this is what you need for medicinal purposes. My husband had to go to National Azabu Supermarket in Hiroo to locate some. Rubbing alcohol also was tough to find but he located it at Koyasu Pharmacy in Hiroo. It was quite expensive as well. The bottle shown above was about $11 (1200 yen).
My husband decided to avail himself of the rare chance to indulge in some western sweets while he was there and picked up a couple of bags of Halloween candy. I haven't seen an Almond Joy in a decade or more and it's one of my favorite candies because I love coconut. Since I try not to eat sugar, this bag should last quite awhile. The marshmallow pumpkins are chocolate covered orange-flavored marshmallows and, while not bad, are not exactly a normal combination of flavors.
My husband returned to a local fitness club after a long absence so he could start swimming again. Unfortunately, he forgot to put in ear plugs before he swam and got water in both of his ears. He further made a mistake when he used a Q-Tip to try and get it out causing it to block up more. Now he knows that was a bad idea but he wasn't aware of that until it was too late. His hearing has been fairly diminished as a result of this problem and there is some concern that, if it can't be cleared up, he'll develop swimmer's ear.
Since he teaches and needs to be able to hear well, it's rather imperative that he clear this up. After we researched the problem, we discovered that it's common in the U.S. to buy ear drops that will dry your ears up. After enquiring at 3 local pharmacies, he discovered that such drops aren't available in Japan and the only way to deal with this common, minor and easy to fix problem is to run off to a doctor. Hurray for the side effects of socialized medicine. :-p
Rather than waste time and money going to a doctor, he investigated other options. Apparently, common treatment includes putting some drops of rubbing alcohol in your ear to dry up the moisture or a mixture of both alcohol and vinegar to kill bacteria and dry the ear.
In the U.S., both rubbing alcohol and distilled vinegar can be bought at nearly any supermarket or, at worst, a supermarket and drug store. In Japan, finding either of these items requires you to go to stores that specialize in selling items for foreigners. There may be some places that sell them but none appear to be in my area.
There is a wide variety of vinegar in most supermarkets but pure, distilled white vinegar doesn't appear to be in much demand and this is what you need for medicinal purposes. My husband had to go to National Azabu Supermarket in Hiroo to locate some. Rubbing alcohol also was tough to find but he located it at Koyasu Pharmacy in Hiroo. It was quite expensive as well. The bottle shown above was about $11 (1200 yen).
My husband decided to avail himself of the rare chance to indulge in some western sweets while he was there and picked up a couple of bags of Halloween candy. I haven't seen an Almond Joy in a decade or more and it's one of my favorite candies because I love coconut. Since I try not to eat sugar, this bag should last quite awhile. The marshmallow pumpkins are chocolate covered orange-flavored marshmallows and, while not bad, are not exactly a normal combination of flavors.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Calling in Sick, Or Not
Having a cold in Japan while you are employed by a Japanese company can be a frustrating experience. When I was working, I only called in sick if I were in a dire situation and couldn't fathom struggling through the day with an illness. I knew that, as a teacher, my being sick would put the company out rather seriously because of the need to reschedule. They weren't sufficiently staffed to send replacements because it was a small company.
On several occasions, the president of the company said he believed that people who caught colds only did so because they didn't take sufficient care of themselves. He also implied that not taking care of yourself (and therefore allowing yourself to get sick) was showing you were not being responsible enough toward your company. In other words, he acted like getting sick was the same type of thing as not meeting your sales quota or whatnot.
Never mind that we all rode public transportation to work and could not help but have contact with masses of people coughing open-mouthed, sneezing without a tissue, and engaging in various disgusting habits then touching the railing, seats, and ticket purchasing areas that we did. All it takes to get contaminated is being next to one self-centered person who figures he has no responsibility to keep his bodily fluids to himself.
Another annoying thing was that, on those occasions when I went to work sick, the first thing my Japanese coworkers would do is ask if I'd gone to a doctor. There is no cure for the common cold. A doctor cannot make me better. The only thing a doctor will do is give me medication to suppress the symptoms so I can work with less discomfort while sick. The problem with those medications is they tend to prolong recovery since the symptoms are part of what helps rid you of the cold virus.
I'm not sure what motivates Japanese people to run off to the doctor when they get a cold. It could be that having national health care makes them indifferent to the cost of frivilous trips. It could be paranoia that the cold symptoms mean something worse. It could be that it's the only way their company will believe they're really sick or the only way they can cope with such long work hours is to get medication. It could also be that they aren't aware that the only treatment for colds is rest to allow your immune system to climb on top of things and to drink lots of liquids. I don't know but I got pretty tired of the question.
Since I'm not working anymore, I don't have to deal with either the inquiries or muster up the endurance to get through the workday with a sore throat or a runny nose. I'm just at the start of what feels like a chest cold now and it'd be nice to say that I have all the time in the world to rest but I still work from home and am just as reluctant to cancel lessons now as when my company was arranging for them.
On several occasions, the president of the company said he believed that people who caught colds only did so because they didn't take sufficient care of themselves. He also implied that not taking care of yourself (and therefore allowing yourself to get sick) was showing you were not being responsible enough toward your company. In other words, he acted like getting sick was the same type of thing as not meeting your sales quota or whatnot.
Never mind that we all rode public transportation to work and could not help but have contact with masses of people coughing open-mouthed, sneezing without a tissue, and engaging in various disgusting habits then touching the railing, seats, and ticket purchasing areas that we did. All it takes to get contaminated is being next to one self-centered person who figures he has no responsibility to keep his bodily fluids to himself.
Another annoying thing was that, on those occasions when I went to work sick, the first thing my Japanese coworkers would do is ask if I'd gone to a doctor. There is no cure for the common cold. A doctor cannot make me better. The only thing a doctor will do is give me medication to suppress the symptoms so I can work with less discomfort while sick. The problem with those medications is they tend to prolong recovery since the symptoms are part of what helps rid you of the cold virus.
I'm not sure what motivates Japanese people to run off to the doctor when they get a cold. It could be that having national health care makes them indifferent to the cost of frivilous trips. It could be paranoia that the cold symptoms mean something worse. It could be that it's the only way their company will believe they're really sick or the only way they can cope with such long work hours is to get medication. It could also be that they aren't aware that the only treatment for colds is rest to allow your immune system to climb on top of things and to drink lots of liquids. I don't know but I got pretty tired of the question.
Since I'm not working anymore, I don't have to deal with either the inquiries or muster up the endurance to get through the workday with a sore throat or a runny nose. I'm just at the start of what feels like a chest cold now and it'd be nice to say that I have all the time in the world to rest but I still work from home and am just as reluctant to cancel lessons now as when my company was arranging for them.
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