Kuruma Arimasen

Later that night, after going to a party at a bar in Kofu, a few of us went to a McDonald’s (yes they have them here, and you can get a shrimp burger) drive through – without a car. When we walked up to the window, Dave (who’s Irish – which is why everything he says is funny) said to the guy “Sumimasen, kuruma arimasen”, which literally means “sorry, car does not exist” (practically, it means, “sorry, we don’t have a car”, but the literal translation strikes me funny). The attendant there (at 3 in the morning) was really chipper and helpful. He wore his McDonald’s uniform with pride. That seems to be a theme here in Japan – there are no ‘bad’ jobs, and everyone takes their job really seriously. People take satisfaction in wearing their work uniforms (and there is a heavy emphasis on uniforms). Whereas someone working at a McDonald’s drive through at 3 in the morning in the middle of nowhere in America would be annoyed and surely when a group of foreigners walked up to the drive-through window, this Japanese guy in the same situation tried his best to give us an excellent McDonald’s experience.