Land of convenience?

I decided to take the subway and visit the business myself instead of using the online appointment system. After 4 weeks in Japan I’ve learned to take nothing for granted – especially when it comes to money. I needed to get out for a walk anyway, things were getting a little tense in our apartment. My laptop had internet via ethernet cable but the wifi router we had bought wasn’t connecting to the internet. For 2 weeks I’d spent a large portion of my spare time staring at the wifi bars with the yellow dot, laboriously going through the router’s settings, all in Japanese, with my phone set to camera mode in google translate. Clearly the router was connecting to our devices, but why wasn’t it connecting to the internet?

I had seen an add on my phone during my frantic searches for a solution. Home visits to solve computer and internet connection problems. English language no problem. the pricing seemed a little steep but I’m getting used to that here. There can be hidden charges just going out for a drink and feed – a per head table charge, around Y500 – not usually advertised when entering. Most prices for things are displayed as before (consumption) tax, which takes a surprising amount of time to adjust to when shopping. I arrived at the modest shopfront having had a nice brisk walk, the business being conveniently located halfway between 2 subway stations. I saw the slippers when I entered and realised my mistake in wearing my Doc Martins. It was only a 3m sq area of carpet, but customs are customs.

Like many of the service industry workers we’ve encountered, the guy who served me looked a bit freaked out at first when it was clear I only spoke English, but was good naturedly determined to press on. Business is business. Using our translating devices I managed to make clear the issue I was having and he proceeded to show me the cost structure that would be applied for them to resolve the problem. There were 3 separate charges, of course, and as I did my mental calculation I couldn’t contain an exclamation of surprise, “New computer”, I said. He smiled. It would cost Y17 000. I explained that I thought the problem was simple to fix, it was the language barrier that was thwarting me. He smiled and pointed to his pricing. I explained that I thought any high school student could probably sort it out, I just didn’t know any. He smiled again. It took a full 5 minutes to put my boots back on. We thanked each other and apologised to each other, but I had gotten nowhere. Thankfully the convenient location of the store meant that I had a good walk back to the subway. I needed one.