Why?

 Even after 33 years in Japan, there are things that I don't understand.

Our kitchen sink is blocked.  It's not a good design, two sinks with separate drains until the pipes meet halfway down to take the waste water out. If it gets blocked below where the pipes meet the dirty water from one sink flows back into the other sink.  Every few months this happens.  David used to take the pipes apart and fix the problem.  But the newer pipes are rather fragile and he doesn't want to risk breaking them. So we have to call the plumber.

This morning David called a plumber that we have used before. He said he was at another job and would call after he had finished there to say when he could come here. That's fine. About an hour later the phone rang, David had gone to the shop so Hannah answered it.  She started to explain who was the older brother between David and Christopher. I'm listening to this wondering who was calling, maybe from the City Hall or something to do with inheriting the land. After the call, I asked who it was, and Hannah said it was the plumber. 

Why does the plumber need to know who is older? Also, how does he know Christopher's name (he used their Japanese names)?  David paid one time with his credit card so I understand them having his name on file but Christopher wasn't here. All rather weird. Plus they haven't called back to make an appointment, it is now 6:40 in the evening.

Am I missing something here, is this a Japanese culture thing or is this company just strange.

I'll ask David to call again tomorrow.  We might get an answer.

On Sunday on the way home I stopped by a supermarket that is opposite a train station. Hannah took some photos, of a very typical Japanese cityscape.

The train just pulling into the station

In the top photo, the building on the right is a block of flats, very typical in this area.

The photos are good considering she took them on her phone!!