Only In Japan

I think I am going to start a new category on the blog called "Only in Japan."  This category will refer to things that I couldn't fathom prior to moving here but have had the... ahem... "opportunity" to experience while on this lovely Island we call home.

After all, home is where the Marine Corps sends you, right?

Riiiight..... :)

So topping the list of things I never thought I'd experience:  Middle of the Night phone calls that are not wrong  numbers, drunk dials, or friends who forgot about the time change.  These phone calls occur at all hours of the night beginning at about midnight (10 a.m. Iowa time) and ending at about 9 a.m. (7 p.m. Iowa time).  They are made on purpose to annoy the crap out of me entice me to vote for a certain candidate in the upcoming November election.

Normal people receive these phone calls during the day and it annoys them.  Me? I receive them in the middle of the night because of the time change, and I want to beat the caller over the head.  The irony is not lost on me that just when the baby girl started sleeping through the night, the phone calls started happening. =)  But due to law regulations there is no way to get my phone number off "the list."  Although that will not stop me from contacting the powers that be and requesting it anyway.

The kicker is that when I tell them it is 3 a.m., instead of apologizing and hanging up, they continue to ask me questions like, "how is that possible?  You have a U.S. phone number; you can't live in Japan."  Then I have to explain basic technology to them and then I am wide awake for at least two more hours.

Anyway. I think I have finally figured out a way around this by setting my phone to allow only incoming calls that are "Contacts," but this means that some people out there may not be able to get ahold of us if we don't have you listed as one in our phone.  Not that anyone ever calls us. (HINT, HINT) But that's not the point.  The point is, I never would have thought this might be a potential problem a year ago.  Only in Japan!! :)