Even though I met my wife four years ago and have been living in Japan more than three, even though I feel more at home here than I have ever felt and slowly but surely get a deeper feeling for the way things are done in Japan, there are still things in every day life that I have big trouble understanding (and that is an understatement). I was reminded of this the other day when I went to the dentist.
Although a bit different from Sweden, most dentist-things are quite easy to make sense of; the custom of putting a towel over the eyes when working in the patients mouth – although this took some time getting used to I can understand both the practical reason (not getting stuff from the mouth into the eyes) as well as the reason of comfort (I actually find it easier for to relax when there is a towel covering my eyes). Another one was the experience of, for what I think was the first time since I was in elementary school, having someone thoroughly brush my teeth – this was much more instructive than having the dentist explain in words how to brush (and I wish I can make teeth brushing such a pleasurable experience for my son).
Not having any big dental problems, going to the dentist means for me mostly doing a checkup and cleaning the teeth. I really do not like going to the dentist (although I was very fortunate to have a dentist in Sweden who was very gentle and kind), so seeing the dentist is something I do as little as possible while still keeping my teeth healthy (so that I do not need to go more often and do more unpleasant things in my mouth). Imagine my surprise when half of my teeth had been cleaned and the dentist said that we will do the other half next time. What? Net time? Do I need to muster all my strength and come here soon again? Why? Why stop halfway?
Apparently, since I live close to the dentist, I can only use the insurance system for cleaning half of my teeth at the time. Had I been living further away I could have done it all at once. The logic behind this I have energetically been trying to make sense of ever since, and no reason I can come up with holds up to my internal scrutiny. But who knows (although I seriously doubt it), maybe one day I will suddenly feel very very stupid for not having understood the very very obvious reason for this regulation much much sooner.
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