The guy came to fix our washing machine today. Actually, it is the dryer part that was broken. There is grit or something in our water (due to the water tank on the top of the building - this is apparently a problem in only 2 areas in Tokyo... mine and the district next to me) which destroys one of the valves. The machine still works, but it just takes forever to dry anything... and since it runs on electricity, the electricity bill over a year will probably be much more than the 10,000 it costs to fix it.
I was a bit worried because I was going to be home by myself and my Japanese is not at the "deal with technicians / repair people and discuss problems" level. The repairman ended up being the same guy that came last time though, so I was relieved - I'm sure he remembered I don't speak much Japanese.
After he finished fixing the machine I offered him tea (as is custom in Japan) and we sat down to chat. This of course is the stressful part for me. After struggling to explain something for a bit, he said it was ok to say it in English. Turns out he speaks near perfect English. DOH! It is just as well that I was forced to try to communicate in Japanese, but why didn't he make it known that he could speak English earlier?? At least we were able to have a real conversation instead of a jolted attempt at communication. So after chatting for about 10 minutes, he was on his way, and my dryer now works in half the time.
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