Choices of Dressing

“I should have learned the lesson by now”, I said to myself, when a waitress brought me “morning service” I had asked for. In Japan, nearly all coffee shops offer “morning service” in the morning. You do not have to roll your eyes when you see a sign at each coffee shop say “morning service, 7:30 aｍ to 11:00, at 480 yen.” A Japanese coffee shop does not function as a local religious center but provides a breakfast special at a friendly price. Usually, this generous meal comes with a toasted slice of bread, a boiled egg, and a drink. While this simplest “morning set” costs just as much as a cup of coffee or tea - mostly 350 yen to 450 yen, the escalated competition among coffee shops has fired up fussing creation of new “sets” at higher prices. Morning Set A at \630: half sandwich, mini salad, fruit with coffee or tea, Morning Set B - 530 yen : a slice of tasted bread, scrambled egg and salad with coffee or tea or  Morning Set C: pizza toast, salad and yogurt and fruit with coffee of tea. Drink is served by a cup (not a mug cup ) on a saucer and coffee is freshly brewed (not stored in cermo). It is a joy to see the white buttery inside of a toasted slice of bread cut into halves. The happiness goes on until a new pleasant experience overwrites it as I bite on the crispy outside. The meal would be blessing if I did not see a small bowl of salad - thinly sliced cabbage on lettuce with a small wedge of tomato and a couple of slices of cucumber – neatly arranged but covered thin layer of dressing.

When I order morning service or other kinds of meal, a waitress does not ask which dressing I prefer but the salad is served with thin layer of dressing that is the only choice they can offer and which is often the one of my least favorite flavor. Most restaurants, coffee shops or café do not care for the customer’ right of choosing a dressing and many customers are just happy with what is served. It they are not, they just leave it uneaten without any complaint.

Two years have passed since my return to Japan. Yet I am still frustrated by the lack of choice here in Japan. People consciously make a choice in US even with a small thing as in dressing. During my 6 year stay in California, the duty of choice was bothering at the beginning but I came to appreciate the right to choose. So this morning, I was not happy that the waitress had not asked me to make a choice no less than that I had not asked for the right to choose. The lack of dressing choice is symbolic of cultural differences. I am afraid the unsettling feeling I still manage to keep will be teamed eventually. Maybe it is time to write it down. Now or never.