Easter isn’t something most Japanese people are familiar with, but it’s a very important holiday here in Australia. Christianity has deep roots here, making Easter a major event on par with Christmas. I spent my first Easter in Sydney, and there was no end to the surprising differences with Japan.
The first thing that amazed me was that the whole town just “stopped” as if it were the New Year holidays in Japan. The schools are of course closed during Easter, but many companies are, too. Even some of the major supermarkets are closed! It isn’t every store, but some—like Coles and Woolworths—are. It threw me off at first because I wasn’t able to buy food.
On top of that, the restaurants and cafés that were open added a “public holiday surcharge” to their menus—typically making everything about 15% more expensive than normal. At first, I wondered why eating out was so expensive, but once I learned why, it made sense.
Australia has a law that requires employers to double hourly wages for employees who work on holidays. If you normally make AU$25 per hour, for example, you might make AU$50 or more on a holiday. Because the cost of labor jumps up, many businesses add surcharges or just shut down entirely.
On the other hand, this system makes it quite attractive to work. If you work a full shift on a holiday, you can make the equivalent of ¥50,000 or more in a day. For students and people on working holiday visas who don’t normally get a lot of shifts, holidays are considered a time to make money.
This year’s Easter holidays went for four days from Friday to Monday. Eating out was expensive, but it seemed like a waste to stay in the house the whole time… so I decided to go to a nearby beach with some friends. Everyone else had the same idea, so the beach was packed with people. Everyone enjoyed their time in the sunshine in their own way.
The beers at the oceanside bars were going for a crazy ¥1700 (about AU$17). It was a bit expensive, but drinking beer with the sea in the background and listening to live music was a special experience. The cheerful mood and ocean breezes relaxed me inside and out.
Strolling along the beach and doing yoga as the sun set made me appreciate one of the best things about Sydney, which is having places to relax and enjoy yourself so close by. It’s a big city, but the fact that it backs right up on natural beauty has totally captured my heart.
While I’ve been surprised at the differences in the culture and working styles here, my life abroad brings me fresh discoveries day after day. I’ll keep posting these daily slices of life as I experience them.