"Ohayou...something...something...sumimasen....something..."
I just stared at him and gave him my "I don't speak Japanese" shrug and smile. Another firefighter came to the door and said "noise....buzzing." Yes, there was noise and buzzing so I just told them they could come in. I had no idea what they were saying and wanted to play it safe incase there was some kind of a gas leak in our apartment. Instead of barging through, they took off their shoes at the door and walked in to check the apartment. Seriously, how courteous!! In the States, they would just shove me aside. Apparently, there was nothing wrong with our apartment so they continued to check the building. I was left confused, should I be getting out? Is there a real fire? I figured if they were polite enough to take off their shoes then they would be polite enough to save me in case of a real fire!