Anyway, back to Japan. Before I left, someone told me that once she visited Japan, she felt like she understood more about her family and herself. Her parents were actually from Japan, whereas I'm fourth-generation, so I didn't think that would really apply to me. However, while I was there, I did find myself "relating" to parts of the culture in a strange way. For instance, inefficiency really bothers me, and as soon as we arrived at Narita airport, I could tell how efficiency is really a priority in Japan. Granted, it was a lot less crowded in Narita than LAX, but the difference between how things are handled was very apparent. Also, I have also had an inexplicable love for containers, stationery (paper, pens, etc.) and cute things (e.g. Hello Kitty). Therefore, I felt right at home shopping among the crowds at Daiso, Kiddyland, etc. It was amazing to me that the Loft could be so crowded on a weekday night, full of people looking at writing instruments. Regarding cuteness, it was everywhere, like at Mister Donut, as shown earlier, and on the street in a construction zone:
I also enjoyed the attention to detail. Like on one of the trains, there were seats reserved for handicapped, pregnant, those with infants and the elderly. They had cute signs, but also, the seats were upholstered in fabric with cartoon outlines depicting those categories of people. I should have taken a picture, but didn't.
Some other random observations.
When it was raining, some stores had these umbrella-bag contraptions to make it easy to bag your own umbrella and prevent it from leaking everywhere.
Vending machines are literally everywhere. We had fun trying new drinks out.
Pocari Sweat, anyone? Tastes like Gatorade.
Our favorite was C.C. Lemon.
70 lemons worth of Vitamin C in every bottle! The Japanese are also seemingly obsessed with recycling. Every place we went to had separate receptacles for "combustible" and "non-combustible".
It took the longest time for D and I to get used to walking on the left side of the street. Walking on the right is just something we take for granted. It was also weird to see the crosswalk guy walking to the left instead of the right. (See picture below):
The addresses in Tokyo are basically of no help. It is frustrating, since you would think that the Japanese people would demand some sort of ordered system. The streets in Kyoto are easier to navigate, but some of the names are a bit daunting.
Now, that's a mouthful.
All of the public bathrooms I went to were remarkably clean. Some even had a toilet brush, along with instructions on how to clean the toilet area yourself. I couldn't help but think that Japanese people must be grossed out when they go to most public bathrooms in the U.S.
Most places we went to had high-tech Western style toilets. However, there were a few places where I had to use the infamous pit toilet.
The most challenging experience was using one on a moving train!
Finally, we had fun looking at all the different snack foods. (My sister writes more about these on her blog). Some we bought were Kit Kats, including Hachiya tea flavor, citrus flavor, and a special dark-crunchy flavor:
D's co-worker said this box states it is for "Adults only". I guess kids don't like dark chocolate?
Meiji Mango Chocolate (the kids loved this).
Crunky Ball Nude.
Gotta love that name.
We also liked Chip Star, which is like Pringles, but comes in a consomme flavor.
So, I kind of veered off topic, but just to wrap up, Japan is a fascinating country, and we will never forget our experience there. We would encourage anyone who is debating whether to go to go for it. I was worried about not knowing the language and navigating the transportation system. We literally used two words: "Arigato" (thank you) and "Hi" (yes) and got along just fine. We did, however, do tons of research beforehand, which was immensely helpful. But we actually enjoy doing stuff like that. You should see the notebook we put together full of directions, reservations, etc. Hey, that might be another post for the future.
