Before I start I would like to thank, you, my readers for your support. It is nice to know that even though I came here by myself, I am not alone.
Alright, as promised, here's a couple of things I've been meaning to talk about, but that didn't really fit in any other posts.
There's a fun game to play with the many vending machines previously mentioned. It's called "find the cheapest one." It's really weird, 2 machines selling the same thing 20 feet from each other can vary in price as much as 50yen (~50cents.)
I wondered about some of the grammar we learned back in the states... we learned a lot about the weather and were told that that's what Japanese people make small talk about. It's true, even I can make small talk with people on the street using a phrase which was VARY weird when I learned it. "mushi-atsui da na~" or "it's hot and humid eh?" No one disagrees.
There are really too many little intricacies of train travel to cover in a simple blog. There are books worth of little things to write about. Some of the more interesting that I haven't talked about would be: When the train gets so full someone gets stuck in the door, the conductor comes by and shoves the half-in half-out person into the train. Also, maybe it's a metro-commuter thing, but people seem to like to sleep on the train. Standing, sitting it doesn't matter. They pop awake at their stop and get off. Perhaps the coolest thing is that everyone queues for the train. They know exactly where the it'll stop and make 2 lines while they wait. When the train arrives, the lines split into a "V" to let people off, then the new passengers get on. It really makes sense.
Everything in Japan is "small" compared to in America with one exception. The doors are smaller, the cups are smaller, the electronics are smaller. The one thing that's not smaller is the food portions. Ther'ye huge! Even the cheap ramen shacks give you a tub of ramen. And, my oh my, if you don't finish your meal... the looks you get. I think that's a custom thing though. Not finishing a meal means you found something wrong with the food, not that you were served enough to feed a medium sized developing nation. Also worth noting is that at most non-fast food restaurants you pay first, get a ticket which you give to a waiter who gives it to the cook who makes your food. Some places have ticket machines where you put in your money, press a button, and it spits out a ticket for your order.
Chalk it up to more ethnocentracism (thinking one's country is better than any other) but I expected to see a lot more American tourists. It's not that I haven't seen any tourist, but they're all German. Also, I expected more Americans at school, but I'm one of 2 (an the other's here from Cambridge.) I'd say 3/4 of the students are German, 1/12 Finnish, 1/12 British, There's a Swedish guy, a Russian girl, and us.
Another broken preconception about Japan: Everyone smokes. Thank goodness this is not the truth, although there are a lot of smokers, there's a ban on smoking outside in public. You can smoke in the McD's, and some other places have smoking rooms (not like in the US, they're actually like little floor to ceiling booths.) There are cigarette vending machines here and there which I assume work on the honor system.
Something I never even thought about before I came: The sunrise/sunset times. This is "the land of the rising sun," but come on! It's bright out at 5am and it's September! Also, if it's going to be light so early it could at least be light late too, but no! It gets dark about 6pm. I don't pay much attention to it, but I think when I left the states it was daylight savings time... I think that explains why this is so weird... No tampering with time every 6 months here.
I haven't been pointed to and called weird yet. Either everyone has seen a 2 meter tall white guy before, or I don't know what, maybe they're just being polite (very Japanese thing to do.) A couple of times I've seen kids with their parents look at me and then look at their parents as if they'll explain who/what I am. A skill Japanese people learn as they get older is to hide their true feelings (so as to not inconvenience anyone else.) But kids who haven't yet learned this are really cute in their blatant curiosity.
Something I noticed in Narita airport was this bumpy strip on the floor. After a while of looking at it I decided it was to help blind people find their way around. Sure enough, every public street, building, train station, has these strips. Even on the train platforms and in the University's main building. It was funny in the airport though, because all the wheeled luggage got tripped up in the strip.
Things I haven't seen a lot of: (okay I don't see many in the states either, but...) Blind people, for all the bumpy strips I've only seen 1 blind person. Deaf people, I've seen one group, which made me realize that sign language is international and, had I known it, I could have conversed. Women in Kimonos, I've seen 2 in the "home alter decoration" part of one of the department stores. Foreigners, as mentioned above even fewer Americans.
I have to say, Tokyo really isn't as expensive as it's chalked up to be. I'm living quite comfortably right now and it's really not that bad. I suppose, of course, if you stay in a western style hotel and eat Western style food all the time it could get quite pricey. And, I'm not saying you can't spend ridiculous amounts of money very simply. But if you go native, and being in Rome, do as the Romans. You can have your deluxe instant ramen bowl and eat it too. (note: plastic instant ramen bowls may not be edible.)
Japanese spiders are very friendly and kind of cute. I really don't like bugs, but I'm told these little fellas are quite harmless. Also, a Japanese friend told me something this morning about "Don't kill a spider in the morning, but it's okay in the evening." I'm not sure I heard her right or if that's what she said. Kinda weird.
Along with the "hide emotion" skill the Japanese have. Another thing I assume they learn in high school is how to disappear from a room like a ninja. It's amazing, you can be talking to some one moment, look away for a split second, an they're gone! Then as you look around to see where they went... Poof! They're back in front of you, with something they want to show you of something. Amazing, I wonder if they teach that as a extra-curricular at this University...
Alright, as promised, here's a couple of things I've been meaning to talk about, but that didn't really fit in any other posts.
There's a fun game to play with the many vending machines previously mentioned. It's called "find the cheapest one." It's really weird, 2 machines selling the same thing 20 feet from each other can vary in price as much as 50yen (~50cents.)
I wondered about some of the grammar we learned back in the states... we learned a lot about the weather and were told that that's what Japanese people make small talk about. It's true, even I can make small talk with people on the street using a phrase which was VARY weird when I learned it. "mushi-atsui da na~" or "it's hot and humid eh?" No one disagrees.
There are really too many little intricacies of train travel to cover in a simple blog. There are books worth of little things to write about. Some of the more interesting that I haven't talked about would be: When the train gets so full someone gets stuck in the door, the conductor comes by and shoves the half-in half-out person into the train. Also, maybe it's a metro-commuter thing, but people seem to like to sleep on the train. Standing, sitting it doesn't matter. They pop awake at their stop and get off. Perhaps the coolest thing is that everyone queues for the train. They know exactly where the it'll stop and make 2 lines while they wait. When the train arrives, the lines split into a "V" to let people off, then the new passengers get on. It really makes sense.
Everything in Japan is "small" compared to in America with one exception. The doors are smaller, the cups are smaller, the electronics are smaller. The one thing that's not smaller is the food portions. Ther'ye huge! Even the cheap ramen shacks give you a tub of ramen. And, my oh my, if you don't finish your meal... the looks you get. I think that's a custom thing though. Not finishing a meal means you found something wrong with the food, not that you were served enough to feed a medium sized developing nation. Also worth noting is that at most non-fast food restaurants you pay first, get a ticket which you give to a waiter who gives it to the cook who makes your food. Some places have ticket machines where you put in your money, press a button, and it spits out a ticket for your order.
Chalk it up to more ethnocentracism (thinking one's country is better than any other) but I expected to see a lot more American tourists. It's not that I haven't seen any tourist, but they're all German. Also, I expected more Americans at school, but I'm one of 2 (an the other's here from Cambridge.) I'd say 3/4 of the students are German, 1/12 Finnish, 1/12 British, There's a Swedish guy, a Russian girl, and us.
Another broken preconception about Japan: Everyone smokes. Thank goodness this is not the truth, although there are a lot of smokers, there's a ban on smoking outside in public. You can smoke in the McD's, and some other places have smoking rooms (not like in the US, they're actually like little floor to ceiling booths.) There are cigarette vending machines here and there which I assume work on the honor system.
Something I never even thought about before I came: The sunrise/sunset times. This is "the land of the rising sun," but come on! It's bright out at 5am and it's September! Also, if it's going to be light so early it could at least be light late too, but no! It gets dark about 6pm. I don't pay much attention to it, but I think when I left the states it was daylight savings time... I think that explains why this is so weird... No tampering with time every 6 months here.
I haven't been pointed to and called weird yet. Either everyone has seen a 2 meter tall white guy before, or I don't know what, maybe they're just being polite (very Japanese thing to do.) A couple of times I've seen kids with their parents look at me and then look at their parents as if they'll explain who/what I am. A skill Japanese people learn as they get older is to hide their true feelings (so as to not inconvenience anyone else.) But kids who haven't yet learned this are really cute in their blatant curiosity.
Something I noticed in Narita airport was this bumpy strip on the floor. After a while of looking at it I decided it was to help blind people find their way around. Sure enough, every public street, building, train station, has these strips. Even on the train platforms and in the University's main building. It was funny in the airport though, because all the wheeled luggage got tripped up in the strip.
Things I haven't seen a lot of: (okay I don't see many in the states either, but...) Blind people, for all the bumpy strips I've only seen 1 blind person. Deaf people, I've seen one group, which made me realize that sign language is international and, had I known it, I could have conversed. Women in Kimonos, I've seen 2 in the "home alter decoration" part of one of the department stores. Foreigners, as mentioned above even fewer Americans.
I have to say, Tokyo really isn't as expensive as it's chalked up to be. I'm living quite comfortably right now and it's really not that bad. I suppose, of course, if you stay in a western style hotel and eat Western style food all the time it could get quite pricey. And, I'm not saying you can't spend ridiculous amounts of money very simply. But if you go native, and being in Rome, do as the Romans. You can have your deluxe instant ramen bowl and eat it too. (note: plastic instant ramen bowls may not be edible.)
Japanese spiders are very friendly and kind of cute. I really don't like bugs, but I'm told these little fellas are quite harmless. Also, a Japanese friend told me something this morning about "Don't kill a spider in the morning, but it's okay in the evening." I'm not sure I heard her right or if that's what she said. Kinda weird.
Along with the "hide emotion" skill the Japanese have. Another thing I assume they learn in high school is how to disappear from a room like a ninja. It's amazing, you can be talking to some one moment, look away for a split second, an they're gone! Then as you look around to see where they went... Poof! They're back in front of you, with something they want to show you of something. Amazing, I wonder if they teach that as a extra-curricular at this University...
Sorry I didn't get to respond to comments and questions, maybe in my next post though...
posted by Dockett at 9:30 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Mike! I'm really enjoying your stories/observations about japan, but i have one request. Could you take a pic of those spiders you're talking about? I'd have to see a cute spider to belive such a thing exists.
Maybe they disappear from your sight because you're TWO METERS tall. There are wookies shorter than you!
Glad to here you are doing ok. Love the pictures of all the important things you see (including the picture of the toilet with labels for everything).
Hope you are doing good, and found a girl or two to make you feel welcome.
Any word from senor Sparks?
Love,
Vorrt.
Hey Mike, its, kinda weird reading your blog and realizing... holy crap you're IN Japan!
Anyway, you mentioned the sunrise being really early... I think that is absolutely AWESOME! I get up at 5:30 AM every day... man I'd KILL to get some daylight on my morning drive. That, and something about it being night when the day is actually over is appealing.
Keep writing, man... it's great to hear from ya!
Post a Comment
<< Home