- The Japanese are extremely polite, practically to a fault. It's not difficult to see why a lot of white guys fall in love with Japanese girls. They're very polite and, particularly when they work in service/hospitality positions, are never without a smile. I've never experienced better service or hospitality anywhere else in the world. Because politeness is a cultural norm, I question how genuine a lot of it is, but hey, even surface politeness is acceptable for a tourist.
- I expected the culture to be much different than what I've actually seen based on what I've been experiencing with a couple different Japanese companies, but for the most part, the Japanese seem to care about the same things we care about.
- Room numbering hotels is different than in the US or other countries I've been in. In Japan, the numbering system is circular, which means that rooms across the hall from each other might be 100 numbers or more off. This can be confusing when you're used to one side being odd and the other even, with numbers being roughly close to each other.
- As you probably know, the Japanese typically bow instead of shaking hands. I've decided that bowing is far superior to shaking hands. It's more sanitary. It's more respectful, and it's multi-purpose. Want to say you're sorry? Bow. Want to thank someone? Bow. Want to greet someone? Bow. I'm not even totally sure of all the etiquette that surrounds bowing, but I think it's pretty cool. Some of the bowing, like what I've been seeing on this train, is completely baffling. For example, why does the girl with the snack cart that's been moving back and forth through the train bow each time she enters the car? Weird. In any case, I hate shaking hands, so I would glad completely move over to bowing if I could get away with it.
- The level of English in Japan is not very good. Considering how long Americans and Europeans have been traveling to and doing business in Japan, this was a bit surprising. It can also be very entertaining, like when my Chinese colleagues try communicating with the Japanese. Neither side can understand the other, so I have to interpret both ways. I think this is the first time I've needed to translate English into English in my entire life.
- Some aspects of the way things are done in Japan are totally baffling. See my previous comment about the snack girl on the train. Or, how about how when you buy train tickets, you have to first find the appropriate map above you with your starting and ending points, then select the exact cost of your ticket in the machine. Wouldn't it just be simpler to have machines set up to ask people where they want to go? Getting around on trains was made no easier by the directions one of our hosts gave us (see photo below--seriously, I've dealt with treasure maps that were easier to decipher). Or, how about the ridiculous number of people wearing masks here? We asked around and found out that this is the way the Japanese deal with pollen allergies. I suppose it makes sense, but it's not very fashion-forward.
- Japanese retail is also somewhat baffling. Despite the Japanese need for cleanliness and order in homes and public places, this need is completely thrown out the window when you go into retail outlets, particularly electronics stores. The idea of presenting a decent variety of choices in a clean, organized fashion is completely discarded in favor of offering EVERYTHING and letting the manufacturer dictate how the product will be displayed. This leads to a messy, disjointed experience that is probably a bit frustrating to the Japanese and completely insane to Americans.
- The Japanese have a ridiculous amount of interest in small details and technology that Americans might find useless. For example, a couple of the showers I used in Japan had specific temperature controls. This seemed really lame at first, but then became quite handy when I realized the precision with which I could adjust the water temperature.
- Things are expensive, but not as bad as had previously been suggested to me by other people.
- It was very cool to see Mt. Fuji. I got really lucky on the way to Osaka--I had a seat on the right side of the train and the weather was pretty good.
- The Japanese will seemingly do anything to avoid foreigners, if the fact that the seats around me on subway rides largely stayed open even when the trains were busy means anything. Maybe I need some new deodorant. I don't know.
- The husband of my one of my Chinese colleagues has two aunts that live in Tokyo, so they invited us all out for dinner on Saturday night. They picked us up in a minivan and first cruised us over to one of their homes. They've both lived in Japan for over 20 years and both married Japanese men. The home that we went to was an actual home--a rarity for Tokyo. We asked our hosts how long they had lived there, and they responded that the property had been in the family for over 300 years, which was pretty interesting. It was obvious that, between the house and the fact that they owned all the surrounding land and apartment buildings, they were very wealthy people. Anyway, we were given a piano recital by their seven year-old kid, Masahiro, which was pretty entertaining since I was tired and getting loopy. Masahiro spends a lot of time studying English and had even spent some time as an exchange student in Australia (I didn't know that was possible for little kids), so he kept trying to talk to us in this young, robotic voice, which was really funny. His vocabulary was very limited, so by the end of the evening, we had heard several questions and phrases more than once:
My favorite color is yellow. Do you like yellow?
My favorite season is winter. I like snow.
On Sunday I do not go to school. I study.
I wake up at 7am for school. I wake up at 8am on Saturday. I wake up at 10am on Sunday.
…and so on.
I thought I had heard mention of grilled meats somewhere in a conversation that had been going on in Shanghainese, so I inquired as to whether or not this was what we were eating (the Japanese kind is yakitori). This was not what we were going to eat, but since I had mentioned it, our hosts insisted on stopping on the way to the restaurant to pick some up for us to take back to our hotel. After 20 minutes of waiting, the aunt came back to the car with bags of yakitori and Japanese baked goods for the other American and me, but not our Chinese colleagues (which was weird). After that, we went to the restaurant where we had dinner reservations. Oddly enough, it smelled like In 'n' Out double doubles inside, which was nice but problematic in the sense that there were no double doubles to be had. Dinner was shabu shabu, which is the Japanese form of hot pot. We had a few kinds of vegetables, tofu and then some super-expensive beef they ordered for us. Almost everything was really tasty, and although I would definitely go to shabu shabu again, I have to give the edge on flavors and experience to the Chinese on this one.
Overall, the evening was pretty good, if a bit weird. These aunts went crazy over the fact that I could speak some Chinese, and I felt like I made a big mistake by speaking any to them, because after that they insisted on treating me like royalty and commenting the entire night on how "smart" I was or whatever. I also thought it was strange how Japanese-ized these two aunts were. They both spoke Shanghainese like Japanese (quiet, soft, slow), and their mannerisms were very Japanese. I guess it's to be expected since they've lived there for over 20 years, but it was still weird. I'm sure they thought I was weird, too, particularly after I fell asleep on one of their shoulders. Life of the party, as always. I was so tired that poking and giggling from my colleagues didn't wake me up.
I fell asleep on the lady in black. Oops.
The Shinjuku district (near my hotel) at night:
- On Sunday I met up with Yimei, a friend that I've known since she was one of my students in the free English classes I taught as a missionary in Hong Kong. We've kept in touch over the years and since she now lives in Tokyo, we decided to hang out. We had a weak Japanese breakfast in one of my hotel's restaurants, and then we went to Akihabara, which is a really happening part of town that has lots of arcades, electronics stores, and other oddities. She mentioned something about "maid cafes" while we were walking around, and then she pointed out girls on the street dressed like maids. I figured these maids were offering some kind of prostitution, but it turned out that this is one of those things that's unique to Japan. You go into a small café, and then teenage girls dressed in maid outfits serve you drinks/desserts/whatever. I must say, I felt very odd walking into the place, but felt a little better about it when I noticed families and guys with their girlfriends in there. There were single guys that looked a tad creepy in there too, but whatever. Anyway, we ordered drinks since we had just eaten, and the maid that served us said that our food would taste "a million times better" (or something like that) if we joined her in a little hand gesture/rhyme thing that ended with us making heart shapes with our hands. Weird. Anyway, my bright green melon soda was pretty rockin', and overall, the experience was pretty entertaining. Yimei also thought it would be funny for me to take a picture with one of the maids, so she sprung for a Polaroid of the affair (they make you pay--you're not allowed to take your own photos inside). I also surreptitiously took some video while we were inside so that you could get a better feel for what it's like. It's best summed up like this: weird.
After the café, we cruised over to a different part of the district and went our separate ways. It was really cool to catch up, especially since it wasn't even in the country where we first met. I really appreciate that even when I haven't seen them in years (I hadn't seen Yimei since 2000), I can always pick up right where I left off with my Chinese friends.
My next stop was Yodobashi Camera, which is one of the biggest electronics chains in Japan. Like the other electronics stores I visited while I was in Japan, Yodobashi wasn't limited to just electronics. There were tools, sporting goods, watches and other non-electronics items as well. The store was pretty crazy. It was on several floors of a building, and it had everything. I've never seen such a wide assortment of electronics in any store I've been in anywhere. I focused on the digital imaging floor, and they had every camera lens I've ever searched for and/or drooled over on the floor for sale. Had the prices not been so horrendous (everything is expensive here), I might have sprung for one.
I walked around Akihabara some more after that and headed back to my hotel. We left for the airport a few hours later, so that was pretty much the end of my Japan sojourn.
I must say that Japan exceeded my expectations. I've never had the most positive opinion of Japan, and my opinion of it has recently been made even lower due to my difficult Japanese customer. All in all, however, I found the people extremely polite and the country interesting, if a tad unwelcoming to foreigners. It's not very easy to get around if you don't read or speak Japanese, and while it certainly helped that I could read the Chinese characters that are sometimes used in Japanese, it was no substitute for knowing the language.
Ice in the ocean somewhere northeast of Japan:
Random Japan:
