Random, Interesting Japanese Observations and Musings:
Along the way on this trip, I may notice things that readers may find interesting or amusing....
* Elevators in Japan are lethal. They are programmed to shut very hard, very fast and without waiting too long. By contrast, elevators in the US not only shut slowly, they wait forever to close and people aren't able to use the buttons to shut them manually (I think this is an actual law, due to some disability thing). So the protocol is, the person who stands closest to the door holds the door open for people leaving. If they are the last one on the elevator, they hold the button until the last second and then hop out. I was drilled by several elevator doors because my kids didn't hold the door open long enough :)
* Japanese power outlets do not have the third prong or the fat side. So if your plugs are two-pronged and the same size each, you are fine. Otherwise, you'll need to pick up an adapter before you come.
* How hard/well you perform your job seems to be a large source of pride for the Japanese. Even security guards in stores look like they are guarding the queen's jewels, decked out in security guard gear, thanking you profusely for shopping with them and bowing slightly as they address every customer. At the train station, the buzzer went off on the ticket-taker thing you put your ticket into before entering the subway area. I saw a Japanese attendant literally sprint over to it, open it up, and start working on it. It was probably just out of paper! I was so impressed with that level of effort for such a small task for a job that almost anywhere in the world would be considered low-class. But he chose to perform the task to the best of his ability :)
* The Japanese are conservationists. They rarely serve meals with a napkin which is borderline uncomfortable with me as I've been trained since birth to place a napkin on my lap. It seems to be looked down upon as anyone that creates a lot of garbage.
* The Japanese provide excellent restaurant service, even at the dive restaurants, in spite of the fact that.... they don't accept tips!!! I guess their salary and their sense of pride and honor is enough for them to make this system work. My mom said, don't start tipping and screw it all up!
* The Japanese have television in their cars. And no, I don't mean a small monitor that they hacked to allow DVD's to work. Or a screen in the backseat. They have a normal nav screen with CABLE TV running in their car. It obviously isn't cable tv. That would be messy. He had a couple of small antenna looking wires attached to his windshield and appeared to be implying that it works through radio frequency somehow (his japanese was a little rough). However, we enjoyed watching crystal-clear, live sumo wrestling while we rode through the very narrow streets of Hanoura :)
* Japanese power outlets do not have the third prong or the fat side. So if your plugs are two-pronged and the same size each, you are fine. Otherwise, you'll need to pick up an adapter before you come.
* How hard/well you perform your job seems to be a large source of pride for the Japanese. Even security guards in stores look like they are guarding the queen's jewels, decked out in security guard gear, thanking you profusely for shopping with them and bowing slightly as they address every customer. At the train station, the buzzer went off on the ticket-taker thing you put your ticket into before entering the subway area. I saw a Japanese attendant literally sprint over to it, open it up, and start working on it. It was probably just out of paper! I was so impressed with that level of effort for such a small task for a job that almost anywhere in the world would be considered low-class. But he chose to perform the task to the best of his ability :)
* The Japanese are conservationists. They rarely serve meals with a napkin which is borderline uncomfortable with me as I've been trained since birth to place a napkin on my lap. It seems to be looked down upon as anyone that creates a lot of garbage.
* The Japanese provide excellent restaurant service, even at the dive restaurants, in spite of the fact that.... they don't accept tips!!! I guess their salary and their sense of pride and honor is enough for them to make this system work. My mom said, don't start tipping and screw it all up!
* The Japanese have television in their cars. And no, I don't mean a small monitor that they hacked to allow DVD's to work. Or a screen in the backseat. They have a normal nav screen with CABLE TV running in their car. It obviously isn't cable tv. That would be messy. He had a couple of small antenna looking wires attached to his windshield and appeared to be implying that it works through radio frequency somehow (his japanese was a little rough). However, we enjoyed watching crystal-clear, live sumo wrestling while we rode through the very narrow streets of Hanoura :)
* It is apparently ok to openly read XXX Porn on a public train (in the aisle seat) as long as the Porn is Japanese XXX Anime porn. True story.
*
Young Japanese girls all rock the naughty schoolgirl outfit. They are
EVERYwhere with the patterned stockings, short skirts, white button up-blouse (buttoned inappropriately one button too low) with the loose tie. Except for it being impossible to tell an asian 14 year old girl from an asian 24 year old woman, it would probably be pretty cool.
*
About 10% of people wear surgical masks all the time. Mom says this
is because they might have a cold and don't want to give it to anyone.
If that's really it, that's an entirely new level of consideration for
fellow humans and not just SARS paranoia. I'd like to bring this concept into the American corporate workplace.
* I always knew Japanese hated when people don't take their shoes off when they walk in the door and I admit that this is definitely in my blood as well. What I didn't know is that you are supposed to point your shoes in the proper direction when you leave them at the door. I also didn't know that you are then supposed to put on slippers before you enter the main house area. I further didn't know that there are even BATHROOM slippers which you are supposed to wear only in the bathroom! So if I want to enter the house and use the bathroom and then leave the house... I need to take my shoes off and leave them outside, facing out, then put on house slippers, take off the house slippers outside the bathroom door, put on the bathroom slippers, do my thing and then undo the entire process on my way back out of the house. I love this country :)
* The Japanese are obsessed with pooping and making the experience as positive and enjoyable as possible. In fact, after my ass was warmed, vibrated and spray-washed clean, I'm fairly certain the humming noise that started when I stood up was the toilet sucking the defouled air out of the toilet bowl. I'm not making this up, people. And knowing the Japanese, the air was probably cleaned, filtered and rescented before being reinserted into the community.
* There is apparently a 5 billion yen fine for jaywalking because 200 people will wait at a stop light with no cars coming. Or perhaps they just respect safety and laws more than Americans. One or the other is probably true
* 10/11 year old boys that are extremely good at math, especially when figuring out how much candy they can buy with 750 yen, are incapable of packing the proportionately correct number of pairs of underwear for the trip. Matthew just informed me that if I keep requiring him to take showers at the end of the day, his three pairs will not last him the rest of the trip..... Brandon decided to take a shower last night after traveling for 30 hours and put them back on after his shower and before bed. His reason for that being ok was.... Dad, I hadn't pooped them! Which begs the question, is that the only requirement that he usually has for changing underwear??? Was I ever that gross when I was 11???
* I love when people bow to me. It certainly doesn't happen as much as it should back at home. It probably could have saved my marriage. Just sayin....
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