A Chronicle of Amy and Sean's World Travels
How Bizarre
Posted by Amy on Dec 17th, 2010 in Asia, Japan, On the Road, Travel Musings, Travel Sounds | 6 comments
How bizarre became my favorite phrase upon arrival to Asia. I didn’t even notice how often I was using it until our friend Kevin made fun of me while we were in South Korea. But there is just no other way to describe Asia, especially Japan. On the one hand, it is just like home, except the people are Japanese. On the other hand, it is nothing like home. Consider the following oddities I noted throughout our month in Japan:
- For the first week in Japan, it was impossible to get Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto out of my head, resulting in a constant soundtrack to our travels through Fukuoka and Hiroshima. Once, a Japanese man caught me singing, domo, domo under my breath and gave me a really strange look. Okay, this probably makes me bizarre, not Japan. Moving on…
- The buses in Fukuoka and Hiroshima shut off at every intersection, leaving an eerie silence every couple of minutes (except for the sounds of Styx running through my head).
- We were given 10 minutes of instructions about how to watch a parade, but were able to roam freely with monkeys with no instructions other than to not look them in the eye.
- Japan has tons of no-smoking zones in outdoor places like parks and public streets, but most of its restaurants and hotels are full of smoke.
- It was always a crap shoot upon entering a bathroom stall whether you’d find a super modern toilet with buttons for fake flushing noises to cover embarrassing sounds, buttons for sprays of water at different angles, a heated toilet seat, and in some cases, a seat that automatically lifts, or a primitive squat toilet that was essentially a hole in the ground with a flushing mechanism. I would have settled for a consistent happy medium of regular, non-electronic toilets, but when it comes to Japanese toilets, it is all or nothing.
- Speaking of bathrooms, there were never any paper towels, leaving me to wipe my hands on my pants while the Japanese women daintily wiped their hands on their personal washcloths they carried around in their purses.
- People line up in orderly queues and wait to board the metro until everyone has gotten off.
- Ice cream comes in green tea matcha and wasabi, not vanilla and chocolate.
- The Japanese women are obsessed with their skin, but I couldn’t find a face moisturizer or lotion to save my life. There’s whitening creams galore, and even something known as face milk, but anything marked as a lotion actually was straight liquid.
- Kids either go to school on Saturdays, or like wearing their uniforms on the weekends. (I’m guessing the former). I’ve never seen so many school kids in uniforms in my whole life. Young school children are forced to wear matching hats (which is adorable, by the way). Japanese school girls wear super short skirts, knee socks and penny loafers (which I’m told, by a friend of my mom’s living in Japan, is only because they hike them up after school).
- The Japanese like things to be at the ready with just a flick of some yen, should the need arise. Need rice? Japan’s got you covered. Milk or eggs? No problem. Batteries? Sure. Want something to read? Buy a book! Drinks? Of course.
- But don’t think about carrying that drink with you, or you’ll be carrying it around all day. Everyone who visits Japan notices the glaring absence of trash cans, but also litter. This is because the Japanese do not walk and drink; they consume their beverage next to the vending machine then throw it away.
- You can name a drink Pocari Sweat and people actually drink it, including us. (Tastes like grapefruit gatarade).
- The Japanese have an obsession with the floor and shoe removal that I just do not share. They sleep on the floor, eat on the floor, and insist upon removing their shoes at every entrance. This resulted in smelly shoe racks at the entrance to every hostel. Plus it also begs the question: is it more disgusting to walk without shoes in a bathroom, or wear the shared bathroom slippers? We saw just how deeply entrenched these customs are in Japanese society. At the end of our trip, when the weather grew cooler, homeless people moved into cardboard box “houses” inside the subway stations. Outside each box was a pair of shoes, lined up and tidy.
- In our month in Japan, I felt like I was in the middle of a giant Nintendo game. There are beeps and boops all over the place, and all signs feature cutesy characters, even if they are trying to tell you what to do.
- I think I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so. In India, way out of context, I found myself bowing my head ever so slightly in gratitude and politeness.
The most adorable public bus I've ever seen.
Even their nudie bars have cutesy signs (that are bizarre in of themselves - I'm not sure what is going on with this bra-wearing, nose-pierced, patriotic fish/cow).
Even when being stern, they're still cute.
It is discovering the little, random observations, like these, that I love the most about traveling.
This picture pretty much epitomizes Japan for me.
SO cool Amy! I just love how you write….you constantly make me laugh! Amazing stuff here…you’ve quite possibly “seen it all!”
Love your pictures too!
Miss ya!
Katie
Aw, thanks Katie! Miss you too!
Good stuff.
Yes, you pretty much summed up everything we think about Japan, too! Great observations of all the small details!
LOL! Perfect! It’s always so much fun to realize the quirky things about a new country.
And the flushing sound? That is full of win and awesome! 🙂
This is hysterical…loved everything about it! Hope I can visit Japan sometime in my life. I love how cute and polite it is. Adorable signs and toilets and people…what a good read, this post. Made me laugh 🙂