General observations

Some observations about life here in the last month:

·         Early teens think it's funny that the white girl likes tonkatsu.

·         There is substantially more litter around than initially led to believe, especially on trash days.

·         Crossing signals can be very [technologically] primitive here: I have 4-way stops in my area that make all 4 signals green or red at once, instead of 2 and 2. This makes waiting to cross a long waiting game at certain intersections, especially as you watch your bus drive by ahead of you to the stop you're attempting to reach, which brings me to...

·         Whoever said public transportation here was stellar and perfect was a filthy rotten liar: My buses are not on time half the time; while they're not typically late, they're usually early because they blow past stops if nobody is there and nobody says they want off, which gains them about 15-20 seconds per stop. Have several stops like that, and you're arriving at your destination several minutes earlier than expected, much to the surprise of anyone that was expecting the bus to arrive a few minutes later. This is great if you're already on the bus, but if you're counting on it being there at 7:32, and get there at 7:31 to find out it flew through at 7:27, you're not going to be happy. Also, at stops with large amounts of arrival times, there is no way to know which arrival time is for which bus route. So that 7:32 bus might not necessarily by the 11 bus you want, but instead the 23 for 7:36 that turns left down the road, but since the 11 bus went through early anyway, it wasn't going to be your bus to begin with.

·         Running late? Blame the bus. Chances are if you had been on time to your stop, you would have missed the bus you were trying for, and the one after that, because they were early, so you would have had to wait for the one that you ended up taking anyway when you got there late.

·         And finally on this, there are the very rare times that the bus driver won't switch the stop announcement soon enough, meaning if the fare zones line up just right and he delays the stop announcement, you end up paying more than usual at your stop. Honest. I'm not joking. This happened to me. In fact it has led to my employer thinking I'm an idiot that can't read the fare grid correctly.

·         The trains, however, are pretty fricking cool.

·         The general consensus has been that old people are typically more xenophobic and the younger generations are more open to foreigners, but my personal experience has been that younger people (my students not withstanding) try to pretend I (and anyone else) am not there, whereas the older generations are very eager to help me out whenever I ask (How do I read this kanji? Where do I buy tickets for the train? Does this bus go to this location? How in God's name do I get to this bank from here because I clearly have no idea where I am at this point?). This doesn't apply to clerks and store employees, though: Regardless of age, they do what they can to help me, as well. WITH ONE EXCEPTION, but that was because I wanted to fix my appliance with a $4 part instead of buy a new one.

·         Asking for directions here will garner lots of pointing and gesturing, sighs of complacency, and, "Do your best,"s in response. Not because you obviously don't understand what they're saying, but because navigating anything here without GPS sucks balls, and they all know it.

·         Most everyone I've done this in front of has been very impressed that I know to serve myself from buffet-style meals with my chopsticks flipped over. No surprise here: I learned it via working in a Japanese restaurant. It's not something anyone tells you to do when teaching you how to use the chopsticks.

·         They are however fairly insistent to get you to use chopsticks the Japanese way, which hurts my fingers, so I don't do it.

·         My neighbors don't keep 9-5 jobs like I more or less do.

·         For a country plagued by humidity and mold issues, they don't design apartments (or at least not mine) with moisture elimination in mind: My washer drain collected water that grew mold despite frequent use. My shower takes 3 days to dry out if I don't squeegee it, because the water will not go towards the drain otherwise.

·         Lots of important things close early, despite the country having a reputation for people working long, horrendous hours. Banks close at 3pm and are closed on weekends, for example, with hospitals supposedly closing at noon?? But the post office is open 7 days a week. Go figure. Thankfully my grocery stores are open until 9:30 or 11, depending on which I go to.

·         If anyone tells you that Japanese food is healthier or in smaller portions than American food, tell them to actually go there and eat for a week. I admittedly eat less than I used to but I can still pack it away when inclined, and I find myself full (not just satiated) nearly every time I go out to eat and order one single entree, usually a la carte. Further, unless you're literally eating just fish/meat and vegetables, no, this stuff is not "healthier" for you than American food. It's greasy as sin, has more sodium than is recommended in a day per meal (I had a Japanese nurse tell me that the food is a huge contributor to the hypertension problem), and half the time they don't believe one needs protein with the meal so much as more starch. Eating yakisoba? Have some rice. Already have rice? Have some pasta. Already have pasta? Have some bread. Have bread? Here, have mochi. Oh, I guess that needs a little bit of color... Here have a half ounce of protein and a handful of vegetables (including potato!).

·         Not everyone here is a genkan-nazi. I have been to two schools in this city, and the general consensus at both is that it's okay to step outside in your indoor shoes to get to the next building that's 10 feet away. Had to run outside in your indoor shoes for a fire drill? Just wipe them off real quick and you're good to go. 

·         Lots of advice blogs mentioned that women's sanitary products didn't get much floor space in stores, but I have found that to not be the case. In fact in some stores they get more shelves and displays than back home! Tampons are not a thing here, however. That part still holds true. What is common to see, though, is basically incognito Depends for monthly needs.  

·         Where the hell is all the eel sauce? There's tons of it in the Japanese supermarkets in the States. Can't find it to save my life here.

·         Don't come here expecting to eat celery: A stalk. A STALK. Not a bunch. A single freaking stalk. Is $1. And that's if you can find it.

·         Milk's pretty tasty here, and about the same price as back home. Eggs, however, are pretty damn cheap! I can get 10 for $2, sometimes less!