Reasons YOU like Japan.

I couldn’t give many when I was Home, but as it is, I have a running list going now. And please note! Although my reputation for embellishment and exaggerating details precedes me, I can assure you! None of what you are about to read are anything but the truth, and if I could back them with pictures (as I have with some) I will try. Enjoy the list!

1. All women wear skirts/dresses. There are a few younger gals that wear pants, just as many as their are guys in the states that wear skirts. AND, MANY people ride bikes, which include these skirt-wearing women. No, they are not a shy culture.

2. Public Bath Houses are very common! It is NOT an ‘ancient’ thing, families go, friends go, no body is shy. Actually, the only folks they WON’T allow in the bath houses, are those with tattoos. (We have to buy patches to cover them if we want to go, and any pool/water park.)

3. The Ravens here are literally flying dogs. They are HUGE!! And they come in groups! I have witnessed 8 of them attacking a stroller with a little boy who had popcorn. The mom scared them off, but the beaks on these birds are seriously 5+ inches. You may think they are hawks from a distance. (Now the “Murder of Crows” makes sense!)

4. I have yet to see any local walk a dog much bigger than an alley cat.

5. I have witnessed, from my housing complex, the fire trucks twice because locals have thought an American BBQ was a porch fire. (And I have yet to see any locals with a BBQ themselves.)

6. This will definitely be the last country to die from a lack of Oxygen. It seems as if they came onto the Island, and built only where there was bare rock or ground, and built up high, instead of out. All the jungles and canopies surround every structure, and the sun only gets through the highest floors of buildings. It is hot and muggy, and jungle creatures echo their cries through the thick vegetation.

7. If there is any place that dinosaurs still exist, it is here, in Japan.

8. No one has dryers. They have washers, then lines outside or through the house. Every morning, you can gaze out across the city and see new colors thrown out over balcony’s and railings to catch the day Sun.

9. I couldn’t place it at first, but now I know. Whenever a bicyclist or driver pulls out in front of you, or cuts you off, and you manage to get past ’em again and look at ’em as your passing, or in your rear view mirror, they do NOT make eye contact, they look around, down, then glance back at you, then immediately down again. JUST LIKE KAROO, after you walk in the house, before you even check the kitchen to see if she got trash everywhere, you look at her and she looks away and down!! Ha! That’s EXACTLY what it is. (I know it’s a cultural thing, but it sure portrays a lack of self-confidence.)

10. Along every street is a vending machine, one with cigarettes in them, and another with drinks. “Cokes and Smokes” I call ’em. And of course, my favorite, BOSS Suntory coffee, heated. Yes, I can insert Yen, and a burning-hot coffee (or warm milk, or pepsi/coke and a variety of juices) will come out, hot or cold depending on the blue or red label. 😀

11. Bread is not simply shoved in a plastic bag. Bread in these markets (even the major ones!) are wrapped in paper, a sort of tissue/light paper, ornately designed with oriental markings. (Or maybe that’s just the ingredients list, I wouldn’t know) 🙂

12. Kids here are TINY, and I mean SMALL!! 8 year old kid, like a 4-5 year old American. Which is why the rule for drivers is that up to 9 they must be in a car seat!! Deng!! (But they waive that rule for Americans). And, these kids don’t have light-up shoes, they have squeaker shoes!! Like a bad heel or something, but on purpose. I laughed the first time I saw ’em. And they all take martial art sword fighting stuff for PE in the school right across from my house. Oh, and they are dressed in an outfit similar to something Tom Sawyer might’ve worn.

13. Japan is Hello Kitty’s Birth Place. They have EVERYTHING here, I mean, EVERYTHING Hello Kitty. (Not to mention my favorite, the Hello Kitty Toaster, that you put bread into, and it toasts a Hello Kitty face on the slice. 🙂

14. Fanny Packs are the norm. And it seems, the brighter and more neon-colored they are, the higher class you are.

15. Everyone is respectful of other people and their privacy. If someone trips and falls, no one will laugh or help, they will later in private, but not in public. On the trains, it is DEAD silent, kids are whispering to each other, and the only ones talking are Americans. NO BODY’s car has a punk exhaust system, except the few on base.

I do hope you enjoyed the list. More to come soon. 🙂
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