Stray observations of life in Japan (Part 1)

Probably one of the most common things people want to know when reading this blog is “How is life different in Japan?”.  So, here is our first post (of most likely several) stray observations. We are also working on a post called “Efficiency in Design”, all about quirky things in our apartment, which we will post soon.

Toilet add-ons

1) Many toilets in Japan often have an electronic pad, where people can select “Bidet”, “Shower”, and “Flushing Sound”. For example, our hotel toilet had one, as well as, interestingly enough, the local McDonald’s.

Being the research scientist that I am, I, of course, had to experiment. The result of “Shower” was quite terrifying: an electronic tube sprayed a stream of water straight at Chris. I didnt try “Bidet”, but I could only assume what would happen. Interestingly, “Flushing Sound” was exactly what you’d expect, which is odd since the toilet already made a flushing sound when flushed.

2) Almost everyone bikes, and people rarely lock up their bikes. Many bikes have lights and most have baskets. They also have better kick-stands which prop bikes up, instead of them leaning to one side. The most expensive bike I’ve seen in $800, with most around $300-400 and some as low as $80.

3) Almost everyone uses umbrellas, even when it’s lightly sprinkling. There are umbrella stands outside of every building, where people people drop them off before entering. Since about 70% of Japan uses the same, clear looking umbrella, I wonder how many people accidentally (or intentionally) take someone else’s.

4) People are really big into protecting against UV rays. For this reason, most people carry parasols every day, regardless of the weather. They even use them when biking. Hats are also big here, and many women wear long gloves, even during the hottest of days, to protect their arms. They look like an awesome fashion statement, and I’m kinda thinking of getting some.

5) There are vending machines throughout the city, even on side streets, which usually sell drinks like coffee, soda, juice, or water, or cigarettes.

Chris standing in front of Japanese vending machines

6) Tommy Lee Jones is the face of “Boss Coffee”, which you can find in most vending machines. Chris and I watched a series of videos compiling his coffee commercials. They get weirder as you watch them.

Tommy Lee Jones IS Boss Coffee

Tommy and his coffee crew

7) French fries are so much more fun here. They come in small spice bags that, when shaken up, give them different flavors, such as basil, cheese, soy sauce, and BBQ. Yum!

8) Speaking of food, fruit is incredibly expensive here. For example, grapes are about $10 of a small cluster, and apples are $1-3 each, although significantly larger than American produce. Corn and celery, our cheap veggies, are oddly rather pricey too. However, meat is rather cheap (not that that does mean a whole lo of good).

Mini fridge stuffed with food, American-style

9) Most refrigerators are mini fridges. Unlike the typical American lifestyle, most people only buy a few items during each grocery run, and go on multiple runs throughout the week.

10) On a similar note, while there are washing machines, no one seems to use dryers. Instead, people hang there clothes on balconies, which most people have. For this reason, people usually do many small loads. To help with drying, we use clothespins and lines, as well as a small mobile with clothespins, which are very handy to hanging up many socks at once.

11) People say “gozaimasu” (a formal modifier, e.g. “very much”) all the time. For example “arigato gozaimasu” means “thank you very much” and “ohayo gozaimasu” means “good morning, formally”. Here, people seem to draw out the last “a”, pronouncing it “gozaimaaaaas”. Chris have been adding “gozaimasu” to the end of all of our sentences, just to be safely polite.

12) When exchanging money, people put bills and coins in a small tray, rarely using hand-to-hand exchange. People also give and receive items with both hands, and often will make small bows. I recently impressed someone when I did this because she didn’t realize that I had already picked up this custom. (Score!)