The last ten days have gone by so quickly that I am sad to say we are going home tomorrow. Each day has been jam-packed with early morning rises (we woke up pretty much every day between 4-6am and stayed out until at least 9:30-11pm, partly because of our internal body clocks, and also partly because we wanted to maximize our time here as much as possible), lots of sight-seeing, eating of the local foods, and observations of the everyday people who live in Japan as well as those who visit for pleasure. Ten days really isn’t that much time contrary to what a lot of people have said to me; it’s been a whirlwind of events without enough time to really relax and take it all in. Today, Sunday was really our only day to semi relax and wander the streets and go at a relatively leisurely pace.
I’ve seen and observed a lot of interesting things here. Of course, since I’m American and was born and raised in the U.S., my perspective is very obviously western, but these are a few of the things I have noticed in the three cities we have visited that I’ve found intriguing:
1. Obsession with cleanliness: There are rarely rubbish bins in sight anywhere — not throughout train stations, not in a lot of public restrooms, not even by vending machines unless you count the bottle-recycling-specific bins. How does Japan keep so clean when it doesn’t have common places to toss trash? We rarely saw any litter anywhere. And to add to the cleanliness obsession, even the most public restrooms on trains or at temples had toilet seat sanitation wipes or sprays. The cheapest restaurants we visited had complex toilets that allowed you to clean your front and your rear down there. Everything must be very clean at all times. Even your crotch. And even the anime porn has to be clean: again, all the penetration images are pixelated out.
2. Safety and trust in others: There was never a single second when I felt like we were walking through a “shady” neighborhood, and even when the streets did seem a tiny bit more grimy, I always felt safe. We passed by a “parking lot” of bikes on a random street in Kyoto one day, and after some inspecting, we realized that a large chunk of the bikes had no bike locks. Anyone could have just swiped a bike and run off with it, but apparently no one really felt this was a risk, so they decided to just forgo the locks. They trust others to mind their own business.
3. Following rules: I’ve already mentioned how orderly people move up and down stairs in the train stations, but people even line up at the car doors for the actual trains! Lines form where the passengers know the train doors will open (because of the little gates that open when the train arrives either being marked with a picture on the platform floor, or by the actual barriers opening). We saw the lines form everywhere; swarms into the train cars were rare.
4. Quality of service: At our ryokan in Kyoto every evening, we went back to our room to find a few sweet wagashi (Japanese traditional glutinous rice-based sweet treats) on our table with a pot of boiling water and a pot of cold water, a spread of different types of Japanese tea bags, along with our traditional beds laid out. When we checked out, the man working at the front desk not only bowed to us, but chased us outside as we rolled our luggage down the street to say a final goodbye and give us a low bow.
When we arrived in Hiroshima, the person checking us in told us that we were a bit too early and needed to wait a few hours for 2pm check-in to access our room. Chris said this was unacceptable given that he was a platinum IHG member, so as a consolation, not only did they escort us to their gorgeous lounge for complimentary champagne to enjoy while waiting 30 minutes for our actual room to be ready, but they also upgraded us to the executive suite (which by far was the most spacious hotel room I’d ever stayed in, and was likely bigger than our Manhattan apartment), and gave us four free items from the hotel in-room bar.
On our last day in Hiroshima, I waited too long and all the bakeries that sold momijimanju (maple-shaped fried cakes with bean paste or custard filling) closed by the time I wanted to buy some. I walked into our hotel cafe and asked if they sold them individually since I saw that they had the boxed sets of momijimanju on display. The host not only checked the supply with two different colleagues, but apologized to me about five times in different words about not having individual manju for me to buy.
When we arrived in Tokyo for our last leg of the trip, we arrived at our hotel room with our helper, who rolled all of our luggage up for us on a cart, to find that there was a huge baby crib in our room. She apologized profusely about this multiple times, with clear embarrassment on her face, and even made a note of it on our stay record so that when we checked out, the front desk worker mentioned it and apologized yet again.
This was a very long-winded but detailed way of stating that the quality of service here has been far beyond any expectations I’d ever had. It’s like people take it personally when you are disappointed and will go out of their way to make sure that you are 120 percent satisfied with everything they do for you.
5. Nail and eyelash salons: I rarely saw a nail salon that did not also mention eyelashes. Fake eyelashes, eyelash extensions, and mascara are huge for women in Japan. All over Japan regardless of the city, I saw women of all ages with long, thick, fake, extended — everything eyelashes.
6. Women’s shoes: For the most part, the majority of heels I saw women wearing here were fairly practical — probably no higher than two to two and a half inches, which are comfortable for everyday wear and walking. However, if they weren’t wearing low heels, they were wearing these god-awful and extremely high platform shoes, which Chris noticed because he witnessed a girl fall on hers in the middle of a crowded street. I guess my ballet flats aren’t trendy here.
7. Loudness (or quiet): I’ve been told I am loud by quite a number of people, but I’ve never noticed it more than when I’ve been in Japan. I have a loud laugh. I am a woman with a loud laugh. Women do not laugh loudly here. At all. The most they will do is giggle softly while at least half covering their mouths. I do not do that. I won’t do that. I will laugh the way I laugh. And that’s elicited a lot of staring from other tables at restaurants and even people on the street.
8. Vending machines: these things are everywhere on the most random residential streets, and you can get anything from them: cold tea, hot tea, iced (with actual ice) tea and soda and spritzers, even coffee and cappuccinos. It’s like convenience central here.
9. Fish for breakfast: pretty common, and pretty amazing. I’m really going to miss having this in the morning.
10. Japanese trains – subway, shinkansen – everything: So amazing, fast, clean, and efficient. Geez, does the U.S. have a lot to learn. And when (or if) they do, I’m willing to bet it won’t be anywhere as clean, fast, or well-priced. It’s cheaper to take a freaking subway train in Tokyo than it is to take the train one-way on New York City’s MTA, which is gradually increasing its fares, which have gone up about 50 percent since I moved to the damn city only seven years ago. Tokyo has precise time tables for everything. New York does not. That is total crap. The stations even have maps here that show you each subway platform, numbers each of the subway exits, and tells you which car to be at to be closest to the exit you want to go out from. They thought of this, and we didn’t.
11. The Asian Neck Slump: Asian men of all ages seem to bend their necks off to the side while zonking out on the trains. Sometimes, we saw them all lining up with their heads tilted to the sides in rows and rows on the trains. It’s as though it were all in unison and fully coordinated. Except we knew it wasn’t. And they always knew when exactly to wake up and get off the train. I can’t even imagine the types of neck pain they experience afterwards.
Japan has been an overwhelming experience for me. I leave overwhelmed and in awe of it all. Sure, i don’t love everything about it (I know for a fact I would hate being a woman in a society like this), but I don’t love everything about anything, so that wouldn’t be a fair bar, would it?