Japan: First Impressions

by Allie on June 5, 2010

Japan! We arrived in the land of the rising sun and spent our first three days in Tokyo. Of all the countries we have visited so far, we were most familiar with Japanese culture – or so we thought. San Francisco has a large Japantown, and a couple of years ago I took a class studying “The Way of Tea” (more commonly known as Japanese tea ceremony). Turns out Japan was the most foreign place to us in many ways. Our first impressions:

1. Tokyo is clean. There is no litter on the streets, a fact made even more surprising as there are no trash bins on the streets either. Not even in the subway stations. We later learn from our new friend Lucie that trash is sorted into something like six different types of bins, and people throw their trash away at work or at home. Or in our case, our hotel room.

Mos Burger Tokyo

Spotless, bin-less Tokyo sidewalk

2. Nobody locks up their bikes. Rows of beautiful, new-looking bicycles are outside, unattended, unlocked. What does it say about a country that in its largest city (12 million residents!), people don’t worry about their bikes getting stolen? In parts of Oakland, you wouldn’t be able to park your bike and walk across the street without someone taking off with it. We even had a bike stolen from within our locked garage in Berkeley.

3. Japan is the home of magic toilets. It is common for Western-style toilets to have pre-heated seats, and buttons that generate a spray, bidet, or fountain experience for your nether regions. Some toilets even had a “flush” button, which did not actually flush the toilet, but produced a sound as if the toilet was flushing…

Japanese magic toilet

Wash, spray or bidet? You choose!

4. Lack of English speakers and signage. In all of the other countries we have visited so far, English was never the first language, but was widely spoken and most street and business signs were also translated into English. Not so in Japan. Signs were usually in kanji, with maybe 10% translated into English. We finally busted out our electronic translator and put it to good use.

Gofukubaski street sign Tokyo

A rare bilingual street sign

5. Cigarette vending machines are common. Neither Mark or I could recall the last time we saw these in the States…maybe in the 80’s? Apparently Japan isn’t worried about underage smokers.

We expected Japan to be expensive, and it exceeded expectations. A McDonald’s Big Mac cost the equivalent of $6 US, excluding drink and fries. A Starbucks grande latte was $5. Yeouch! Our nine days in Japan cost as much as the previous month in Laos and Vietnam.

See more of our Tokyo photos…

Leave a Comment

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 aimee June 6, 2010 at 7:55 am

funny, i just read the same thing about japanese toilets in a david sedaris book!

2 Allie June 6, 2010 at 8:00 am

They really are something else. And you get the award for “most frequent commenter” – thanks Aim! Now play a Lexulous word ;^)

3 Joy Wong Daniels June 9, 2010 at 5:01 pm

The bikes DO have locks… they’re just hidden. It’s like this weird key contraption that prevents you from riding off. Ok, so one time I actually forgot to lock my bike and some high school kids tore off on it. It was my new “used” bike — and I spotted them in the city center (Utsunomiya) and told them to give it back (and had the receipt to prove my ownership)! They looked a little rowdy (like punk kids), but I think they were kind of scared by my aggressiveness and poor poor Japanese! They were probably thinking, “Uh, this gaijin/Eigo-no-sensei is probably CRAZY!” hahahahaa

4 Allie June 11, 2010 at 6:29 am

HA! I can absolutely see you telling off some Japanese kids – wouldn’t want to be on their end of that talking to! Thanks for educating us about the locks too…we obviously didn’t try to steal one! Japanese aesthetics are so nice, of course they would make the locks either beautiful or failing that, inconspicuous.

5 Michelle Bodwell July 13, 2010 at 8:01 pm

When Dan and I visited Japan in 2004, I had a memorable bathroom experience. After exiting the restroom, I said to Dan, “That whole bathroom was touch-free!” I didn’t have to touch anything, from the doors to the sinks, toilets, etc. It was awesome! Enjoy your travels.
Michelle and Dan Bodwell

6 Allie July 17, 2010 at 12:06 am

Thanks for sharing Michelle! We didn’t really know what to do in our first Japanese bathroom – what the heck are all these buttons for?!?! In retrospect, they are so much more hygienic than American bathrooms.

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