Japan (Part 1)

Some observation and thoughts from Japan:

When I got on the plane at 1:45 PM, I sat down and pulled out my book.  The eight Asians that were in my view sat down and went to sleep immediately.  I couldn’t help feeling that they knew something I didn’t.

I’m not sure if this is a cultural thing, but it seemed that the  Asian people would climb over each other to get out into the aisle of the plane.  Most people I have seen will usually stand up and let the person pass and then sit back down.   The lady next to me chose to climb over her two friends to get out on the other side rather than disrupt me to get past.  I wasn’t even sleeping.  I would have happily stood up to let her pass.

I don’t like Japanese food.  There, I said it.  Perhaps I will find something I like this week, but I’m skeptical.  I AM willing to try new things.  That’s why on Mitch’s recommendation, I sprinkled seaweed and dried fish on my omlettey thingy.  (Mitch referred to it as a Japanese pizza).  It was a mistake as I expected, but I downed it anyway.

I DO like the bidets.  They have multiple settings here.

The more I take in the marketing style here, the more I understand where Mr. Arakawa is coming from when he gives me bizarre suggestions for packaging.  Everything is so messy and in your face here.  Any everything has a mascot of some kind.

Their trains are exceptionally clean and very nice... and they make sort of a Mario victory song when they stop at a station.

The beds and pillows are like gently resting your head on a rock... which is maybe why I’m up eating nibs at 4 in the morning.  No, I’m pretty sure it’s because my body thinks it’s actually the middle of the afternoon.

I LOVE heated toilets.  The Japanese are so advanced when it comes to relieving yourself.  When will we ever catch up?

It’s pitch black out by 6PM.  I don’t like it.

On Wednesday night, we went out to dinner with all the engineers.  Mitch tells us Japanese coworkers will usually go out drinking together at least once a week.  We went to a restaurant for Shabu Shabu, basically a fondue situation.  We took off our shoes before we entered this area of the restaurant and sat on the floor.  We selected two broths: a chili broth and a seaweed broth and then passed around extremely thinly sliced meats that you wash back and forth in the broth (the shabu shabu motion) and it cooks in less than a minute.  This was probably my favorite meal.  There are also a lot of other things that they dump into the broth to cook.  Mitch didn’t explain most of what we ate, he just said try this, and we did.

Japanese people don’t really wear sunglasses. (Mitch confirmed this)  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.  They are big on the sun umbrellas though.

It doesn’t appear popular in Japan to air condition a room until it is occupied.  (I can understand the logic in that)  Every time we walk into a room (even a section of a restaurant) it is sweltering.  I’m sweating from the moment we enter, but shivering by the time we leave (which I guess may only indicate a five degree temperature drop).  For the most part, though, it’s just hot everywhere.

Two older gentleman stopped to chat with me and ask what I was taking pictures of (because a couple of taxis is hardly noteworthy).  Their English was pretty good, so we chatted for a while about where I should go sightseeing on my one day off.  They told me about a few places and then said they would check their schedules, but they were pretty sure they would be able to take me around on Saturday.  Obviously, I would never do that, but I was impressed because I really think they were that nice.  Everyone we’ve met in Japan is so kind and gracious to their guests.

I’m getting used to the bowing... and the presenting and receiving my credit card with two hands.

The Yokohama area was the birthplace of Ramen, and given that Ramen noodles are like my favorite comfort food, I had to try the real thing, so Mitch took us to the most popular ramen restaurant.  Like all restaurants, they gave me way too much food.  This was easily too much ramen for me to handle, but it was so good... I could do away with the seaweed, though.  The noodles are cooked just the way you like them and then everyone just hovers over their bowl slurping up noodles.  

Jet lag got the best of me, but I was actually pretty pleased with the effects.  I got up at 4 or 5 every day and read scriptures, wrote in my journal, pondered, edited photos, wandered around in the busy Yokohama city taking pictures and getting really funny looks from the millions of people headed to work... all before we hopped on the train at 8:30.  Of course, around 5 PM, I would say, “Man, I’m getting really sleepy.”  To which Brian would say, “That’s because your body thinks is 2 AM.”  That is such a huge time difference!  I wonder what going back is going to do to me.