Japan Day 19 (jū kyū)

Lazy Day

Sometimes you've got to just rest and hang out while on vacation.

So some impressions of Japan. First of all, I don't know how they function in the summer. I can't imagine having to be dressed up to go to work only to break out in a full sweat every time I step outside.

Related to that, what kind of magic do Japanese women possess that they can walk around dressed to the nines, and look like its 65 degrees outside? I mean, they don't seem to sweat at all. Maybe they have their sweat glands removed as children. They also seem to dress up much more often than Americans do. Dresses are very common, and heels are worn even when it would seem to us more sensible to wear sneakers.

As long as I'm on about women, I like how girls working at information booths all wear uniforms that look like stewardesses from the 50's. You don't even have to look for an 'Information' sign, just look for the gaggle of stewardesses hanging around. That goes for girls working elevators too. All the big buildings that shuffle lots of people into and out of elevators have two or three elevator handlers to manage the flow of traffic. That includes the one that stands inside the elevator facing the wall, telling everyone what amazing sights await them once they get to wherever they're going.

Money transactions are interesting too. All places that you might buy stuff have a little tray on the counter near the register where you put your money. While they are organizing and wrapping your goods (they wrap like crazy here) you can get your money arranged. You don't hand it directly to the cashier (unless you are a clueless gaijin), you place it on the tray. They also won't take it until they think you are done getting just the right bit of change on there. With a nod from you they take the money and give you change. Sometimes they put it back on the tray, more often they offer the change and receipt up with both hands like an offering.

I'm still not quite used to having shops on multiple floors of tall buildings. Maybe its the same in New York, but never having been to New York, I don't know. In LA everything is spread out into its own building. Here you might have Best Buy on one floor, Target on another, and restaurants on a third. Oh, and if a store covers multiple floors, usually you pay for stuff you get on the floor you get it on. They don't want everyone crushing the bottom floor registers so you pay on each different floor you get stuff on.

I've noticed that expensive items that are small are usually tied together with zip-tie type things to prevent theft. To me it looks like you get to steal five of the same small expensive item instead of just one, but what do I know?

Drink vending machines are literally everywhere you look. They have usually have 2 or three varieties of Coke, plus water, tea, and strange citrusey energy drinks. You'll never die of thirst here in Japan as long as you have spare change in your pockets.

Usually these vending machines have little trash cans next to them, but if not, you'll be hanging on to those empties for a bit. While in the US trashcans seem to be everywhere, here in Japan they are hard to find. The most reliable thing to do is look for a vending machine because 3 times out of 4 there'll be a recycling bin next to it. Then you have to sort based on whether you're throwing away a glass or plastic bottle, or burnable or unburnable trash. For the seeming lack of trash cans, the city seems to be remarkably clean. Granted we're staying in the equivalent of Beverly Hills, but even the other farther-flung parts of Tokyo are cleaner than LA.

Japanese TV - weird. Debbie and I have been interviewed twice for Japanese TV while we've been here. The first was about Hillary's cleavage, and the second was regarding our thoughts about Russian female athletes. Like I said, weird.