Digging a Hole

Remember when you were little there was always some kid [I'm onto you..] who'd say you could dig a hole in the ground, and if you dug far enough you'd get to China? Maybe no one actually said this, but it was a common grade school-age urban legend that everyone had heard, and the basis for at least a couple of episodes of various Nickolodean shows. I'm pretty sure I remember the Rugrats going for that hole to China.

Well it occurred to me in the last couple of days, if you were able to get past all that liquid hot magma, and dig through to the other side of the world AND managed to land in Japan and not the floating plastic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, then the Japan experience would really feel like an opposite experience from everything you have known. Not only is it on the opposite side of the world, but it is a culture in many ways opposite to American culture.

1) Cars drive down the other side of the road [very strange the first time you see it, but you could also point out this is something in England they do as well]. To make it even weirder, when you're in a car, the drivers side is on the right side, and passengers ride on the left.

2) The language is traditionally written right-left, top-bottom. Books begin in what an American would expect to be the back of a book and read to what we would expect is the front. Opposite to the nth degree! Things have been changing lately, while written language can still be found right-left, top-bottom, it's common now to find things written in a Westernized left-right.

3) Work hours are different. They work 9am-6pm, with a 1 hour lunch break. This is standard [at least at my company], and even if it's a holiday weekend, they work until the clock ticks 6pm. I am still becoming accustomed to this. I'm trying to adjust my body to the idea of 6pm happy hour... but we are not there yet. And also, I haven't made friends with anyone that does happy hour yet.

[At this point, I had to interrupt jotting down these ideas for this post because I discovered a gigantic hole in the seat of my new pants. I had to take a break to sew up the seat of my pants. How's that for irony? That's another story, but it leads me to a couple other additional observations.

4) Electronic toilets + bidets and flushing sound effects. The toilets were the biggest thing to get accustomed to in my first days. They are called washlet toilets, equipped with feminine bidets, seat warmers, bum washers and on different toilets I have see deodorizers for the air [this was a public toilet, for the benefit of the next guest I presume] and also electronic flushing sound [again I've seen this in the public toilets, to mask the sound of whatever you're doing and allowing the user to retain their modesty.]

5) Hand sanitizer vs. mouth wash. I don't see much hand sanitizer use as you do in the U.S. There, you can hardly stop by a convenience store or drugstore without seeing a huge rack of sanitizer for sale, which is not true here. However in Japan I've noticed that they are majorly into mouth wash, gargling and oral healthcare. After meals when I return from lunch with my colleagues, people all go to the bathroom to brush their teeth or gargle before carrying on with the day. I like this post-lunch break as it's quite refreshing to go back to work with a clean mouth.

6) Napkins vs. warm towel. It isn't customary here to place a napkin in your lap to eat, in fact there really aren't napkins at all, but moist towels handed out at the start of a meal to wipe your hands. From what I've discerned, you use this throughout the meal to dab at your mouth as necessary.

7) Smoking vs. non-smoking. In the U.S. you can't get away with smoking in most public places, in Japan you can't escape the smoke in most public places. I'm told they're now moving towards more restrictions on smoking but at the moment there are a great number of smokers in Japan, and whether you're seated inside or outside of a restaurant, it's common to find people smoking near you. Even if there is a smoking section of a restaurant, keep in mind that space is limited in Japan so while you may be seated in the non-smoking section you're still close to a cloud of smoke.

8)Addresses are written backwards. Addresses are written as: Japan, prefecture, city ward, block address [I live on the 1st block of the main Roppongi road. Hence, Roppongi 1-chome (1st block) in my address.] Also, even the Japanese need maps to navigate new areas.. the streets mostly don't have names, and they aren't numbered. You have to meet at land marks when you plan to meet with people in new areas.

9) Respect your elders. In the U.S. it always makes me uncomfortable when I see a younger person taking up a subway seat when there is an older person, or weaker person forced to stand infront of them. It's common though, but I can never get used to it. It's nice to see in Japan they have a specially reserved seats for the elderly/pregnant/handicapped in the corner of every subway car.

10) Care about your appearance in public. No matter the weather, the distance, the number of stairs, I see the majority of younger Japanese women traveling in high heels! It's amazing their ability to withstand the elements and the stairs [not to mention the excruciating pain of being in heels all day]. Often if I see a female who dresses with care for style, they will most likely be in high heels. Even most of the men here carry their things in very stylish messenger bags with matching shoes. I love this attention to detail, as I am enjoying dressing for the day as I can really go all out in what I choose to wear to work and on the weekends. You really can't do that so much in Philadelphia, and it's something that I had forgotten I enjoy. Also, rarely in the Tokyo-area that I live do you see women going out without make-up on.
In fact, even at the convenience store you'll see the clerk in full make-up right down to their fake eyelashes.

11) In case of emergency- dial 119. This one speaks for itself. :)