Complete and Utter Thievery

I was talking to my friend Bobbi Jo yesterday and she directed my attention to someone's blog who is visiting the Tokyo area. And he had posted on his blog about the differences between Japan and America. His list was very accurate and I thought I would "borrow" . . . never mind I just stole the list. Thanks, Peter. My additions are italicized. And here is the link to the original. http://www.ncccinjapan.blogspot.com/

1. Small living space and cars
2. Umbrella storage units
3. $25 watermelons (He said $25) but I saw them for $50 earlier this year. And they are little.
4. Questionable men's clothing and fashions
5. Bon Jovi/Rod Stewart men's haircuts
6. Toilets are either substandard or luxurious

You know you can get yourself in trouble when your toilet has this many buttons and instructions in a different language

7. Group identify/national consciousness strong
8. Little eye contact
9. No conversation on public transportation They even frown on talking on your cell phone on the trains.
10. Few garbage cans Extremely few.
11. Lots of recycling
12. Strict sorting of various waste items, they will go through your trash and make sure it is correct. I live in fear that I will mess up my trash and they will come after me. No joke.
13. No shoes in homes and many buildings
14. Eating and drinking on the street frowned upon
15. Crosswalks with all cars stopped at the same time at busy intersections in big cities. Its really cool. They allow you to J-walk.
16. Bowing instead of shaking hands
17. Blowing nose in public unacceptable
18. People wearing dust masks in public
19. Tremendous educational pressure
20. Homogenous population (98% Japanese)
21. No central A/C or heat Oh, how I miss this.
22. Driving on left side of road
23. Vending machines galore

24. Clear respect hierarchy
25. Don't consume many beverages (why so many vending machines then?) And the glasses of water they give you at restaurants are miniscule.
26. No street names and addresses
27. Love comics/anime
28. Businessmen work very long hours, rarely see children
29. Fish and rice are main dietary staples
30. Three alphabets are used (Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji)
31. Very orderly way of doing everyday things
32. In general, cities are clean
33. Sing-song, tonal phrases
34. Plastic food displays at restaurants I appreciate this very much since the menu is in Japanese.
35. McDonald's items include Green Tea McFlurry, McShrimp burger
36. Expectation for businessmen to drink
37. Popularity of sento/onsen (public baths)
38. They eat natto. That is fermented beans, and it tastes worse than it sounds.
39. Quirky cross-cultural interests like Gospel Music
40. Shinkansen (bullet trains)
41. Funny English phrases on advertising and clothing

42. Special tile denoting pathways for the blind on most sidewalks
43. No soap in some restrooms or paper towels for that matter. Everyone carries around their own personal towel to dry their hands.
44. Smallest paper bill is 1000 yen about($10)
45. Very few overweight people
46. Every grain of rice at dinner is eaten
47. Bathing done at night
48. LOVE Hello Kitty, even Junior High boys.
49. Odd fashion phenomenon among girls where they dress up like Little Bo Beep.
50. Park backwards because it is easier since even parking spaces are smaller in Japan.