Notes on Japan

There were a few things that stood out to me about Japan. I have to say, much of it fit my expectations. It is a very clean place… though everywhere seems clean compared to Beijing. Still, I’m certain that Tokyo is clean on an absolute and not just relative scale. Also, the people there are very fashionable. Everyone dressed with some kind of style, be it high fashion, goth, or anything else. A quite large number of people take this pretty extreme, especially women. A lot of them clearly go to fantastic lengths to prepare themselves before leaving their apartments. I imagine that some hairdos must take 30+ minutes of work every day.

The Japanese achieve what I consider to be the true mark of civil society: everyone stands to one side on escalators to allow people to pass by. I love this. Hong Kong and London are the only other cities I have visited to meet this high water mark of civility.

Another thing I really like about the Japanese is that safety is a top priority. Any sort of construction or other potentially dangerous activity is marked off by self-illuminating traffic cones, something I’ve never seen before. Also, workers wear reflective vests with blinking LED lights. I never saw anyone jaywalk.

A few things did surprise me, though. Very few bathrooms had any means of drying your hands. No paper towels and no air driers. I guess people carry around towels or handkerchiefs. I was also baffled by the near total lack of garbage cans. I know the Japanese are fanatical about recycling, but it was very difficult to find a public place to dispose of anything, even to recycle it.

While there we experienced a variety of local foods. Sushi, of course. Hot pot, which was 90 minutes of all you can eat and drink (including alcohol) gorging. Also some small places which operated using a vending machine for ordering. The vending machine takes your money and you select your dish, and a receipt prints behind the counter, where an individual (who runs the entire restaurant alone) prepares it. Pretty cool system.

We spent a day outside Tokyo, in Hakone. This is up in the mountains, near a spot where you can get a view of Mt Fuji. Unfortunately it was foggy and raining so we couldn’t see the mountain. But we did stay in a traditional style hotel, with sliding doors and bamboo floors. And also a hotspring bath. Since bathing in hotsprings is done au natural, there are separate baths for men and women. It was pleasant, but it would have been nice to be able to enjoy some sake or beer while bathing.

Maybe next time.