Leaving Soon

I'll be leaving Japan in just 2 and a half more days--this is hard to believe! I am excited to go home, but as I get closer and closer to the day (Wednesday, June 2), I am feeling kind of nervous. Japan is so nice and clean, and everyone is so polite, that I am worried it will be a nasty shock when I get home. Also, I feel at least to some degree that I should have done more while I was here and that I should have worked harder to get better at Japanese, because I'm still not as good as I had imagined I would be after 5 months of living in Japan. Sigh...

Anyway, I thought I'd write some of my overall impressions of the country before I leave. Some of these things I expected, although it was different to actually experience them firsthand, and some things just surprised me.


Things I liked

Vending machines and convenience stores are everywhere. It is really easy to find food or beverages at any time or place, and on top of that, food from convenience stores is actually really good. (I will miss their rice balls!)

The Japanese attitude toward alcohol is much healthier than America's. Well, the attitude of any country toward alcohol is probably a lot healthier than America's. Drinking is certainly a big part of Japan's culture, but I think people here are more likely to have a few drinks to have a good time, and know when to stop before they are wasted. The drinking age is 20, but no one checks cards, and in fact beer is often sold in vending machines, so it is not some taboo mystery like in the US. Looking at alcohol commercials is also interesting; here, they tend to focus on the taste of the drinks, where as in the US, I find that they usually only talk about its sex appeal or "manliness."

Cute kids and cute commercials. Japanese kids are so cute. Why are they so cute? I don't know. They don't seem to cry that much, and their clothes are really cute, and they do cute things all the time. They are frequently featured on cute commercials where they sing in an endearingly out-of-tune chorus. I will miss those commercials.

Good public transportation. The trains run very often and are really quiet and clean, and they get you pretty much everywhere you want to go. I will miss the Keihan line...

A general mastery of aesthetics. People's houses and gardens, as well as shops and restaurants or anywhere else that design comes in, tend to be really beautiful.


Things I didn't like

Things are closed all the time. Quite a lot of shops and sightseeing places are closed on Sundays, and also, things in general tend to close/stop running really early. It is hard to find things to do (unless you're looking for a bar or club) after 6 pm.

Excessive smoking. I already talked about this in a previous post, but anyway, smoking is still very accepted in Japan, and a lot of people smoke everywhere. It smells so bad. This is probably the thing I like least about Japan.

Ditzy girls. I already talked about this one also. Girls here seem excessively obsessed with clothing and makeup. Particularly noticeable on TV shows (but also present in real life) is their tendency to scream a lot but not actually do anything, while their male counterparts calmly move in and take care of the problem. It drives me crazy.

Fish are often served with their head still attached. Creepy.


Things that just surprised me

Japan is still affected by World War II much more than you'd think. I never realized how many temples and historic sites had been destroyed, and just in general there seems to be a national consciousness of its effects. Anyone who was alive at that time (so, anyone in their 70's or older, which is a lot of people) was directly affected by it, whereas I feel like in America, few people are even really aware of WWII anymore.

Japan was not the land of technology as stereotyped. Certainly with youths in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka they have really futuristic computers and cell phones and everything, but in general, people aren't much different from at home. For example, my host family owned one TV, a VCR (no DVD player), and one cell phone, and that was it for electronics. No digital camera or computer, no CD player or anything. Granted they are an elderly couple, and they get along fine without those things. Still, you can't believe everything you hear when it comes to stereotypes.

Temples and shrines are everywhere. They were really interesting. No matter where you go, they have some kind of unobtrusive presence.


I may add to this when I think of more items. I hope the weather stays nice for the rest of my time here--I just came back to Kyoto after 5 days in Tokyo. I have decided that I much prefer Kyoto to Tokyo, although maybe that's just because I'm more used to it. Anyway, there is a slight chance of rain for the next 2 days and a chance of lightning on Wednesday when my flight is scheduled, so I'm crossing my fingers.