What surprised me about Japan – Curiosity about Japan

A trip to Japan is a continuous discovery especially for a careful observer, there are so many things and things that have amazed me and I was curious that I had to divide them into several posts.

  • Kindness and friendliness. Despite the difficulties of communication, the Japanese will do all they can to help you and try to speak a few Anglo-Saxon words if they can. I still remember the first time I entered a typical guesthouse, with the lady bowing in front of us, who had such gentle and delicate behavior. You almost have the feeling of being pampered. When we left the guesthouse the girl accompanied us to the exit and greeted us bowing, we did the same and started to get away. We repeated the same thing a few times as we moved away and started to smile and we bet that the girl, even though we were so far away, was still there waiting for us to turn the corner .. we spin And she was still there, saluting with the bow! This anecdote is a small example of how much these people are both friendly and friendly, even in restaurants, in fact, the owner accompanies the customer. If a Japanese will see a troubled tourist there are no doubts that will try to help you in all the ways that are possible, rather will accompany you to the place where you want to go if it will not be too far!

    It is to be said, however, that too much kindness can sometimes risk becoming an act more than felt. When you approach something to ask someone you always bow to Sumimasen, a kind of our “excuse me”? And nothing strange, but soon you will realize that every two of you will find yourself saying and So to repeat it Arigatou goizamasu, which means “thank you for what you do for me”. At one point you will wonder if those people are so kind because they are or are simply accustomed to behaving like that and thinking so much may seem like an excessive act too exaggerated of servility. This is one aspect that has led me to reflect on my own Japanese guy who, having spent a year in Australia, might be able to have a more critical and open mind towards his country.

  • Respect, civic sense, honesty. The streets of Tokyo or in general of the cities and places visited in Japan are among the cleanest I’ve ever seen. And it is strange considering how much the Southeast Asian countries, not so far away, are completely different. This is because people are educated from small to take care of the place they live in or who simply attend. There are no controllers in the train and subway stations because there is no need to check anyone! To a Japanese would never mind not to buy a train ticket or not to obliterate it, and I still remember my astonishment when my ex-boy knowing that he had enjoyed a far too low fare for the actual journey we did Went to the cabin adjacent to the exit doors to pay the difference! Inside the carriages, the seats to support their backpacks or bags are intended for standing passengers. Once, as a sitting passenger, thinking of doing well I decided to put my backpack in one of the hats thinking that so I could have left more room for the standing people, I did not know that I was doing another wrong thing!

  • Security and cleaning. When I arrived in Japan I had lived several months in Australia where I worked and also traveled. Living and traveling in the land of kangaroos, but also briefly in that of the Lord of the Rings (New Zealand) I had discovered a new way of life, a world in which we should not worry about going around the sun, where You can take public transportation even late in the evening without perceiving the danger, in a world where you do not worry about roaming children freely. Japan, has been in this respect even safer, and perhaps for the first time in my life, I knew the pleasure of leaving home without closing the door, so without worrying about the keys. If, however, I think of the alarm systems we use in our homes or the level of anxieties and fears that affect us, I already miss my breath.

    It is said that Japan is another world and if you have been lucky to visit some Asian countries or Southeast Asia that is not Asia and come here you’ll notice it immediately: Japan is not Asia, it is Japan. Here the towns are clean, tidy, and despite the fact that there are stalls selling food on the streets, you do not create that delicious (small dose) typical of Asian cities.

  • Children traveling alone. Whether you are walking the streets of a small town or in a large city, you will notice groups of children walking and taking public transport on their own, not accompanied by an adult. Accustomed to the black story, and living in places we feel unsafe may seem like a madness, but here’s the norm because you trust the neighbor, the system, and the country you live in. Apart from this, the Japanese are accustomed to walking and taking public transportation, even those who travel by car have the utmost respect for the pedestrians they always give priority.

  • Karaoke. We are used to imagining the Japanese people as introvert and shy people who may have strange ways to have fun like video games or anything else. I had already been able to see how much the Japanese girl we are a lot less shy than I expected and who mostly knew how to enjoy life. I did not know for my personal ignorance that karaoke originated in Japan, and that’s why I am very surprised to see streets and public buildings, posters and billboards indicating spaces where karaoke can be made.

    One day I was offered to do karaoke and I said, “Why not?” So I found myself in a completely different place than I expected. In Italy/Europe, we are used to places where we can sing in front of all people, which in fact frightens and discourages the timidest. From our own bars/pubs, a few nights a week or a specific hour, this activity is considered a lot of fun, especially loved by groups of friends but not only.

    In Japan, however, you go karaoke in the karaoke box, a room with sound insulation where you can sing out of the box without worrying about other people. It was absurd and fun to go near one of these rooms and see people wearing jackets and tie probably drunk down to sing and play together.

    Considering the frantic and almost continuous work rhythms that this habit is used to, these people probably singing is a useful activity to free themselves from stress and fatigue. Anyway, Karaoke in Japan is definitely very popular!

  • 12120167_10207464376628370_4733019162973853010_oThe signs with cartoons pointing to what to do and what to do

    What to do if the selfie stick falls into the underground tunnel, what does not do when you smoke a cigarette among people, how to behave when you ride, etc .. All the signs to educate a people who all ‘Appearance does not need it, but it shows respect for the neighbor.

  • How to give and receive money. When you give money you have to do so by gently holding the banknote between both hands or storing the money directly on a saucer. Even the rest will be given in this way or much easier to put the money in the same saucer.

  • He divided the school. I’m really short as we see in Japanese cartoons! To us, it may seem strange and too provocative, and it is out of place to see a little girl wearing such a skirt so especially to go to school, instead, it’s normal this way. Indeed, it seems that the skirt is longer when the girls are smaller, as little girls, but as they grow they bring them ever shorter!

  • Convenience store, beverage and rice dispensers. Despite its attachment to traditions, Japan is full of convenience stores like the 7eleven, in this country once again traditions go hand in hand with modernity, typical places contrast with typical globalization sites and certainly, in this Tokyo It is a great example.

    In the convenience store you can find everything at any time of the day and night and if you want to save a little money you can buy food here. For example, in addition to buying typical food, I took advantage of buying a drink or an ice cream.

    Everywhere, and I say everywhere, you will find drinks distributors, subway and/or train tracks where the products can be bought with the same card that you will go through the turnstile to reach the bays, the roads not even much frequented by a small village!

    The rice distributor, however, looks a bit like when you have to withdraw the money when the bank is closed. You enter through the doors into a sort of hall where there will be several doors to pick; Well, the rice distributor is a sort of huge phone booth where you enter to pick up the amount of rice you need, basically it’s the main food in Japan land and it would not have it like for us Italians to have no more Homemade pasta!

  • Japanese style and makeup. The Japanese style and I refer mainly to the female sex is a very elegant style and is perhaps why many Japanese love the French style and that many stores are French clothing. It’s amazing how they look cautious but at the same time as many of them look like style, this is because consumerism in this country is at the highest levels and so in the end except for exceptions it ends up being homologated. During my months in Sydney I had already met several Japanese girls and I noticed that many of them did the same thing and above all had a ceramic doll skin. In Japan, going to the supermarkets and seeing more Japanese I realized that their makeup was the result of their obsession: the size of the eyes. The fact that they are cut with a flesh-colored eyeshadow and use only an eyeliner and mascara is absolutely no causal: this type of trick is used to enhance the eyes and make them look bigger. I still remember the designs on the mascara packs: there were female cartoon characters (like Lady Oscar) with big eyes and eyebrows that we would not even be able to have! Sitting on the sofa at home in Sydney, a Japanese friend watching my lashes could not help but wonder if they were true or false! It is as if somehow the fact of having different eyes is seen as a defect perhaps too conditioned by Western aesthetic canons and that is why more and more girls resort to aesthetic surgery to change their eyes, and all this is paradoxical because In our eyes they are so beautiful and fascinating as they are!

  • White mask. I’ve always thought that the Asians used the smog mask and/or to protect themselves from transmission of illnesses and probably given the high smog rates of Chinese cities is one of the main reasons. In Japan it seems that you wear the mask when you are ill, so to protect others and not infect them.

 

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