I
had been to Tokyo twice before my Osaka trip and this recent trip reinforced
what I had observed before:
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A very polite society. No one raises their voice and you won’t find anyone on
the train talking on their hand-phones. If they do, they usually cover the
mouthpiece so as not to disturb other passengers. Japanese are uncomfortable
about making others uncomfortable. No one shouts. You get large crowds at
attractions like Universal Studios Japan and the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in
Kyoto for instance but everyone queues and moves in an orderly manner. No
pushing, no shoving, no queue jumping. No kids running everywhere and no
parents letting their kids running everywhere they like terrorising the place
down. I really wish more parents and children here are as well-behaved.
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A very clean country. No one litters. No one.
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Fascination with the cute and cuddly. Kawaii dominates the culture big time. I
love it! Every girl would have a dangling bag or phone charm.
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Plastic bags are still widely in use everywhere. So much so I got the confused
look when I declined them at supermarkets and convenience stores. They do
recycle rigorously though. When Akak was there, she told us of the different
rubbish collecting days: one day, it would be only organic waste; another it
would be inorganic waste. You would have to sort out your waste accordingly.
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Creative people. Too creative at times (and no, this is not a criticism!) that
they seem to be quirky. They are the ones who came up with robots. They excel
at food decorating and arrangement, bonsai trees, fantastic and soothing
landscapes, etc. They are also good at utilising space and inventing things to make
life easier. However, I observed a lot of them still use flip phones.
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You can find squat toilets besides sit-down toilets in some bathrooms. Most
sit-down toilets have integrated bidet and even warm seats. When you sit down,
you can hear the sound of water flowing or you can hit the music button and
some sound will come out to drown out your own sound. Ladies’ cubicles in some
departmental store washrooms have a child seat in them. How thoughtful, eh! They
are not big on hand towels though and some bathrooms don’t have hand dryer
either.
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They like to drink cold water with their meals even in winter. I can hardly
swallow it in summer (I don’t drink cold or iced water), what more in winter.
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They are big on meat. You have to be careful when you eat because some noodle
dishes may be served in pork broth.
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Oh and vending machines are a ubiquitous sight everywhere. They even got me to
thinking about the products sold: how do the companies know when to re-stock
and how do they ensure products sold are still within their best consume-by dates.
I
love the beautiful country and how the smart Japanese marry the traditional with
the modern. Realistically though, I don’t think I will be back. I would love to
but I don’t see that happening any time soon.
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