1) Japanese people wear masks when they are sick (so as not to infect others). This includes shi-shi women dressed up in heels, full make-up, the whole get-up and then...a white mask covering their mouth and nose.
2) There are little dogs everywhere, dressed in sweaters, trousers, being pushed in strollers.
3) (Disclaimer: please don't judge me {especially you, Sayo!}) There are no garbage cans here- anywhere. The other day I was running out the door, hungry, about to get on a train for 70 minutes. I ate a banana but had nowhere to put the peel before entering the train station. I didn't want to be stuck on a crowded train with a banana peel in my hand- I'm already a foreigner who gets stared at enough as it is. In a moment of temptation I gave in and chucked it in the bushes on the side of the stairs (among lots of other trash). I ran fast down the stairs for fear that a video camera would catch me doing this and I would be tracked down. Sorry Japan!
4) There are video cameras everwhere, watching your every move. Stephen and I are already afraid that we are being rude Americans and these cameras make us even more uneasy. We jaywalked the other day and exclaimed, "Oh no! The cameras!"
5) Japanese people are super nice, friendly and helpful. Unless you ask a 14 year old boy, "Sumimasen. Kono denshya wa Yokohama ni iki masuka?" (Excuse me, does this train go to Yokohama?). In which case he will be taken aback, have a look of shock and horror on his face, turn and run away. But don't worry, the next old lady you ask will talk to you in her broken English for the next 26 minute train ride about her life, her retired husband, her hobbies, her love of Italian food, her son and daughter, and by the end will be your new best friend, Yuuko-san.
(photos of all of the above to come, hopefully)
Jill
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