1. People Sleep Everywhere
The Japanese have some innate ability to fall asleep whenever and wherever suitable. Most commonly you'll see business men and women snoozing on the trains and somehow they always seem to stir and wake-up just before their stop. The other day our school had a visiting former astronaut come and give a speech! It was amazing the training and the photos she showed. Despite this however, about 70% of all the students (and teachers) had a snooze. Give a guy 10 minutes of free time and a reasonable location he'll just close his eyes and be out like a light.
2. Japanese People Work Hard
Maybe cause and effect for #1? The Japanese dedicate their lives to their work. I recommend a documentary called 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi' which is about the first Sushi chef to be awarded 3 Michelin Stars. His ethos of working his utmost hardest every day for the entirety of his life is a litmus paper that nearly all Japanese seem to strive for over here. Teachers often don't finish working until 8pm if they're lucky. Businessmen and women even later. It's not the norm to change careers and it is a part of the fabric of the culture here to stick around work to avoid being the first one to leave. A complex game of
'chicken'. Mind you though, a lot of the hours that the Japanese put in are actually just sitting around socializing. Colleagues become your friends and in some cases closer than your family. Still though, I'm glad I can bugger off home at 4:30 -5:00 with my contract!
3. Vending Machines Are Actually Everywhere
While Japan has this strange global reputation of having vending machines everywhere, the truth is somewhat of a skewed representation of that opinion. Vending machines can be found on nearly every block, however, it is quite rare to find any that contain food or clothing or sex toys. Still though, nearly every vending machine will offer hot or cold drinks, some even offer warmed canned soups! You do come across some amazing ones though. I have seen a rental bike vending machine. A hot-food vending machine which would pretty much microwave a full plate of food for you. Oh, and the coffee vending machine which had fully transparent window where you could see the fresh beans being picked up, ground, perculated and self-cleaned. Not quite as common as you'd think, but still damn convenient.
4. Technology is Surprisingly Behind
Japan has some of the most amazing technological R&D in the world. They're a global powerhouse of electronics and invent some amazing and creative uses for technology that the rest of the world just seems to lag behind (heated toilet seats please!). Despite this, Japan is really set in it's ways with old technology. One day you can visit a restaurant and be handed a fancy ipod to make your menu selections, the next you have to go into the post office to get cash out because the ATM's don't work with your card on Sundays, and nearly no where accepts anything but cash. Offices are notorious for being 'stuck in tradition' and still use old fax machines from the 90s and a visit to any Japanese website heralds memories of the old 90's web pages with animated flashing .gif banners and gaudy colors everywhere. Australia is really ahead with how online it is. Nearly 50% of my students don't even have a home computer!
5. Convenience Stores are Actually Convenient
You may have heard of it already, but Japanese Convenience Stores are actually amazing. In western countries they're akin to a gas/petrol station's selection of some dried out meat pies and some soft drinks that are exhorbitantly overpriced. In Japan, they stock a huge range and at prices equivalent to any major store. They stock fresh fruits and vegetables, alcohol, they have freshly made bento boxes(lunch boxes) of all sorts of delicious Japanese food everyday and a selection of hot-in the oven chicken skewers or even Japanese oden. Despite the food, they also let you pay for tickets, bills, postages/mail, airline tickets, fines. They really are convenient!
