We arrived in Japan Wednesday afternoon and our hotel in Tokyo later that evening. This is my third time visiting Asia but the first time in Japan.
I will admit that most of my knowledge of Japan comes from video games and entertainment. That combined with the western fascination with Japan’s… lets just say cultural quirks I really just didn’t know what to expect.
We speak maybe 10 words of Japanese so we’re pretty limited in our ability to interact with the locals here so my early impression is largely based on observation and basic gesture based interactions.
After the first two days here I’ll say that the things that have stood out the most to me are: surprisingly low automobile traffic and strangely clean cars.
On the morning of our second day we walked from our hotel in Minato to the Shibuya Sky experience in Shibuya and I couldn’t help but notice how clean the cars were. Like, all of them. The buses, the taxis, the cars of private citizens… work trucks, they all just seemed so clean.
The other traffic related thing didn’t really click until we were high above the city looking down from the 47th floor observation deck of Shibuya Scramble Square Tower. It was how light auto traffic was. In fairness, we just left Mexico City to come here and the traffic there is notoriously bad, but comparing what I’ve seen here to Chicago, Houston or other big US cities, it’s damned near peaceful.
My current assumption is that it must be a combination of a highly efficient public transportation system, and high cost of owning / operating a car in the city.
The people
Now, I’m from the fake friendly, “bless your heart” southern US so I know that what a person does and what’s really going though their head doesn’t always line up but what you’ve seen of Japanese politeness and general respect towards others, even foreigners, is kind of what you would imagine from movies. Lots of bows, lots of “arigatou gozaimasu”. Lots of attention paid to structure and order.
The only thing I’ll add to that is to say that it’s nice. When I purchased my first egg salad sandwich at 7-11 the girl at the register taking my credit card with both hands and a bow made me feel, I don’t know, special.
From walking around the city a bit I’ve seen a variety of people of all ages and seemingly many different social tiers. Young corporate types in suits, older blue collar workers, teens, kids… just going about their daily activities. Everyone seems normal in their own way and not really standing out and then “boom” someone who looks like they’re heading to a cosplay convention, or stepped right out of a video game. It’s hard not pull out my camera and take pictures just to capture it. But I don’t want to be “that guy”. I totally expected it, but it still gives me pause to see it in real life.
Something else that I had heard about Japan was about young kids to or coming from school without adult supervision. Younger kids than I’ve come to expect seeing alone than in the US. It’s interesting and I can only assume that it’s related to the society having less fear of strangers and/or there literally being less danger. Either way it seems that it must be good for the kids’ self-esteem to be able to have this kind of freedom at such a young age.
The toilets
Ok everything you’ve heard about Japanese toilets is absolutely true. We’ve traveled to places where bidets are the norm and while I won’t say that I’ve ever gotten used to them I have used them and appreciate the solution. But what Japan has done with its electronic masterpieces is just on a totally different level.
First things first. I love the motion sensor that recognizes when you’ve approached the bowl. It’s especially nice in the middle of the night since it opens the lid for you.
When you sit down you’re greeted with a prewarmed seat which is so much nicer than you might think.
Once you’ve done your business, however, is when the real treat begins. I’ve used bidets in other countries before which is basically cold hose water. In India for example that’s literally what you’ve got. But here in Japan, you’ve got a strategically positioned, and electronically adjustable jet to get the job done perfectly. And after, you’ve got various drying modes. This is the first time one of these setup’s has completely removed the need for paper and I love it.
Overall
Tokyo so far is the clean and organized city you’d expect. People seem friendly and helpful even for totally ignorant foreigners like us who can’t even speak. We’re only in Japan for a short while but I do intend to come back.
