Observations of Japan

Now that my journey through Japan has come to an end, at least this time around, I thought I'd share a few of my observations of the quirks and novelties that color daily life in Japan.


Most of my meals consisted of bento, or lunch boxes from the local convenience store. These actually were not too bad on the healthiness scale, consisting of rice, nori (seaweed), and various pickled vegetables or fish. Occasionally, I would eat at a ramen counter or sit down for a proper meal. My impression of Japanese food is that as an art form, it is highly advanced, even on the budget end. Meals are arranged with such careful attention to detail. Even at Denny's ( directly above), the Japanese style breakfast was an aesthetically pleasing meal of rice, salmon, soup, natto (a nutritious method of preparing of soybean), and nori. No wonder Japanese people enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world. I have heard Japanese cuisine described as bland, but rather, I think of it as subtle, requiring a refined palate to appreciate its delicate flavors.


Japan has a very efficient sytem for recycling bottles and cans. It is, in fact, often easier to find a recycling bin than a trash can, as you are expected to hold on to your garbage and dispose of it at home. However, they do use huge amounts of plastic, whether its a bag to carry your lunch box, or the lunch box container itself. It seems these items all fall into the 'combustible' category. One of the phrases I used the most in Japanese was, "fukuro wa irimasen", or "I don't need a bag". I did my best to use as little plastic as possible, but I felt guilty every time I threw an empty container into the 'combustible' bin.


I do not have many complaints about public services in Japan, and do my best not to compain about things in general, but I will make an exception for the public phones. These greedy little green monsters demand 100 yen, about a dollar, for a minute of talk time. A few seconds before your time is up, you hear a beep, which is barely enough time, if you are skillful enough with your free hand, to unzip your money pouch and fish out and insert a 10 yen coin because you do not want to spend another dollar, which extends your phone call by about 10 more seconds, at which point your call is suddenly cut short, just as you were about to confirm the reservation for your next hostel. To top that, an international phone card, which I purchased for 1000 yen, lasted me about 15 minutes for a phone call to Korea on one of these dreadful machines.


You probably have heard that there is a vending machine for almost anything in Japan. I find it amusing that on many of them, you have to press a button or lever to get your change. It is optional. As if I would not want my change because I used up all of my coins on that phone call I just made.


I love anko! Anko is the Japanese name for azuki beans. Give me anything with anko in it, I want it!


While I was in Japan, I was listening a lot to American Beauty, by the Grateful Dead. If you have heard it, I think you will agree that it is one of the great albums of all time—especially if you are on the road, far from home.