Electric operated shower toilets – plugs into the wall, complete with button panel on the side of the toilet and on the wall. (Statistically, how many people get electrocuted on their shower toilets each year? Inquiring minds want to know…)
Japanese style toilets – on the floor – are really common (and not fun IMHO… have used them while 7 months pregnant before!) … but if you look hard in enough in public restrooms, there’s often a western-style toilet way in the back stall.
Everything is recycled – even fast food restaurants and subway trashcans have recycling slots (Or, at the bare minimum, “Combustible” and “Non-Combustible” (burnable/not burnable) (So easy to do – why don’t we have this in America?)
Vending machines everywhere, for all sorts of items; Hot and Cold beverages from the same machine
Driving on the left side – or all over the road and squeezing into little spaces to go around parked vehicles, as there is NO shoulder – also, drivers get really close to people, strollers, etc., and other cars – while traveling pretty fast. I’ll never get used to this!
Hot washcloths served just before dinner to wash hands
Washer/dryer in one machine (When installed, like the shower toilets, these too are sprinkled with dust from fairies wearing firemen hats – again, can we say “electrocution hazard?” )
Many women don’t wear makeup – even business women
Women wear stelleto heels like they’re sneakers, and there are shoe repair places at just about every subway stop!
I haven’t noticed many low-cut shirts (it’s noticeable when you’re used to western style clothes… don’t realize how normal it is to see cleavage in the US – but I have seen a lot of really short skirts… with knee-high boots, of course)
Cost is 2-3x for things compared to the US
Diapers are tri-folded in the bags vs. folded in half
Scrub first then bathe
Auto-fill tub from the kitchen
Hot water managed from the kitchen – on demand
All the cereal here seems to be some form of muesli or cornflakes
Peanut butter is hard to find – and costs about $5 for a tiny jar
Shrines and temples everywhere – Americans have to stretch their imaginations to understand the word “idol” or “false god” – not here!
Walk on the left side
The first day of spring is a national holiday
Stores have several floors – Elevators in grocery stores help get your and your cart from one floor to the next! Some stores, you pay per floor, others you pay at the end. You have to keep your eyes peeled for a register, just in case it’s a floor with a cashier!
Shopping carts are interesting – it’s a cart with a hole for a handy-basket. You fill the basket and then bag at a separate counter after paying.
I see more people paying with cash vs. credit/debit cards
Little hidden beauty – like pretty man-hole covers on the streets and sidewalks
All the shops have flower arrangements out front – little mini gardens
Toilets are in a separate room from the bath – so there’s the toilet room and the bathroom. If you tell someone you have to use the bathroom, it’s confusing. That means you have to take a bath. You say, “I need to use the toilet”.
To count, you fold your fingers down instead of extend them. I held up four fingers to get four ginger ales and got one drink – only one finger was folded down.
People here are night-owls! I love it! A friend from Mitaka Evangelical Church called at like 10pm the other night. We were up, of course! Nothing’s open until 10am around here and church doesn’t start till 10:30am. Boo early birds!
The average family has 1.3 children – not only do we stick out because we look different, Tom and I have quite the entourage.
Milk is unpasteurized – very creamy in flavor, no matter what percentage of milkfat
People believe in spirits of the dead – hence the number of shrines – yet they’re not obviously not afraid of them – manifested in the fact that graveyards, while solemn and quiet, and seen as “spooky” in the US, are a place for picnics, drinking parties, cherry blossom viewing, and events here. There are even food vendors and streets going right through them.
