It’s been long overdue that I’ve even looked at my blog! I have no excuse really – other than I’ve just been prioritizing the overall experience of my travels over writing in these last few weeks. Sarah and I have by now gone through Tokyo, Kyoto, and are now in Osaka. Today is day 2 in Osaka.

We’re also on month 2 of essentially being homeless – crashing in AirBnB’s, hotels, and the abodes of hospitable friends. April was a transitionary month as we spent much of it in San Diego, and in Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with family. It’s been a new mode of living, and strangely liberating. My work schedule is such that I’ve gotta be up at 4am during weekdays, but hey – not complaining. It’s actually given me a chance to go outside and see Japan before it wakes up each day, and enjoy the calm before the daily storms of life.

This experience has been amazing, tiring, exciting, awesome, and eye opening. From the little things of an egg salad sandwich at 7-11 to the grand experiences of a baseball stadium, Japan is filled with surprises for this American tourist. I’ve been here 3 times prior and it was still a new experience for me this time around. Rather than go on a rambling discourse about what I think about this country, here’s a list of items I’ve summarized:

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT JAPAN in 2018

1. Just about everything is efficient (that’s obvious); from living quarters to eating to transportation to just about every little thing is about zero waste. On that note, no one shows up early or late for anything; everyone shows up right on time.
2. No one wears sunglasses here except us foreigners. If you do people will either think you’re a posing hop hop/rap star or yakuza. On that note, no one wears cologne or perfume either. Probably same kind of reason I’m guessing. Only a very small percentage of the population has body odor, and these few unfortunate folks make up for the lack of smell in the rest of the pack.
3. Vendors use the post office as a will call for picking up everything from pocket WiFi devices to baseball tickets. It makes sense when you think about it.
4. There is no laptop-at-the-coffee shop culture in Japan. I actually have not seen a single laptop in the wild except at the department store. To that end there are also very limited WiFi points available in the public. This makes me think people like to leave work at work. For us foreigners the move is to get a pocket WiFi with high speed unlimited data and connect all devices to it.
5. Vending machines are EVERYWHERE! At stores, vending machines act as the de facto cashier, which will spit out a ticket that you can take to a counter to redeem whatever you paid for. There was even a vending machine at the gym where you could buy a daily pass, rent towels, a protein shake, and more! Again, genius because it eliminates the need to have a human cashier. I really liked the coffee in the vending machines, especially the ones that have Tommy Lee Jones randomly in their marketing as “THE BOSS.”
6. There are lines for EVERYTHING. People LOVE lines here. People will wait in a line for no reason here. No one is pushy, and everyone is orderly in waiting calmly to get what they want. That is, unless you run into a bunch of cacophonous Chinese tourists who struggle with the concept of a line – this happens in highly touristy areas.
7. In the women’s fitting room, department stores give women breathable plastic bags to put over their head in order to try dresses on. This is so that makeup doesn’t smear on the outfit- I guess this happens often back home in the States. Brilliant (though I would never know this problem personally) Also, women’s clothes in Japan are one size fits all, as they are typically very elastic. I thought this was interesting because I did see women of all shapes and sizes here, not just your stereotypical skinny petit Japanese woman.
8. People don’t multitask here when it comes to matters of consumption. For instance, it’s taboo to eat or drink while walking. Even our hotel room instructions said that one could smoke in the room, but not to smoke whilst walking. People stop, consume their thing, then move on.
9. The Shinkansen, or high speed bullet train, goes 165mph!! I don’t understand how Japan can have this in 1958 and America STILL doesn’t have infrastructure like this. Almost makes me want to explore gathering investors to finance a venture for a high-speed railway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas just to prove the concept! (I’m sure someone has been thinking about this already and has had other challenges to overcome- but therein lies the opportunity…)
10. The tatami mat does wonders! I normally never sleep on the floor, but after just even the first week, my back has straightened out and my posture has improved naturally. I used to have a “hump” on my upper back that has magically disappeared. Amazing stuff!
11. GOOD sushi is surprisingly hard to find in Japan, believe it or not. I think it’s partially because there is so much other good kinds of food everywhere here. I also think it’s because of the great abundance of fish that many sushi men think they can get away with subpar quality and pass it off as good sushi. (Pro tip: do NOT go to any sushi restaurant where you see Korean tourists gathering about.) But the greats are around- you just need to know where to look. Tsukiji Market’s Sushi Dai is the best I’ve had in Japan so far. Kyoto’s Sushi Iwa, acclaimed by Steve Jobs, was among the top 3 I’ve ever had.

And now, here we are in Osaka with more to explore. I’m sure there will be more observations to come, but that’s all I got for now.