Likes, dislikes and observations

For this post I was originally going to post another interview, but I figured I'd take this time to talk about the many likes, dislikes and observations I've had about Japan since arriving.

I'll break this down into a like section, a dislike section, and then an observation section. I will provide explanations and examples for each.

Lastly, before I start I would just like to say this. If you disagree with anything I say here, that is super awesome for you and I'm sure you have many decent reason why you feel that way. These are my opinions however and therefore I am not looking to offend anyone. Not that anything I'd ever post would be offensive! :P

Dislikes:

1) There are no water fountains anywhere. I have yet to see one and even though I hear that they exist, I am inclined to believe they are an urban myth. Like alligators in the sewers. Pictures or it doesn't exist!

2) $30 dollar "All you can eat" restaurants. Now, I only dislike them because this is a brilliant business idea that I have to be subjected to. Basically you pay 30 dollars for them to bring you a predesignated meal split into several courses where you often are given the ingredients and cook them yourselves. Now, that sounds great because you can literally order as much food as you want for a set amount of time (usually 2 hours). The brilliance of this plan is that for any party to order any absurd amount of food there has to be an absurd amount of people. An absurd amount of people paying 30 dollars EACH regardless of how much they eat. These establishments are making BANK, and I hate them for it. I want da monayy!

3) Japanese authority. All of it, I dislike it all! Japanese authority means that if there is a rule...the idea of anyone breaking it is strange, so when someone DOES break the rule. Big, big, big deal. Also, there is almost no leniency with due dates. For example, here you have a 24 hour time slot to drop classes. This time slot occurs 2 weeks after the 24 hour time slot to add classes. If you do not drop or add classes within those SPECIFIC 24 hours, you are literally shit out of luck. If you forget to drop a class you don't want, there is literally NO one who is willing to help you rectify the situation. Now, I may find this so unpleasant because I grew up in the wonderful country of America where we are taught that if we complain enough, people will fix our problem. Even so, I don't like how strict the rules are here for everything. Like, why can't we have an open flame in a metal grill placed on a massive cement platform located next to a RIVER in the middle of rainy season. There is almost no way normal, inebriated, or otherwise could cause any sort of dangerous fire. I mean the vegetation is so saturated outside that I don't think it is capable of igniting.

4) Being stared at all the time. Now, I know there are some of you out there thinking "whoa, Garrett doesn't want to be the center of attention!?!? No way!" Well surprise surprise, it is true in this case. Before I elaborate I will admit it can be quite nice being one of the few "blue eyed, blonde haired foreigners" at times with obvious perks. What I don't like is when I am outside the international confines of my University, people take note of everything I do. If I walk into the barber shop, everyone stares at me the entire time I am there and listens to everything I say. When I go shopping, the customers behind me pay razor close attention to everything I am buying. One time a security guard "not so subtly" followed me around a mall to make sure I didn't try to steal anything. I mean really! Okay well this one isn't that big of a deal, but it can be quite unnerving always having that feeling that you are being watched, and then when you look around you realize you ARE always being watched.

5) Everything is expensive! Now this is mostly due to the Fukushima disaster wrecking the economy and forcing massive energy saving campaigns across the country. Even so, my bank account cries on a daily basis. I just want him to be happy again :(.   Ads are over there  :D ---------->

LIKES!

1) Japanese people are the nicest, most helpful people I have ever encountered in my extensive 22 years of life. In the first 10 hours I was in Japan I can't even remember how many times I was assisted by strangers that went out of their way to help.

2) Japanese women. Japanese women all dress REALLY well, ALL the time. I've seen countless Japanese girls sprint in heals and have no problem with it. Not only do they dress exceptionally well, they carry themselves with class, they are 95% of the time in excellent shape! My perception of skinny and being in shaped has definitely changed since coming here. I've lost a bit of weight myself (proud face). I mentioned that they are classy, and I meant it. From what I have observed Japanese women are some of the most adept people on the planet at keeping their personal lives personal. It is a beautiful thing that I wish Americans would adopt.

3) All Japanese food, with the exception of Nato, tastes amazing! Karaage, the Japanese fried chicken is SO GOOD. Probably because it is made with real meat, and has less oil in it. Mmmmm nom nom nom.

4) All Japanese people seem to be very skilled in the kitchen. They all know how to cook, and find it very funny when they first see an American in the kitchen trying to cook because they have the correct assumption that many of us don't know anything about cooking. Since being here my skills in the kitchen have increased exponentially from a .1 out of 10 to about a 6 out of 10 (Proud face).

5) Multiple trashcans for different things. This initially bugged me, however after using the system for 3 months I know that I am going to feel dirty every time I combine coke cans/bottles with regular burnable trash. Japan recycles so much, and they burn the rest.

6) Theft basically doesn't exist. Crime doesn't seem to exist either for that matter. I'm going to talk specifically about theft though. I've accidentally left my stuff places so many times and when I returned they were still right where I left them. I never feel in danger when walking downtown at night, and it's not because I am bigger than 80% of the population. I know that no one is going to mug me. Hell the police don't even carry firearms. The one exception to the theft rule on my university seems to be umbrellas. Apparently it is common place to have your umbrella stolen, which I encountered myself when my first umbrella was stolen. Since then I have acquired 4 of them, just in case. ;)

7) Bars don't close until something absurd like 10am. The nightlife in Japan is a FULL night of life. It is not uncommon to go to a club until 2am, then go to a bar to cool off until 4am, and then go to karaoke until 10am. Which leads me to my next like!

8) KARAOKE! As I'm sure those of you who have read my interviews have noticed, I am somewhat of a microphone hog. Which is weird because in America I would never sing karaoke. That is because American karaoke usually consists of one mic in front of a lot of drunk stranger Americans. In Japan you can get your own room with just your friends for 6 hours and unlimited drinks for $25. If I am in a VIP room with just my group of friends, unlimited drinks, and 4 mics to spare between us, you can be damn sure I'm going to sing all night and get my $25 worth of singing and drinking. Gotta be economical after all!


OBSERVATIONS!

1) Courting between guys and girls is pretty hilarious over here. Since the Japanese are so polite all the time it can be such a slow process for a guy and a girl who like each other to first admit it to one another, and then take the huge leap of actually dating.

2) Texting girls over here is a completely different art form than it is in the states. See, the Japanese are masters of using emoticons with everything. So I was very taken aback when I told a lady friend that I was heading over to her room to hang out with a group of friends and she replies with. "Can't wait ;)" Yeah, I thought it meant that too, so I asked her "Wait, this is a nomikai right? There will be a lot of people there right? And don't you have a boyfriend? I'm so confused." Well this confused HER, because a wink here is NOT what a wink means in the US. A wink here is not flirty at all, nor does it have any hidden meaning. This was a big learning curve for my American friends and I that lead to some pretty interesting cultural explanations.

3) Any American that can speak any Japanese amazes the native speakers. I have been told by quite a few Japanese native speakers that my Japanese is great, even though I KNOW it is not that great at all. At first I thought they were just being polite, but I think they just don't see enough foreigners speaking Japanese that it somewhat amazes them when they finally do.

Well holy hell that was a lot of typing. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I have a test to study for so I can't be bothered to find any specific ones. SORRY!

Thanks for reading, and I will see you back here tomorrow!

Day song thing -