Every place you live there is a set of "new rules" or things that are typical for
that location.
In Texas, it is totally normal for you to order "tea" and receive sweet tea. God bless that beautiful piece of heaven!
Traveling through New Jersey when you pull into a gas station, it is understood that someone else will fill up your car for you while you sit inside the vehicle. You will also pay less for your gas here. Go figure.
Head to Germany and it will take three hours to eat dinner. Even then you will have to beg for a check, because dinner is considered a social event that lasts ..forever.. I mean, that lasts for most of the evening.
When visiting in Moscow, you better keep your head down and your smiling face completely neutral. Otherwise, it is obvious you do not belong. Russians don't smile at strangers. Come to think of it, Russians don't really smile much at all.
Well, in Japan there are definite ways of life as well. Some I can explain because I've learned the background. Others leave me clueless. Don't worry, I'm used to being clueless in certain areas. It keeps me humble.
Here are a few random tidbits we have learned while living and traveling in Japan.
* Men are Hungrier? There are two sizes of meals for adults. A "male" meal is about 50% larger than a female version. The meals cost the same amount of ¥ though. Women are smaller, and they "want to stay that way", as one local told me. They considered it offensive when a woman eats says much as a man. They even have different size Bento boxes for making lunches to take to work. The female version is not much bigger than two kid's juice boxes. Oh, that's how they stay so thin.
* They are on the Move! Their homes are not only tiny (like I have explained before), but the homes are also multi-leveled. This means that no matter what the age of the oocupants they must climb stairs and move around a lot. They also eat while seating basically on the floor. (There are thin mats to sit on, but they are no thicker than a beach towel folded in half.) Three meals a day, for their entire lives, they do a squats to get up and down to the incredibly short table. When was the last time you do some squats on the floor to eat. I not even 40 and the floor is
really far down there! How do they do it at 90?
* Working 9 to 105! (No blog is complete without a little Dolly Parton reference.) There is no reason to stop working here. They will find a job, any job for any one who wants to work. There are people working the crosswalks, washing down the sidewalks, watching out for walkers when construction workers are digging.... You name it.
They are greeters at Mcdonalds, which is said "Ma-coo-do-na-el-das" here ~ just to confuse every.single.visitor to the country. Every other country I have ever been to pronounces McDonalds, like we do in the States. Japan makes it a 6 to 7 syllable word end pending on who is speaking. I digress.
Allowing the elders of the country to work doesn't seem to be about money, although I am sure it is occasionally. Most of all it seems to be about giving the seniors a purpose.
When they are not working, every senior citizen plays some type of recreation in their town. They are everywhere! They come out in hoards during the day when the children are at school. All the local parks and fields are flooded with crocquet and mini golf, frisbee and some game that looks like boucee.
Seriously, it is like the whole town became an "active seniors resort"! I want to stop and take pictures, but I may not sure how well that would go over. It is a fabulous system to keep their elders active, healthy and challenged. Plus, they are plugged in to a group so if something went wrong people would know to check on the missing senior. Their population not only lives longer, but lives much healthier than ours because they move, work longer and stay more active. Lightbulb moment anyone?
*
Sit Tall, but be Bowlegged? What? Let me just put it out there.
A large number of the Japanese women we see have wonderful posture sitting down. They sit so tall you almost forget how short they are. Weird, but true. In restaurants you can look around and not see a single female who is slouching a bit. As if a pole from the ceiling went straight down their backs, they sit that straight up. But, then it happens. They stand up and start walking. It is just a mess for most females 30 and younger. It apparently started when their desire to walk in ever taller heels. They "copied the runway models" and put one foot in front of the other while turning their toes completely out. They look like the "omega" sign when they walk. They are beautiful, poised and precise... while being totally bowlegged. I'm not sure why. I have tried to ask, but there is not a polite way to say this. Really. I've tried.
* Females lack a certain American "necessity". This is a little awkward to discuss, but in the interest of education I am going to tell you the whole story. We explore in grocery stores. You can find out a ton about a country and her people in a grocery store. After multiple stores and looking around for weeks I discovered a interesting factoid. This island doesn't sell tampons. I have no idea why. I certainly am not asking about that one! I an ag see that getting truly lost in translation. Just a random truth to share with the lady blog world. Another weird fact, toilet paper comes in scent and crazy prints.
* Germaphobics Galore! My sweet sister-in-law would love this aspect of Japan. They are Germ FREAKS! I say that in the kindest sort of way.
There are sinks in all the resturants out wash your hands without having to go into the bathroom. Awesome idea.
There are also anti-bacterial towelettes given to each diner at every single restuarant. Ritzy places or hole.in.the.wall joint. You will have a towelettes. Don't even think about using that thing as a napkin. Not cool. It is considered "dirtier than your dog's bum" once you wash your hands with it.
And, oh my! the reaction if something hits the floor and you try to pick it up. This has happens to me. Of course it has. With four kiddos and the clutze that I am. I dropped a coin. The scenario played out like this.
Setting: a high-class food store where the food looks like it from a magazine. It is the quietest place in town, even though there are 35+ shoppers active searching for their next noodle or rice meal.
A young cashier attempts to hand me some change from my purchase. It is, of course, coins since most of Japan's money is coins. I fumble it before dropping a lone 500¥ coin on the floor. I watch as it falls and hear the 'clink' of it's metal bouncing on the hard floor.
The world stopped spinning. As if you were a huge piglet headed into a slaughterhouse, the whole audience knows this is a horrible idea. They are trapped watching you as you make a huge mistake. The entire store freezes and the background music stops. The people all reach to help you, but in slow motion all you hear is a faint, "noooooo". Your finger almost touches the coin as a complete stranger jumps on it. Literally. The man stomped on my $5, as if it were an an the was destined to crush. He looks at the cashier and hast fully said something in a deep, guitar voice. She started digging out a NEW coin for me as she call a manager to come sanitize the old coin. It cannot possible go back into the drawer and infect the other clean coins.
We got out to the car and finally one of the kids broke the strange silence with, "That was incredibly strange! Do they not know how dirty money already? Dropping it on the ground wouldn't even matter that much since you didn't plan on eating it or anything." (Trust me my poor sister-in-law is washing her hands at this very second just thinking about me getting a coin off the dirty floor.)
Japan is obsessed with clean, if something falls on the floor, you leave it there. A lovely worker with a long- handled broom will make it disappear ASAP. You do not even look at it. It never happened. Kinda like me wearing neon Capri pants and rubber bracelets from my wrist to my elbow. Never happened.
* To the Left, to the Left! You drive on the left. You walk on the left. You step to the left if it's crowded. You face chopsticks to that left. You go through the buffet line to the left. The buttons for the elevator are on the left. The bus lets you out on the left side of the road. BUT, when you are in Osaka, you stand on the right and the buttons are on the right. It is like Austin, Texas. They just like to be weird. No one knows why, but it's their "thang" so let them have it. Before you know it there will be shirts that say, " Keep Osaka Weird!"
* Men are not quite as manly as most Americans. I'm totally cool with my man carrying a gun, but a large, decorated purse on a male is just not attractive to me. I don't have a single solitary word to say about that. Not. One. Word. Then, there's all the men wearing capri pants... Momma always told me if you don't have anything nice to say.... Well, you know how it goes.
*A Whole new Kind of Seat Warmer! It's shocking at first to sit on a Japanese toilet, but it really is a luxury. When you sit down on the toilet and the seat is warm, the music is playing and the bathroom is meticulously clean. Warm toilet seats during the freezing New York winters while trying to potty train would have been awesome.
* Basic Manners are Back in Style. I know the whole story of why Japanese bow. Here's the short version. Back in the Samari times your neck was the most vulnerable part of your body. When you bow, you quite literally, show the back of your neck to the person. You are making yourself vulnerable and showing the person you rust them to not cut your head off.
Well, I don't want to bring out the Samari swords or anything, but I would love for basic manners to return to the USA.
When you check out here, after the money has been exchanged and recipt given, the two people make eye contact. Then, they both places their hands down and bow at the waist while saying, "Arigatougozaimasu". (It sounds like, "R-E-got-toe goes-zi-moss.) it means ,"thank you so very much". It is utterly surreal that something so small can make the whole day better. But, it does. That small gesture reminds both people that we are in this together and that manners make life easier. When did we forget that? They even have "guards" who keep the grass they are mowing from landing in the street. Crazy!
* Smoking, Anyone? One of the cultural surprises here has been the vast amount of people who smoke. It is like the 90's in the US. There are smokers everywhere, though you never see a cigarette butt. There are designated smoking sections at almost every location. Both sexes smoke, but it is primarily the men who smoke in public. All ages seem to smoke and ignore the health risks. It is a conundrum for me. Why would they start a nasty habit that even the crazy Americans are working hard to get away from?
* Progress is a Team Sport. Japan has issues. They refuse to acknowledge mental illness, the number of young people is not growing fast enough to support their huge, aging population, and they are running out of room in the most popular parts of the country. Cremation is required because they don't have the land to even bury people. But, and this is where the rubber meets the road folks, they are a TEAM. They consider the community more important than the self. They sacrifice willingly to serve the country and each other. They know they are stronger together. They disagree, discuss both sides and put it to a vote. Then, they get busy doing whatever it is the majority voted for without wasting anymore time bickering. Doesn't THAT sound like something America could learn from?
I love bringing all the little tidbits to you. I pray that your day is brightened and your load lightened as you laugh at my mistakes silly adventures.
I'm more advanced than the Ape, but none the less, still evolving.
Covering the craziness of my Crew,
~Aggie Amy
Cupnoodles tells the story of Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin food product and the inventor of Chicken Ramen. 
When we left the class, we only had 10 minutes until the bus left. We ran, well we walked quickly, through the Hall of Noodles, so we could see the over 3,000 different packages that have been marketed since 1958. 
On to the next Japanese Food Addiction!
Until Now!
You can choose from all sorts of tasty treats. The most addictive one is the fresh potato ships covered in Royce's rich, but light chocolate. Oh.My.My.My! 
The stores are turning up in more and more places. They have three in NYC now. 
I am thinking we may have to pay the $30 in tolls and $20 in airport parking just to get some more very soon.
