The full name of this list would probably be "List of random things I noticed in Japan which aren't really surprising but I thought I'd share anyway".
Here goes:
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One Piece-stuff EVERYWHERE! (If anyone of you don't know, One Piece is like, the most popular manga in Japan. So I doubt you don't know of it.) As I said, this is not surprising at all but for a huge One Piece-fan like me, I still got excited everytime I saw something related. So many OP things to buy; for example puzzles, figures, erasers, key rings etc etc etc. (Obviously I bought some!)
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High heels! Compared to where I come from, there were sooooo many girls wearing high heels as everyday-shoes. There are people wearing theme here too but I mean.. There were more young girls wearing them than NOT wearing them (at least in Tokyo). It was either heels or uggs, lol!
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Couples; I have actually heard that Japanese couples doesn't like to hold hand or such in public too much, so I didn't really expect seeing that too much. I soon realized that that wasn't really true, cuz at least I saw A LOT of couples walking around together, often holding hands. Young couples everywheeere!
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People ask things in Japanese even though it's obvious you don't understand. Like, cashiers and so. But I mean, it's better than not saying anything at all, you can still get SOMETHING out of it if they speak rather than if they don't. Even though you have no idea what they're saying lol.
- Randomly I realized I heard
a lot of ambulances (I think they were ambulances? They sounded like.. you know... WHEEEE-WHOOOO-WHEEEE-WHOOOOO. [<-LOL].)
in Kyoto. Ummm, yeah, I know nothing more about that, it was just random. I didn't think people got hurt that much in Japan. o.o Maybe it wasn't even an ambulance, I dunno.
- We met
elderly Japanese people who actually knew english very well! I really thought that older people knew less english than younger ones in Japan but we heard more english from elderly. One old dude even came up to us while we were checking our Kyoto-map like real tourists and he asked us where we were going, and then helped us in english while pointing on the map. Aww. Other than that, there were more people over-all that knew english than I thought. Maybe I was just lucky to meet the few who knew english, I dunno.
- This is super-random but for some reason I noticed that Japanese
cashiers give the bag with your stuff before you get the change. You're like "why the hell did you notice that and wth does it even matter??". But I mean; first you put the money on the table, and the cashier takes it, then she hands you the plastic bag with your stuff in it and says "thank you" or whatever it was, when you feel like "okay, I'm done here!". No? Uh.. Okay, at least I did. I started walking away when I got the bag and the cashier panicked since she hadn't given me the change yet (which was only 5 yen anyway...........) so she called for me and I immidiately turned back feeling embarassed lol. But it's nice that they are honest anyway, haha.
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Bowing gets stuck on you! I thought to myself that I should bow as well when thanking/apologizing while in Japan, so I started doing so. And I never stopped!! (Okay, I have stopped now actually). I am obviously not talking about these 90-degree super-formal bows, but the more nodding-bow... You know? Anyway, I did these all days cuz you found things to thank and apologize for all days lol. And since the Japanese did it so much, you did it too.
For example, if you were standing in someone's way, and then moved out of their way, they bowed quickly while sneaking past. Where I live, people would be like "MHM B-TCH YOU'D BETTER MOVE OUTTA MY WAY". (<-Slight exaggeration lol.)
Even on the flight back from Japan, I accidentally bowed to this danish guy who worked on the plane, when he was giving out candies and told me to "take a few more". ._. I bowed to several danish people that day...
I will try to update more interesting stuff about my trip to Japan! Sorry for this post to be so long and sorry for my horrible English~
- Hyung 형
